Joan Clos I Matheu

Joan Clos was Under Secretary General of the United Nations and Executive Director of UN-Habitat (2010-2017), the United Nations program responsible for planning sustainable, resilient, and prosperous cities and territories. During his tenure, Clos was appointed Secretary-General of the Habitat III Conference, held in Quito in 2016, where the New Urban Agenda was adopted.

He graduated in Medicine from the Autonomous University of Barcelona and specialized in Public Health and Epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh. In 1979, he joined the Barcelona City Council as Director of Public Health. He was mayor of Barcelona from 1997 to 2006, after serving as a city councilor between 1983 and 1987 and deputy mayor for Finance and Budget, where he played a key role in preparing for the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games. One of the most significant projects he led as mayor was 22@, an urban transformation that revitalized one of the city’s most degraded industrial areas.

In 2006, he was appointed Minister of Industry, Tourism, and Trade. Between 2008 and 2010, he was appointed Spanish ambassador to Turkey and Azerbaijan. During his time as mayor, Joan Clos received several awards, including the Royal Institute of British Architects Gold Medal in 1999 for the transformation of Barcelona, and in 2002 he received the UN-Habitat Award of Honor for his promotion of global cooperation between local authorities and the United Nations. In 2016, he was awarded the Jane Jacobs Medal by the Rockefeller Foundation in recognition of his leadership in transforming cities and promoting the New Urban Agenda.