Author: bernat.lleonart

Ten years on, the internet opens up again with the arrival of a new round of ICANN domains

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This year is a complete one for the .barcelona domain. We’re celebrating ten years on the internet, a decade when we have accompanied hundreds of companies, projects and communities that have opted for Barcelona as their digital address. Yet this anniversary coincides with a very special moment for the whole ecosystem of domain names: for the first time in a decade, the ICANN is opening up to new domains.

The .barcelona domain started life ten years ago

The last time the ICANN opened up to the creation of new generic domains (gTLD) was in 2012. That process led to more than 1,200 new extensions, including domains such as .bmw, geographical domains such as .berlin, and themed domains such as .shop and .eco. And of course, .barcelona, which marks its tenth anniversary this year.

That round transformed the internet. It showed that the network could be more diverse, more local and more representative of the global reality.

New window in 2026

On 30 April 2026, the ICANN officially opened the application period for the new round of the new gTLD programme. The window will be open until 12 August 2026, and any organisation, company, government, community or association can present their candidacy to manage a new domain extension.

The goal of this new round is to continue expanding and diversifying the internet domain name system, fostering competence, inclusion and the representation of communities with no presence until now on the internet. For the first time, applications in non-Latin alphabets are being accepted, a step to make the internet more accessible around the world.

How does the process work?

The ICANN has published the Applicant Guidebook, with full information on the whole process: requisites, assessment, resolution of conflicts between candidacies and contractual conditions with the ICANN.

All this information can be found on the official page newgtldprogram.icann.org.

A forward-looking anniversary

The tenth anniversary of the .barcelona domain is a significant moment. It reminds us of where we come from and inspires us to keep working for Barcelona to have a strong and visible digital presence around the world. The internet is growing again. And we’re there.

You can find all the information from this article at www.icann.org.

Meeting point: CENTR Jamboree in Berlin

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DENIC, the organisation that manages the de. domain, gave a presentation in Berlin to introduce the CENTR Jamboree, the annual gathering bringing together workgroups for European top-level domains, ccTLDs and associated members.

This year’s Jamboree was particularly important for the .barcelona domain: the team from Accent Obert, which manages the .cat and .barcelona domains, presented its international research project funded by ICANN Grants and putting the .barcelona domain and 10 other geoterritorial domains at the centre of current debate: how does AI affect the online visibility of geoterritorial domains?

The great change in internet searches

The project aims to respond to a question that is causing increasing concern in the sector: in an environment where internet searches are no longer just Google, Bing and DucakDuckGo, but also ChatGPT, Claude, Mistral and other AI systems, are territorial domains still visible?

So far, positioning efforts have focused on traditional search engines. Yet the eruption of language models and generative searches are changing the rules of the game. When somebody asks AI “what’s the best pizzeria in Barcelona?”, do websites with .barcelona domains appear? Are they treated the same as other domain extensions such as .com and .es?

These are the questions that this project aims to address.

How does the research work?

The investigation has two main lines of analysis:

  • Assessment of traditional search engines: how geoTLDs are indexed and positioned in conventional search engines.
  • Assessment of AI environments: how AI systems treat geoterritorial domains when responding to questions from users.

In addition, all the methodology uses open-source reusable software, meaning that other domains can adapt it and continue the research beyond this project.

The presentation of the CENTR Jamboree was by Beatriz Guzmán and Josep Masoliver, from the Accent Obert team.

Why is it important for you as a .barcelona domain holder?

If you have a .barcelona domain, the results of this research affect you directly. Understanding how search engines and AI treat geoTLDs can help you decide and act in connection to your domain: learning to treat content so that your page is more visible to both traditional search engines and AI models, enabling you to adapt to how users currently conduct searches on the internet.

We will provide updates on the progress of the project. Because the future of the internet is decided every day, and the .barcelona domain is present.

Discover the new website bringing together all the city’s museum options

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This strategic project starts life with the aim of becoming the definite digital reference point for the city’ s heritage, addressing the current dispersion of information and offering for the first time a unique access point to the activity of over sixty museums, exhibition centres and heritage spaces.

The new museus.barcelona website brings together municipal, consortium and private facilities all in one place, breaking down administrative barriers to focus on user experience.

