The Bilbao Urban Innovation and Leadership Dialogues (BUILD) was the German Marshall Fund’s first convening activity focusing exclusively on urban policy and leadership issues — two programmatic areas where the institution has over a 30-year history.

From June 11-14, 2014, BUILD brought together 115 civic leaders and urban practitioners from GMF’s network in the United States and Europe to discuss strategies for leading transformative change in cities. Participants immersed themselves in dialogue sessions, workshops, and site visits to explore the policy and leadership dimensions of two key themes:

• Leading equitable and sustainable urban transformation initiatives
• Developing leaders and civic ecosystems to support a city’s global engagement

This report outlines the participants, speakers, and outcomes from BUILD’s inaugural convening.