Foro de las Ciudades de Madrid: innovation and urban sustainability
Innovative solutions for sustainable urban development
It offered a more international content program, with a particular focus on innovation as a driver of urban transformation. The event brought together representatives from 25 European and Ibero-American cities, as well as more than 30 Spanish cities. It featured four themed auditoriums (Sustainable Urban Development, Innovative City, Circular City, and Human Well-being) and hosted the presentation of the third edition of the Tree Award.
Innovative solutions for sustainable urban development
Taking a multi-scale and interdisciplinary approach, the seventh edition of the Madrid IFEMA Cities Forum (9–11 June 2026) once again provided insight into urban realities through the solutions being implemented by the various public and private stakeholders shaping cities, with a particular emphasis on local governments.
In 2026, the Madrid IFEMA Cities Forum expanded its conference auditoriums and adopted a more global outlook to address urban challenges on a worldwide scale.
Alliance for Urban Innovation
The Alliance for Urban Innovation (AIU) is an initiative of the MADRID IFEMA Cities Forum and was created with the aim of generating permanent meeting spaces between different organisations and public administrations to advance the proactive debate on the construction of innovative cities focused on sustainable development.
It is an open, transversal and dynamic space that will help local entities, companies and professionals from different disciplines in the innovative transformation of territories.
- A transversal, flexible, dynamic space, adaptable to the needs of each partner.
- Permanent relationship between the organisations driving the alliance.
- Occasional integrated collaboration with other organisations to obtain a multidisciplinary vision of the city.
- Alliance focused on the visibility of projects and good practices of local and regional governments, universities, companies, etc.
- International / national vision.
- The digital city as a driver of sustainable urban development.
Initiatives Foro de las Ciudades
Labs
These are themed meetings whose main conclusions are subsequently disseminated by the Madrid IFEMA Cities Forum’s media partners, as well as through the Forum’s own communication channels, including blogs, social media, and press releases issued by IFEMA.
These open, unscripted sessions are designed to foster fresh, engaging, and candid discussions, while helping to shape the Forum’s thematic focus areas ahead of the finalisation of the programme.
Árbol Award
The IFEMA MADRID Cities Forum organised the third edition of the Árbol Award in its two categories: towns with more than 100,000 inhabitants and towns with fewer than 100,000 inhabitants.
The aim of the award is to recognise the work of two Spanish or Latin American cities in the field of urban nature and innovative management of green spaces.
Exhibition Good Practices
The exhibition aims to disseminate those projects and plans that are improving our cities and the debate on how to make them more sustainable, green and inclusive. Be part of an exhibition of good urban practices consisting of information panels on:
- Urban projects that have been implemented, are being implemented or are about to start.
- Plans or programmes that the organisation is developing or has recently developed.
- Conclusions of thematic and/or sectoral reports.
- Research projects and collaboration plans.
2024 Summary Book
The presentation of the summary book of the Cities Forum of IFEMA MADRID took place in the framework of the International Tourism Fair, FITUR 2025, where I debated on how the future of the urban world faces important challenges to lead a globalised and highly competitive context in which cities committed to health and human wellbeing will lead this scenario.