An active and dynamic cultural gatekeeper

The museum website has been designed to function as a specialised cultural agenda and point of reference. The platform allows users to intuitively browse temporary exhibitions, permanent collections and specialised family activities at city museums. It also operates as the backbone for the ICUB’s heritage programmes. Events such as ‘Museum Night’, the festival ‘Barcelona Dibuixa’, ‘Museu Endins’ and the special programmes for Christmas, Summer and La Mercè have their own centralised space. This means that once the specific campaigns are over, the information is retained structurally and not lost on temporary websites.

To guarantee quality and relevance, the website has a content generation and management team devoted to gathering information daily, ensuring that the agenda is a reliable and trustworthy source for the general public and cultural promoters alike.

Follow the Grand Départ of the Tour de France 2026 on its .barcelona website

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This summer sees Barcelona host one of the most prestigious and outstanding professional cycling events in the world. On the website, letour.barcelona, you can find all the latest relating to the event in four languages: Catalan, Spanish, English and French. The website offers detailed information on the three stages in Catalonia, on 4,5 and 6 July 2026, with maps, altitude meters and technical data, plus a historical look at previous occasions when the Tour has passed through Catalonia.

The site also has specific sections on the three Catalan cities taking a prominent role in this edition: Barcelona, Tarragona and Granollers, with practical content and information on culture, tourism and access for visitors. Finally, in the section on the latest developments, you’ll find news relating to the preparations for the Tour and activities being carried out in the areas involved.

Registration open for volunteers

You’ll also find a registration form on the website to provide support for the organisers and inform people during the event. To take part, you need to be at least 16, speak Catalan, Spanish or French, and attend a training session. Each volunteer can choose the stage, municipality and availability.

The .barcelona domain protects your data

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When you register a .barcelona domain, you need to supply the personal details of the domain owner. This information is accessible for the registration company you use, for Barcelona City Council and for the Fundació Accent Obert, which manages the .barcelona domain.

To meet the European NIS2 regulation on digital security, these data must be accurate and up to date. But don’t worry as they are not public, the system is prepared to protect the privacy of owners and limit the information that is displayed publicly.

What data are published?

With the Genera Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), the visibility of domain data changed.

Today, the personal details of owners are not displayed publicly. When registering a .barcelona domain you can indicate whether the owner is a natural or legal person, and in the case of legal persons some additional details can be published if wished.

How to consult the information for a .barcelona domain

The public information of a domain can be found through a service called WHOIS.

WHOIS can be used to obtain details such as:

  • The date of registration, revocation and expiry of a .barcelona domain.
  • Which registration company registered the domain and what its website is.
  • In the case of legal persons, the details of the legal owner of the domain may be found (legal entity).

The WHOIS link for the .barcelona domain is:  https://whois.nic.barcelona/.

Bear in mind that all domains have their own WHOIS service and that the domain registration companies and the ICANN itself can offer these consultation tools.

Knowing which registration company you are with is very important

For the most important actions linked to your domain you will need to use your registration company’s control panel. This means it’s very important to be clear on which registration company you used to register your domain and to keep your access credentials.

From your control panel you will be able to:

  • Renew your domain.
  • Check and update your domain ownership details.
  • Amend the configuration of the domain.
  • Manage the DNS and other technical aspects.

If you can’t remember who you used to register your domain, you can check this easily by consulting WHOIS.

The importance of keeping ownership details up to date

It is very important to keep the ownership details for your .barcelona domain up to date, particularly the email contact address. This will allow you to receive important notifications, such as renewal alerts, technical incidents and non-compliance with the regulations, which may cause your .barcelona domain to be blocked.

Keeping these details up to date ensures that the domain can be managed correctly and that you can react in time if there are any incidents.

2026: Ten years since the .barcelona domain Sunrise

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This year marks a significant date for the .barcelona domain: ten years since its internet launch. The first step in the process was the Sunrise, the initial period reserved for registering domains before opening publicly.

The Sunrise began on 12 January 2016 and continued until 15 March that year. This period allowed people, institutions, organisation and companies to secure their domain names before opening up to the general public.

