Dr. Joan Clos was the UN-Habitat executive director from 2010 to 2017, the United Nations agency responsible for urban planning based in Kenya (Nairobi), with the status of Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations. During his term he promoted the development of the Urban Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goal 11 (ODS11), the first development objective focused on sustainable urbanization. Its emphasis on urban planning and national urban policies has been widely used to plan and direct the cities of the world towards sustainability, economic and social progress and inclusion. Both successes were part of the strategic plan of Dr. Clos to increase the relevance of sustainable urban development in the international development agenda.

As Secretary General of the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III), Dr. Clos helped to consolidate the transformative role that planned urbanization can -and should have to- exercise in order to achieve economic and social development, job creation, social prosperity and urban conditions worthy for all inhabitants of the cities of the world.

Dr. Joan Clos will contribute to promote advanced training and applied research in the field of sustainable development at the Institut Barcelona d’Estudis Internacionals (IBEI), especially on the role of cities within the framework of the New Urban Agenda, and the connection between the local and the global perspective. During the academic year 2018-19, Joan Clos will also participate in the teaching of the subject "International Relations of Global Cities" together with Simon Curtis and Agustí Fernandez de Losada.