The Barcelona Model Redevelopments
Introduction
Since the introduction of the Barcelona Model, massive success has been evident in urban regeneration. Alluding to this fact, the Model has prompted Barcelona city to become a prominent destination of hundreds of millions of tourists annually. The current Model has attracted a series of international events which provided the opportunity to improve the city. Barcelona Model of regenerating urban centers focuses on maximizing domestic investment, temporal concentration, as well as attracting foreign investment. Considering the Universal Exhibition as well as game activities such as the 1992 Olympics, Barcelona’s local government discovered that that the events yielded a perfect chance to change the structure and view of the city by broadcasting its beauty to the world. Since the Model proved successful, the city has been an inspiration to the rest of the world. As such, it utilizes international events with a view of boosting their image and making a series of transformations. The city of Barcelona incurred a series of improvements ingrained in cultures while trying to blend the population’s needs within the international arena. This Model of regenerating the urban domain has undergone a series of critiques. Some academicians assert that it is challenging to define the significant characteristics that come with the Model, as others argue that the Model is biased as it serves only the international purpose and excludes the public civil. Other opinions suggest that Barcelona Model is the mitigation measures that were carried out during the 1980s and eventually prompted the regeneration process of cities. Some individuals relate the Model to the rebirth or urban centers in 1992 with the intent of preparing for the Olympics games. Several critics voice the issue that specific projects within the Model are incomplete. Some argue that the model prompted the design in a way that does not satisfy the needs of lower-class individuals such as high priced housing. This paper will address the significant renovations that define the term Barcelona Model of Urban Regeneration, the pros as well as the cons of the Model, and conclude with remarks regarding the Model. Don't use plagiarised sources.Get your custom essay just from $11/page
The Model of Barcelona can be referred in several ways depending on one’s understanding and perception. An article defined the Model as participative and redistributive urbanization that emerged from the transformation struggles which aimed at social democracy alluding to the 1992 Olympics games (Montaner 51). The author also defined Barcelona Model as transformation of the urban arena which was led by democratic powers, that utilized both private and public capital, where architects developed a civic and intellectual commitment which aimed at modernizing the outdated services and infrastructure creating cities which work for the citizens, but majorly targets the tourism to drive the economy to its success heights (51) .
The most prominent benefit of the Barcelona model of regenerating urban centers is the fact that it reimages cities to match the standards of the world. The element is prevalent in the cities of the entire region of Barcelona as its attractiveness satisfies the eyes of the world by attracting events, immigration, and tourism activities. The city of Barcelona before the 1992 Olympics game incurred a series of troubles in their economic, cultural, and social image, especially during the reign of (Franco and Alessandro 459). Before the deployment of the Model, Barcelona city was undergoing isolation from the world. Barcelona’s modernizations delayed during Franco’s reign. It was after his death, which was during the time of urban regeneration that the region had the opportunity to create an essential element from the lost time. The country experiences a time of hardship while the Spanish Civil was taking place due to the several bombings it incurred. At this moment, several sport facilities were not taking place as only a handful of buildings that remained were grouped in Pefralbes as well as Montjuic. Upon the end of Franco’s regime in 1975, the city a few decades attempted to recover from the period by creating its image. It was during this period that the region began using the Barcelona Model to attain the heights that they could host the Olympics and enhance prestige. The Model has since rendered Barcelona as one of the giants in European metropolises. Currently, Barcelona boasts of being an extensive metropolitan area with more than 220 towns hosting a population of close to 4.8 million. Barcelona serves as the administrative, economic, and cultural capital of Catalonia as well as the leading business platform in Southern Europe that consists of close to 1,000,000 companies (Montaner 45). The Mediterranean region includes locations such as Valencia, Balearic Islands, Southern parts of France, and Aragon. As such, the Barcelona Model focuses on the new international, strategic, and competitive sectors to improve its position in the areas and the world’s economic arena. Since history, several calibers of people have visited the region, and a large number of them have settled in its vicinity (Garcia-Ramon and Abel 1332).
Barcelona Model of regenerating urban centers enhances the relationship between private and public investments, which is a hub for generating massive revenues. According to Degen and Marisol, Barcelona aimed at building new alliances between the political power that emerges from social administration in social democracy as well as private investments (1028). Degen and Marisol exemplifies some of the positive effects of the Model by mentioning the significance of this relationship and relating it to consistent investment even in the future life of the city. Collaboration between the private and public sectors is among the most critical elements that usually transform the economic structure, increase capitalization, heighten international role, and enhance competitiveness, attractiveness, and productiveness of a city. The image improvement of Barcelona has prompted a massive impact in their economic arena. Barcelona became a region where foreign countries aspired to establish their companies to the advantage of the increased number of visitors in the area. Nonetheless, the land Act, which was enacted in the 1990s in Barcelona, allowed for land liberalization, which sent signals to the key developers. In the same year, a particular developer from America issued a proposal regarding a project to the City Council of Barcelona, which was to redevelop the Dianoan-Mar that was historically an industrial area stationed near a sea. The project aimed to develop a mixed-utilization location comprising of luxury hotels, apartments, offices, as well as shopping malls. At the same time, the Council conceived a four-month macro-event, which was a Forum of Cultures. The Forum Project focused on developing land worth 214 hectares, comprising of a convention center and a sanitation plant. Forum was a mega-project that was reflected and embedded in the commercial imperatives within the global economy limits. and provided an occasion of gathering further investments for completing cultural redevelopments of the Coastline of Barcelona, which was enacted in the 1990s
Despite the success of the Model, the Barcelona Urban Regeneration has led to the emergency or precarious employment association. While some economists argue that the Model prompted the service economy of the city to undergo diversification compared to other tourist attraction cities in Spain, the imposition of new regulations within the labor market prompted the emergence of insecure employment situations in the city. The element has since impacted the lives of both immigrants and youths in cities. The increase in migration of the international labor concurred with the rise in poverty levels in the town of Barcelona (Degen and Marisol 1029). A region consisting of low and irregular incomes discourage immigrant from access to quality services such as housing and prompts them to live in overcrowded spaces within the inner-city’s segments as well as the boundaries of the neighborhoods. On the other hand, the local welfare framework consistently works with the council policy that deals with social cohesion and redistribution. In this case, the immigrants have the privilege of enrolling with the municipality department of Barcelona to provide them with independent legal status, schooling, Catalan health services, and absolute rights to acquire social services. The examples provided reveal that the Council consistently pursues social cohesion as the policy is implemented through cultural approaches and social integration.
