Register

METREX Autumn Conference 2025 in Gipúzkoa – San Sebastián, Spain

5-7 November 2025 , Gipúzkoa – San Sebastián, Spain

Upcoming trends and perspectives – what are the challenges for metropolitan policies?  

How to articulate with the Multiannual Financial Framework and which role can METREX play?

The Conference agenda in a nutshell:

Day 1 – November 5 in San Sebastián: EGs/NGs internal meetings, official welcome and cultural visit
Day 2 – November 6 in Irun: plenary sessions and World Cafés with Expert Groups 
Day 3 – November 7 in Irun: General Assembly and optional thematic excursions

 

European metropolitan areas today face concrete challenges: energy transition, housing crisis, sustainable mobility, social cohesion and growing budgetary constraints. These issues are intensifying in a Europe confronted with geopolitical, energy and migration crises that are reshaping our action priorities. As Europe prepares its next multiannual financial framework (MFF) and redefines its investment priorities, this METREX conference in San Sebastián brings us together to share our practical experiences and identify the role that METREX can play in articulating responses to local issues with advocacy towards the EU. 

This conference is also a time for listening to the real needs of our members and building an operational roadmap, particularly through collaborative workshops in small groups. This is a decisive conference for sharing together the future of the network and its activities in light of expressed needs, at the very moment when we are renewing governance by electing, within a newly designated managing committee, a new presidency and vice-presidency. 

 

Overview of the agenda (programme in progress)

The METREX conference in the province of Gipuzkoa opens on  Wednesday 5 November  with parallel Network and Expert Group meetings in the morning. In the afternoon, participants are officially welcomed at the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa, followed by a guided tour of San Sebastián. The day concludes with an informal dinner kindly offered by the Provincial Council.

On Thursday 6 November, the programme focuses on Gipuzkoa as a model for sustainable and integrated mobility. At the FICOBA centre in Irun, the official opening is followed by institutional presentations on how mobility drives urban transformation, including the VIA IRUN project and cycling strategies. A European panel then situates mobility in the wider EU context ‘Metropolitan responses for Europe’s mobility and regeneration agendas’, featuring case studies from Euskadi, Spain, Metropolitan City of Genova, the West Midlands, and Katowice (cases to be confirmed).
After lunch, World-Café with METREX Expert Groups. The works of the day will serve as input for a potential “San Sebastián Statement” on MFF 2028. The day closes with a conference dinner. 

Friday 7 November is dedicated to the METREX General Assembly including elections, financial updates, and the 2026 programme. Optional thematic excursions will offer insights into climate governance (NATURKLIMA) or urban regeneration through the VIA IRUN project. 

 

DAY 1 Wednesday 5 November Draft Programme

Network – and Expert Groups 

10:00 – 15:30 | Parallel network- and Expert group meetings
Venue: Universidad del Pais Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea
Address: Plaza de Elhuyar, 2, 20018 Donostia-San Sebastian, Gipuzkoa

10:00 – 11:30 Mapping METREX | Room (tbc)
Referent: Mariana Faver, Province South Holland

11:30 – 13:00 Circular transition | Room (tbc)
Referent: Dagmar Keim, City of Amsterdam

10:00 – 13:00 Nordic Baltic Network | Room (tbc)
Referent: Peter Austin, City of Oslo

12:00 – 13:00 Foresighting | Room (tbc)
Referent: Claire Boisset, Sébastien Rolland, UrbaLyon

13:00 – 14:30 Climate Challenge Expert Group | Room (tbc)
Referent: Ilona Mansikka and Marikka Manninen, Helsinki-Uusimaa Regional Council

13:00 – 15:30 EconoMETREX 2.0 | Room (tbc)
Referent: Peter Pol, City of The Hague

 

Arrival & Institutional Welcome

16:00 – 17:00 | Official Opening
Venue: Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa
Address: Gipuzkoa Plaza, 1, 20004 Donostia, Gipuzkoa, Spain

– Welcome by Provincial Deputy of Mobility and Spatial Planning 
– METREX Executive Welcome 

