Why have Basque citizens said no to a new Guggenheim Museum?
A few months ago, Basque institutions decided not to continue with the process of expanding the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Urdaibai. The museum designed by Frank Gehry is one of the most emblematic buildings of contemporary modern architecture, and no one questions the influence it has had on the socio-economic transformation of Basque society as a whole. Taking these factors into account, why have Basque institutions decided to abandon a project that, a priori, could have a similar impact in an area in need of economic revitalization? Is the rejection by a large part of the local community a sign of arrogance or simply conservatism? Many regions undergoing deindustrialization and depopulation would love to have an opportunity like this.
This article seeks to analyze the set of factors that have influenced this decision and raises a series of considerations on socio-ecological transition processes from a sustainable human development perspective. These reflections arise from the listening process carried out by the Agirre Lehendakaria Center (ALC) in the Urdaibai region during 2025, in which more than 1,000 people participated. The full content of these conversations and the reports published by ALC can be consulted at www.urdaibai.agirrecenter.eus
Although there are still many reductionist interpretations of the impact of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao on the economy, Basque society does not agree that the transformation experienced in recent decades in the Basque Country and Bilbao has been caused exclusively by this project. In general terms, there is no doubt about the positive impact it has had on Bilbao's international positioning as an example of urban transformation, but the narratives gathered during the listening process present a much more complex and nuanced interpretation, in which the set of public and private interventions is valued as an exercise in collective intelligence. There is more talk of a community-based public-private collaboration movement than of magic solutions.
“The Basque transformation is a social movement, not a start-up.”
The prevailing narratives consider that it has been a project driven forward without consulting the population. There is a great deal of debate about the balance that must exist between the obligation and responsibility of local public authorities to make ambitious proposals and the need to consult the population, but there is also a growing consensus on the need to do things differently. Hierarchical processes, in which society is consulted in an instrumental or cosmetic manner, are no longer accepted uncritically. Even though it is endorsed by a major institution such as the Guggenheim Foundation and the museum in Bilbao has had a major positive impact, this is not enough for society to support it uncritically. The listening process has identified five main narratives about this project, but all of them called for more information and a truly participatory process.
“Unlike in recent decades, tourism is no longer viewed positively.”
In this specific case, since the initial decision to promote the expansion was made more than 15 years ago, the change in Basque society's perception of tourism has not been taken into account. While just two decades ago it was considered an engine of economic development, today it is identified with gentrification, inequality, precarious employment, and rising housing prices. As there has been no listening process during all this time, the institutions promoting it have not been able to take this change in social perceptions into account.
This rejection shows that in the Basque Country there is a social majority that demands new instruments of collaborative governance. The Basque Country has a tradition of public-private collaboration that is viewed positively and, unlike in other regions around us, is not interpreted as an exercise in privatization of the public sector. Currently, these practices should be reinforced in their community perspective so that they do not become hierarchical instruments disconnected from social perceptions in the region.
In this sense, new digital tools make it easier for us to visualize the set of actions being carried out in a territory and to cross-reference them with existing social perceptions in real time. This exercise of collective interpretation of information and generation of new proposals allows us to build intervention portfolios based on collective intelligence, connecting with the tradition of auzolan that exists in the territory.
Updating these practices involves incorporating simulation capabilities into these collaborative governance processes. In the future, we should be able to simulate the social, economic, environmental, and cultural impacts that an initiative of this nature could have, and analyze them openly with the participation of society as a whole, before making a final decision.