Barcelona: 2026 UIA World Congress of Architects

Under the title "Becoming: Architectures for a planet in transition," Barcelona will host the 2026 UIA World Congress of Architects. The event turns the city into a global hub for reflection on the most pressing topics facing the architectural profession and, ultimately, society as a whole.

The UIA World Congress of Architects has been held every three years in a different city since 1948, the year the International Union of Architects (UIA) was founded — a non-governmental organisation that brings together the national associations of architects of more than 100 countries.On the occasion of hosting the 2026 UIA Congress, Barcelona has been designated by UNESCO as the 2026 World Capital of Architecture. It thus stands as a global benchmark in this field and will roll out a wide programme of activities throughout the year.

Each edition of the UIA World Congress of Architects focuses on a key topic for the profession that reflects the spirit of its moment. After "Sustainable Futures. Leave no one behind" in 2023, and "All the Worlds. Just one World" in 2020-21, the next edition places the emphasis on a transformative vision of architecture.
The theme "Becoming: Architectures for a planet in transition," according to the curatorial team — made up of the architects Pau Bajet, Mariona Benedito, Maria Giramé, Tomeu Ramis, Pau Sarquella and Carmen Torres — refers to "a process of change, to the 'becoming' that encourages the appropriation and transformation of our inhabited environments — both human and more-than-human, individual and collective — by investigating the potential of time as a design tool. Far from the notion of tabula rasa, it is grounded in the awareness of pre-existing physical and cultural contexts, articulating transitions through material, political, ecological and poetic interrelations."

Faced with a complex reality and in search of answers to its multiplicity, the UIA 2026 Architecture Congress is structured around six interrelated lines of research and tackles the transformation of the built environment in a transdisciplinary way. The programme has been formulated through six Becomings: More-than-Human, Attuned, Embodied, Interdependent, Hyper-Conscious and Circular.

In its international wording, Becoming More-than-Human analyses the role of architecture in the challenges of ecological coexistence; Becoming Attuned explores forms of meaning and poetics in everyday practice; Becoming Embodied addresses the values and responsibilities embedded in the transitions between matter and construction; Becoming Interdependent recognises that space is not neutral and analyses how its design shapes interpersonal relations; Becoming Hyper-Conscious seeks to gain greater awareness of global and local interactions; and Becoming Circular advocates not only for the circularity of materials, but also for energy recirculation and spatial reprogramming, as alternatives to indiscriminate demolition."

The main venues of the Congress are the Tres Chimeneas of Sant Adrià de Besòs and the Disseny Hub Barcelona (DHub). The Temple of the Sagrada Familia will be another of the complementary venues. In this way, it connects with the 2026 Gaudí Year, which marks the centenary of the renowned architect, whose greatest legacy lies in the city of Barcelona.

The next World Congress of Architects in Barcelona (from 28 June to 2 July) will bring together some 200 international speakers, who will contribute content to the conferences, debates and a central exhibition. Among the new features compared with previous editions is the commission of 12 unpublished design research projects to different architectural teams, under the heading Research by Design.

Barcelona is the first city in the world to host the congress for a second time, after the 1996 edition. That year the city exported the Olympic urban model. However, after the various crises that have followed — property, social, health and climate — the architectural profession is now rethinking itself in depth and seeks to "be part of the solution and not of the problem."

Alongside the Congress, with Barcelona's designation as the 2026 World Capital of Architecture, the city will run activities throughout the year that spread and bring the role of architectural professionals closer to residents and reach every neighbourhood of the city. The City Council intends architecture "to go beyond its own boundaries as a discipline so that it is experienced in schools, in squares and in museums.Being World Capital of Architecture must serve us to explain that, in Barcelona, we understand architecture and urbanism as tools for living better together."

Written by Marta Rodríguez Bosch.