The Basque Government and the Provincial Council of Bizkaia have asked Agirre Lehendakaria Center to activate a listening process on the future of the Busturialdea region. This initiative, among other issues that it considers relevant to the future of the region, seeks to gather social perceptions on the possible extension of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Urdaibai.

ALC believes that this listening process can generate valuable insights into how to collaboratively address complex social challenges, such as the necessary socio-ecological transition in the Basque Country and the exploration of new tourism models from a sustainable human development perspective.

Elements of the listening process

The listening process is composed of 5 main elements:

MAPPING. We will identify all key actors working toward the sustainable human development of the region, including public entities, social organizations, and businesses. This will help highlight existing initiatives that are already shaping the future of Busturialdea-Urdaibai. Rather than providing a static snapshot, the visualization of this ecosystem will reflect the interconnections between stakeholders and initiatives, capturing its dynamic evolution over time.

LISTENING. This is the core of the process. We will conduct an ongoing listening effort throughout 2025, gathering anonymized perceptions from at least 1,000 people across the region. The goal is to capture the diverse perspectives on the county’s future from various stakeholders, including citizens, social organizations, public institutions, and private actors.

Rather than predefining all participants in advance, we will use snowball sampling, where initial respondents help identify further participants. Additionally, anyone interested in taking part in th
e process can request an interview by contacting urdaibai@agirrecenter.eus.

ANALYSIS. The objective is to identify narrative patterns, highlight nuances, and avoid oversimplification of the diverse perspectives gathered.

COLLECTIVE INTERPRETATION. The information collected will be reinterpreted in a collaborative way with all stakeholders in the county and other relevant actors. The main objective of these sessions is to extract key ideas, add new approaches and, if necessary, rework these findings through new interviews.

CONTRIBUTIONS. A collection of specific recommendations and insights. ALC and AC⁴ will compile all contributions emerging from the collective listening and interpretation process and publish them in biannual monitoring reports on the initiative’s progress.

About AC4

The Advanced Consortium on Cooperation, Conflict and Complexity is the multidisciplinary research institute specialising in addressing environmental projects at Columbia University in New York. AC4 has extensive experience in supporting environmental conservation projects in situations of polarity and conflict. Among others, its work in the USA, sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, Europe and Southeast Asia stands out. In the Basque Country, AC4 has carried out several research projects in collaboration with the Agirre Lehendakaria Center in recent years and coordinates the José Antonio Agirre Chair, a programme that coordinates academic stays of Basque researchers at Columbia University. AC4 will coordinate the scientific direction of this listening process. This implies guaranteeing the transparency of the process, the rigour of the academic analysis and the results throughout the whole process.