Editor’s note: This article was first published in November 2010, and all its figures and positions are from 2010, including the city ranking scores, Bilbao as the fourth tourist city in Spain and its debt being the lowest among Spanish capitals.
Bilbao ranks as Spain’s third capital with 805 points, behind only Barcelona, with 987 points, and Madrid, with 1,000 points. Fourth and fifth places go to Zaragoza (688 points) and Santander (607 points). The city also stands out for topping the list for best municipal management: in the middle of this huge crisis, its debt levels are the lowest of any capital.
Until a few years ago, Bilbao was known as the grey city because of its industry and blast furnaces. Today people describe it as a bright and much less polluted city, thanks among other things to the removal of the old coal-fired heating boilers.
Bilbao is considered an emerging city. While other regions and cities grow poorer as companies close, Bilbao is expanding its industry, and some of its companies already export their products throughout Spain and abroad. As a result, the city now has a name abroad and ranks as Spain’s fourth tourist city.
Bilbao has left its old image behind and is now seen as a clean, welcoming and safe city with plenty of cultural activities.
So congratulations to the city of Bilbao, and let’s hope we Andalusians follow its example.
Featured image: Андрей Романенко, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