17:30 – 18:30 | Cultural visit
San Sebastian guided tour 

19:00 | Informal dinner (kindly offered by the Provincial Council)
Venue: Convent of Saint Teresa 
Address: Andere.E.Zipitria Kalea, 1, 20003 Donostia, Gipuzkoa

DAY 2 Thursday 6 November Draft Programme

Local Inspiration, European Perspective 

Venue: FICOBA, Exhibition site of Gipuzkoa
Address: Avda. de Iparralde, 43, 20302 Irun

8:30 | Registration and Welcome Coffee

9:00 – 9:15 | Official Opening

– Mayoress of Irun, Cristina Laborda
– Azahara Domínguez (DFG)
– METREX President, Jakub Mazur

9:15 – 9:45 | European Framing

Introduction of the day:  From Local Model to European Challenge and back

  • Keynote by Frank van Oort, Professor Regional Economics, Erasmus University Rotterdam, NL
    Presentation of recent comparative research on the economic power of European metropolitan regions
  • Keynote from EU official
    Presentation of the future MMF

9:45 – 10:45 | Gipuzkoa Institutional Presentations
How mobility enables urban transformation and territorial cohesion 

  • VIA IRUN Project – Linking regeneration and transport infrastructure 
  • Cycling Strategy – Mobility beyond infrastructure 

10:45 – 11:00 Coffe-break

11:00 – 12:15 | European Panel – Urban Mobility in the EU Context 

– MUGI system – Social & environmental value beyond fare integration 
– Sustainable Mobility Plan of Euskadi 2025–2035 – Strategic policy
– Spanish Government Perspective 

12:15 – 13:00 | METREX Moderated Dialogue: Bridging current transitional dynamics in the Metropolitan Reality

Moderator & cases: tbc 

13:30 – 14:30 | Informal Networking Lunch at FICOBA 

14:30 – 17:30 | World-Café with METREX Expert Groups (parallel roundtables)  

Introduction to the work sessions by Simone Jung, Stuttgart region and Sébastien Rolland, UrbaLyon 

14:45 – 15:45 Round 1  (5 parallel tables)

  • EconoMETREX2.0
  • Metropolitan Governance & Strategies
  • Social and Affordable Housing (SAH)
  • Nordic Baltic Network  
  • Mapping METREX


16:00 – 17:00 Round 2 (4 parallel tables)

  • From Roads to Streets: the Mobility shift
  • Climate Challenge
  • METREX 2049: Foresight
  • Circular transition 

17:00-17:30 | Rapporteurs on the floor : 5 takeaways from the afternoon working sessions serving as input for a potential “San Sebastián Statement” on MFF 2028  

Transport back to San Sebastián 

20:00 |  Conference Dinner (location to be confirmed)

 

DAY 3 Friday 7 November Draft Programme

METREX Day: Scaling Up, Looking Ahead 

Venue: FICOBA, Exhibition site of Gipuzkoa
Address: Avda. de Iparralde, 43, 20302 Irun

08:30 – 11:00 | METREX General Assembly (Members only) 

– Presentation of MC Elections results 
– Presentation of the candidates for presidency 
– Election of a new METREX President and Vice-Presidents
– Financial overview and discharge old MC 
– Board and Secretary-General announcements

11:00 – 11:30 | Coffee-break 

11:30 – 14:00 | Optional Thematic Excursions (2 parallel options)

Participants can register to:
Excursion A: NATURKLIMA – Climate Governance Centre 

  • Visit to Gipuzkoa’s Climate Change Foundation
  • Focus: adaptation, emissions, strategic foresight 

or to:
Excursion B: VIA IRUN Project – Urban Regeneration in Practice 

  • High-speed station, customs zone transformation
  • Integration of housing, economic activity, and mobility 

NOTE: A minimum of 15 participants is required for excursions to take place.

14:00 | Closing and Lunch – METREX Congress (kindly offered by the Provincial Council)

 

How to get to Gipuzkoa – San Sebastián

Please visit the Official Website of Donostia San Sebastián Turismo https://www.sansebastianturismoa.eus/en/come/how-to-get-here

And Welcome to Gipúzkoa-San Sébastian
https://www.gipuzkoasansebastian.eus/en/home