The Spanish Ministry of Housing:

The Housing Ministry has been created in 2004 as a Department responsible for exercising the powers that correspond to the General Administration of the State in relation to housing and land (Real Decreto 553/2004 and article 149.1 Constitución española, 1978).

The Ministry has responsibility in the following policy areas: access to housing, building, town planning, land, -architecture, planning and programming of investment in those areas

The Spanish Ministry of Housing promotes and is part of the European Urban Knowledge Network EUKN.

The portal of the Spanish urban knowledge connects the Public Administrations and urban actors: from the European Union up to the Autonomous Communities, without forgetting the City councils that are the responsible of the cities organisation, the private sector, the NGOs and the Universities.

The aims of the Spanish pilot project are:
- the dissemination and the exchange of best practices, policies and research so both inside and outside our borders.
- the opening towards other experiences,
- the promotion of applied research,
- the development of Communities of practice and interactive discussion forums with a special focus on housing,
- to participate to establish a sustainable European knowledge exchange infrastructure on urban policy.

Advantages of the portal eukn.org.es:
- access to practical and updated contents validated by recognised experts,
- an accessible and interactive content in Spanish and English,
- descriptions of successful experiences with particular attention to the transferability to other cities, regions or countries,
- a greater visibility of good urban practices,
- a flexible decentralised publication system that promotes synergies between the networks of the 15 national focal points, the European portal and other partners http://www.eukn.org.