Another disadvantage that comes with the Barcelona Urban regeneration model is that; it prompts the incompletion of development projects as some projects do not feature the image and purpose of what it entailed originally. The element is evident in the city of Barcelona, where a series of projects take a longer time while others do not feature the exact purpose of what they were created to perform. For example, the reclamation of the Poblenou neighborhood water waterfront with the intent of building the Olympic village was not implemented after the event. Later, the waterfall was entirely excluded from the face of low-income families as the previously affordable housing turned to be unaffordable. Besides, the symbolic legacy of the Forum project was an urban land freeing for property developers. Due to the development of the project, entire Spain incurred a high cost of housing, that excluded individuals within lower-middle ranks whose majority are the young people. The new buildings led to the increase in rent from €1,523 in the 1990s to €5,920 in the 2000s in every square meter (Montaner 58). The transformation of several apartments increasingly prompted the factor into illegal residents for low cost and low stay tourism. The development of the new housing pushed a significant bit of young citizens from city life to the rule areas. The phenomenon led to the development of a second challenge with is sustainability within the Barcelona Model, which refers to urban sprawl.
The Barcelona Model has attracted a series of global flows Model attracts internal global flows that emerge from migration and tourism (Garcia-Ramon and Abel 1334). As the Model consistently develops cities into a playground for the enlargement of the tourist economy, tensions between diverse social groups that access such cities significantly increase. Its uniqueness from other cultural platforms consistently defines the modern form of tourism. Visiting a gallery of arts or going to a theatre serves as among the several tourism activities that every visitor would aspire to do. A similar trend is also available in the nightlife and café’s culture, in which both the tourists and the locals embed their interests. The local activities usually blend and mix with the visitor’s practices. However, the enormous increase in overnight residents, which amounted from 3.9 million in 1990 to 13.5 million in 2009, has deployed a series of tensions as well as contestations within the limits of meanings and uses of public vicinities in Barcelona. For example, considering the case of the Old Town, the sleep rights among the individuals living in the vicinity significantly collides with the tourists’ right to enjoy the nightlife of the Mediterranean region. Keeping the city tidy and efficient with the increase in visitor’s number is too costly. Within the periphery of open debates regarding the issues, most groups and people have appealed to the authority to reconsider their expenditure. Other critical voices have argued that both city and regional authority policies have prioritized the tourism sector over other essential concerns like immigration and welfare policies. Even though the changes in Barcelona’s economy to service economy have been successful, it raises questions on whether the over-reliance on tourism will better the feature of the city.
As can be seen, the pros and the of the Urban regeneration Barcelona model have significant weight compared to its cons. The Model is seen as the most successful instance that regenerate urban centers since it entirely transformed the political, economic, and social face of Barcelona city and other regions. Private and public investment, opening the outlets in the town to the sea, and creating infrastructures through the Model, has prompted Barcelona to inspire other cities to reconsider redevelopment. The massive changes within Barcelona city have enhanced prestige. The Barcelona Model developed an image as well as a narrative that suggests the repercussion of the struggle that Barcelona underwent during the regime of Franco. In turn, Barcelona emerged as a beautiful city on earth, which attracts foreign businesses and tourism. The Olympic game in 1992 is an important event that initiated the birth of the Barcelona model. Barcelona city also utilized the international sports event to motivate and transform its beautiful image to the world. Consistent investment that has been taking place since then, according to critiques, has led to the launch of projects which are contrary to people’s expectations and escalates the price of houses rendering a section of Barcelona citizens in povert. To date, the marketing strategies of the Barcelona Regeneration Model, which are notable associates of the new cultural economy, are based on the media, leisure, and urban tourism. The absolute focus on the urbanization of the city contrasts with the elements that are receiving less attention, such as housing, public transport, and many others. For this reason, it is essential to continue building the relationship between private as well as public investments to ensure that the incomplete projects are completed. The waterfall project is among the examples of adverse economic impacts that the Model of Barcelona incurs. The new face of the city is not only attractive to the tourists but has also attracted several jobs which reduce unemployment and increase in new revenue.