Established by the ICANN for new generic domains (gTLD), this mechanism was aimed at guaranteeing an orderly launch and giving priority to registered brands.

First step for Barcelona’s domain

The Sunrise marked the start of the domain promoted by Barcelona City Council to give the city its own digital identity on the internet.

The figures that marked the Sunrise were very positive: 1,356 domains were registered, 42% of them corresponding to companies and 18% to public administrations.

Once this period ended, on 21 March 2016, the first domains to be registered during theses stages were activated and the network became operative. From that point on, the domain opened to the public register and any person or project linked to Barcelona was able to register their .barcelona.

During the first day that the register opened, on 21 March 2016, some 1,782 domains were registered.

Ten years building digital identity

Since its launch, the .barcelona domain has become firmly established as a tool for strengthening the city’s digital identity.

Companies, cultural projects, local initiatives and people linked to Barcelona have used this extension to identify themselves with the city and give their project internet visibility.

Ten years on, the Sunrise period that set .barcelona on its path forms part of the history of the domain and its growth. This initial step allowed Barcelona and its community to build its own digital space.

More than 1,500 activities set to fill Barcelona with architecture in 2026

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Barcelona will be the global focal point for architecture in 2026, chosen by UNESCO and the International Union of Architects. The city thus becomes the only place in the world to host the UIA congress for a second time, which on this occasion is being held under the title “Becoming. Architectures for a planet in transition”. The programme of activities for the World Capital of Architecture 2026, to be held from Santa Eulàlia until Santa Llúcia, includes over 1,500 activities with the collaboration of 170 organisations around the city’s ten districts.

With the goal of reconnecting people with architecture and promoting the importance of this discipline in everyday life, a programme has been designed to appeal to all audiences: general, professional and educational, with activities devoted specifically to schools.

The inauguration was on 12 February, the day of Santa Eulàlia, and the closing day will be 13 December, Santa Llúcia. This ten-month period will see each of the districts taking monthly turns as the focal point for the World Capital of Architecture, promoting their own architectural and urban aspects and their pace of life.

The programme includes exhibitions, guided tours, lectures and workshops. Details can be found on the World Capital of Architecture website, with notable activities to include the Open Neighbourhood in Nou Barris, Sants-Montjuïc and Sarrià – Sant Gervasi, the workshop “The city we want”, for children aged from 8 to 12, the exhibition “Jujol” at the MNAC and the exhibitions at the former head office of the Gustavo Gil publishing company: “Barcelona: intense, diverse and complex”, and “Barcelona in transformation. 2035”.

A legacy for the city

The World Capital of Architecture will endure in the city through the legacy it leaves, materialised by a large scale model of Barcelona on display at the former head office of the Gustavo Gil publishing company and in the renovation of party walls on ten city buildings, the result of an international competition to enrich the urban landscape and improve the liveability and sustainability of the buildings. In the autumn, as a prelude to this event, the same venue will be inaugurating the exhibition “From party walls to façades”, explaining the process and the winning projects in this international competition that attracted 439 entries from 51 countries around the globe.

You can find full information on the World Capital of Architecture at capitalmundialarquitectura.barcelona.

The Reial Monestir de Santa Maria de Pedralbes celebrates 700 years with a special programme

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On the occasion of the 700th anniversary of the Reial Monestir de Santa Maria de Pedralbes (1326-2026), various activities are being organised including exhibitions, concerts, tours, family activities, storytelling, workshops, lectures and the presentation of the project to study the tombs from the founding period.

The seventh centenary of the monastery, founded by Queen Elisenda de Montcada i de Pinós together with her husband, King Jaume II, centres on the figure of the queen and represents the culmination of the three programme areas that have defined the recent history of the museum: medieval heritage, spirituality and the figure of the woman.

The activities to mark the occasion get under way on Thursday, 26 March, when, seven hundred years ago the first stone of the apse of the monastery church was laid, and will go on until 3 May 2027, celebrating the consecration of the church and the entrance of the first community of Poor Clare nuns.

The Government of Catalonia has declared 2026 as Monestir de Pedralbes Year.

For more information on the programme of activities marking the seventh centenary go to monestirpedralbes.barcelona.