In 2016, the city of Bilbao launched the project “Bilbao, City of Values”. This action came from the Department of Citizen Services, Participation and Districts and aims to build an intercultural and open society. The main purpose is to share the value framework within the city.
Bilbao, City of Values is a project that aims to generate a space for analysis, dialogue, reflection, and collaborative work among institutions, social entities, companies, media, schools, and citizens for the promotion of a framework of shared values in the city of Bilbao.
As a starting point for the dialogue and reflection, a survey was carried out to list the attributes the citizens consider to represent Bilbao at present as well as allowing them to list the attributes they would like to see included in the city. The result of the 1,200 surveys has then been analysed to gain an understanding of the viewpoint of the residents of Bilbao.
To facilitate the analysis, dialogue and reflection on the strength of the values in the city and allow comparison with similar projects in other parts of the world, a list of values was ordered in the shape of a decalogue: respect for Human Rights, solidarity, participation, trust, creativity, equality between women and men, environmental sustainability, commitment, social justice, and diversity. Each value was briefly defined with a simple pedagogical and didactic purpose, linking them to the daily behaviour of citizens, social entities and the City Council. After a process of citizen participation, the Plenary Session of the City Council of Bilbao approved the Bilbao Charter of Values in March, 2018.
The Charter includes the following 17 individual and collective values:
• Respect for Human Rights, social justice, equality between men and women, solidarity.
• Diversity/inclusion, commitment, environmental sustainability
• Participation, trust, creativity, coexistence, identity, effort
• Stewardship, honesty, illusion, and health.
The Charter includes the possibility for neighbours, as well as institutions, companies, and entities, to join. This adhesion implies the commitment to maintain and promote attitudes and behaviours following the spirit and content of the Charter.
Finally, the City of Bilbao has approved the "Values Development Plan", which is a dynamic and flexible document that identifies the three strategic axes as well as the actions to be developed under each of them before the end of the mandate. The objective of this plan is to integrate the 17 values that are included in the Charter of Values of Bilbao into the day-to-day citizenship of all residents. A city values commission has been created to carry out the monitoring and evaluation of the project within Civic Council of the city.
The project cooperates with the Business sector, social entities, political leaders, cultural entities, municipal companies, schools, educational entities, women entities, media, individuals, religious diversity entities, ecologist entities, sports entities, and immigration entities.
