Ada Colau Ballano is the first female mayor in Barcelona’s history. She has dedicated much of her life to social and human-rights activism. She helped to launch the Platform for People Affected by Mortgages (PAH) in 2009. In 2014, she founded Guanyem Barcelona (later known as Barcelona en Comú), the citizens’ political party that won the municipal elections in 2015. In 2019 she was re-elected Mayor of Barcelona.
At the City Council level, she gave priority to public policies focusing on the fight against inequalities, the right to decent housing, the launch of a more sustainable city model, and the strengthening of citizen participation. She has also shown her commitment to regulating the impact of tourism, fostering a more diverse, inclusive, and green economy and improving public services. Feminism, solidarity, and the promotion of diversity also play a central role in her municipal policies.
The policies implemented by her government have received a range of awards and acknowledgements. Some of the most noteworthy of these include the Hotels Salut project, a finalist in the City Nation Place Awards and winner of the Responsible Tourism Awards in the Community Support category (2020), multiple awards from the United Nations for Barcelona Activa for actions to combat the effects of COVID-19 (2020), the 2019 Infoparticipa Seal for information transparency (2020), the European Responsible Housing Award for housing policies that combat gentrification (2019), and the World Responsible Tourism Award that recognises the city’s tourism management (2018).
As well as being Mayor and President of the Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB), she was also the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) special envoy for relations between cities and the United Nations, and Vice Chair of the C40 Steering Committee, the governing body providing strategic direction for the global network of 97 cities committed to addressing the climate crisis.