To what extent has Barcelona become a model of urban transformation for other cities in Europe and even globally and why might this be the case?

With increased globalisation in the last years, more and more old cities get deindustrialized whereas so called Eurocities are growing to urban centres of importance. Several impacts on those cities like economical and social changes make them special centres for the particular country and provide them with a functional primacy in comparison to other national and international cities. Hence, it is not just terms like population and growth that make cities become big but also other reasons that act as basis for urban transformation processes which are worth indicating in this work. However, and very important for analysing a metropolis, is the fact that increasing globalisation led to an enlargement of the cruising range of a city towards the developing hinterlands as the “globalization has had dramatic effects on the working of urban systems” (Cochrane and Jonas, 1999, 145). This work will focus on the Mediteranean city of Barcelona, the centre of the industrialization and both political and social developmenst in contemporary Spain. To what extent the city can be seen as a model for urban transformation and to what extent the enormous costs for developing an efficient urban infrastructure in conjunction with growing shortages of available budgets (McCarthy & Danta, 2003) apply to it will be discussed in the following chapters. Hence, Barcelona will be classified in the global structure of world cities in the next chapter before the four main dimensions of change will be illustrated and discussed in part three of this work. Finally, the whole transformation of the city will be evaluated including some major benefts but also present and future challenges Barcelona is confronted with.

Inhaltsverzeichnis (Table of Contents)

• Preface
• Barcelona within the global structure of world cities
• Barcelona, a city built on four main dimensions of transformation
  • Urban policy and planning
    • The importance of the 1992 Olympic Games and its impacts
    • Other improvements of public spaces and buildings
  • Economic changes
  • The political change and its impacts on the social transformation
• Evaluation of Barcelona's urban transformation
  • Advantages and benefits of the transformation
  • Challenges for Barcelona

Zielsetzung und Themenschwerpunkte (Objectives and Key Themes)

This work aims to analyze Barcelona's urban transformation process and assess its status as a model for other cities in Europe and globally. It explores the factors that contributed to Barcelona's significant growth and development, considering the economic, social, and political dimensions of change. Furthermore, the work evaluates the advantages and challenges associated with this transformation, highlighting the significant impact of globalisation on the city's development.

• Barcelona's position within the global structure of world cities
• The four key dimensions of Barcelona's urban transformation: urban policy and planning, economic changes, political change, and social transformation
• The impact of the 1992 Olympic Games on Barcelona's development
• The evaluation of Barcelona's urban transformation, including its advantages and challenges

Zusammenfassung der Kapitel (Chapter Summaries)

The first chapter introduces the concept of "world cities" in the context of globalisation and deindustrialisation, highlighting the importance of urban transformation processes in shaping these cities. It focuses on Barcelona as a case study and its significance as a centre of industrialisation and political and social development in contemporary Spain. The second chapter examines Barcelona's position within the global structure of world cities, discussing its classification as a "Gamma World City" within the GaWC inventory. This chapter explores the criteria used to define world cities and emphasizes the importance of economic, social, political, and urban development factors.

Schlüsselwörter (Keywords)

This work focuses on urban transformation, globalisation, world cities, deindustrialisation, urban policy and planning, economic development, political change, social transformation, Barcelona, Olympic Games, GaWC inventory, advantages and challenges.

Details

• Hochschule: University of Hull
• Note: 1,0
• Autor: Johannes Weber (Autor:in)
• Erscheinungsjahr: 2005
• Seiten: 14
• Katalognummer: V69931
• ISBN (eBook): 9783638622943
• Sprache: Englisch
• Schlagworte: Barcelona Europe