The History of Barcelona before Regeneration - Case Study Example

Barcelona Regeneration Name Course Lecture Date The history of the Barcelona before Regeneration Barcelona was an industrial city prior to the 1992 Olympic Games that acted as a catalyst for the city’s tourist focused regeneration. However, in the early 1980s, many of Barcelona industries collapsed leading to massive unemployment (Marshall, 2004). Barcelona was also left with many abandoned industrial spaces and industrial buildings. Barcelona found it critical to regenerate its old industrial spaces and deprived districts to look attractive for the Olympic Games and attract tourists to its many sites. The infrastructure projects started during the 1992 Olympic Games started a process of tourism based urban regeneration that has continued in Barcelona to the present day (Marshall 2004). To this day Barcelona continues to reorder and reassemble its urban spaces to reposition itself as a tourist destination. Barcelona regeneration mainly aimed to improve lives of its residents while making the city accessible and attractive to tourists. Barcelona is considered one of the most cosmopolitan cities in Europe. According to Garcia and Degen (2006), the non-white population in Barcelona is growing at one of the fastest rates in Europe. Barcelona is also characterized by social diversity with people from lower education status mixing with higher education students who are numerous in the European city(Marshall 2004). Large student populations in show Barcelona has international appeals and is linked to the success of the city’s urban regeneration project. As a tourist destination Barcelona has long held many advantages over other European cities. First, it is located in the Mediterranean and considered a gateway to this important tourist destination region (Garcia and Degen 2006). Barcelona uses it cultural heritage to brand it tourist product. Barcelona is home to many modernist and medieval architectural icons whose potential was not being realized before the regeneration. By the time the 1992 Olympics were held, Barcelona had carved a reputation for a vibrant nightlife, fashion scene (Marshall 2004). The people of Barcelona were also well known for their tolerance and embracement of diversity. Barcelona also could boast of a unique Catalan identity, folklore, cuisine and popular art. When the Olympic games came to Barcelona the city had the unique opportunity of presenting this image of an intriguing tourist destination to the world. By renewing its urban infrastructure Barcelona was able to position itself as a top-class tourist destination. Role of Tourism in regeneration Tourism-led regeneration is a way of using tourism to enhance the economic, social, physical and environmental aspects of tourist destinations. Tourism in most cases is a catalyst of regeneration with authorities focusing on improving infrastructure and the environment so it can be attractive to visitors. Regeneration also focuses on increasing housing, health, education and leisure facilities to make the city a hospitable place for tourists. The 1992 game presented Barcelona with an opportunity to present the world an image of an excellent tourist destination. Barcelona had to improve the infrastructure and appearance of its urban spaces if it hoped to use the games legacy as a tourist attraction tool. Barcelona knew that it would get thousands of tourist during the games who would spread word about Barcelona’s attractiveness. Furthermore Barcelona had a unique chance to present it new image to tourist through the global media who were present to cover the Olympic game (Brown and Massey, 2001) Barcelona has applied two contrasting models in its urban regeneration process (Martín-Vide, Moreno and Esteban, 2003). In some city areas the Social based intervention is based for regeneration including renewal of buildings and development of cultural infrastructure. This model has been especially used in the Raval district of Barcelona but has now been extended to other culturally significant areas in Barcelona (Marshall 2004). The second model is based on the development of idle urban spaces and changing abandoned industrial buildings into residential and commercial properties (Marshall 2004). Had Barcelona not aggressively pursued the latter model the city would still be characterized by abandoned industrial sites and buildings? However, Barcelona still has some abandoned industrial sites. However, the regeneration project prior to the 1992 Olympic Games saw many enhancing changes made to Barcelona’s waterfront area (García 2004). Recently, regeneration using the latter model has been extended northwards and Southwards towards the airport. Regeneration using the two models has seen Barcelona become a hub for entertainment and culture. It has also seen once deprived areas like the Raval become attractive and accessible destination for tourists. Once feared by visitors and foreigners the Raval district is home to workers and foreign students from all over the world (Marshall 2004). Process of Regeneration Barcelona’s regeneration was started by major infrastructure projects in the run-up to the 1992 Olympics games. However, Barcelona infrastructure projects had a long-term focus and were more than meant to spruce up the city’s image for the games (Martín-Vide, Moreno and Esteban, 2003). Many of the projects have had a long-term impact on Barcelona decades after hosting the games. Barcelona regeneration kicked off with project focused on the Sea Front and the Villa Olimpica. The Barcelona Olympic village was built on abandoned industrial land (García 2004). The village was hailed as an extremely effective reuse of former industrial spaces. The industrial space had been separated from the city and there was no railway truck linking it to the rest of Barcelona. The area benefited with new railway link, and through a coastal ring road and a reconstruction of the sewage system (Gold and Gold 2008). The influx of athletes in the areas thus left the area near the Villa Olympic better than it had been. The Olympic village district is now accessible to Barcelona residents who can now visit 5.2 kms of beaches made available by the regeneration (Gold and Gold 2008). The waterfront and the beaches near the Olympic village were to become important tourist attraction for both foreign tourist and locals in the Barcelona area (Martín-Vide, Moreno and Esteban 2003). The Olympic village project thus enabled an area of Barcelona that was formerly inaccessible and abandoned become an important tourist attraction. Secondly, Barcelona focused on developing a coastal ring road that would ease traffic flow during the games (Busquets 2005). Barcelona invested heavily in modifying the city’s road network that would enable visitors easily move around the city’s circumference (Gold and Gold 2008). When the Dalt and Litoral ring road was opened, the traffic flow in the city eased greatly (Busquets 2005). The improved road network meant that visitors to the city of Barcelona would easily move around the city. Thirdly, Barcelona focused on enhancing its cultural heritage as part of the regeneration spearheaded by the Olympic Games project. Barcelona renewed the Montjuic hill are and renamed it the “Olympic ring” (Busquets 2005). The Montjuic Hill became home to the Olympic Stadium and an acclimatization garden built for the Universal Exposition 1929 was rebuilt (Busquets 2005). The project also renewed the Picornell Swimming pool first built in 1969. In addition, two new building came up. The National Institute of Physical Education of Catalonia and the Sant Jordi Sports Hall were opened as part of the Olympic Games regeneration project (Busquets, J 2005). In recent times, Barcelona has focused on regenerating historically relevant spaces among them the Raval area. Considered for a long time as the world’s most densely populated urban area, the Raval was a no go-zone for tourists (Miles and Paddison 2005). While tourists would crowd the Gothic quarters and the Ramblas they rarely ventured into the Raval. However, due to the city’s effort at social regeneration, the Raval has now become an important tourist destination. The Raval now provides a valuable detour for tourists that can experience its exuberant street life, bars, restaurants and cafes galleries and music clubs (Balibrea 2001). Raval is home to attractions that range from the most sophisticated to humble establishments. The regeneration process has thus enabled the area benefit from the many visitors to Barcelona who would ordinarily shun the area. Barcelona also focuses on regenerating the city’s former industrial spaces to be used for more productive work. Barcelona has successfully regenerated 200 hectares of industrial land at the Poblenou Quarter (Barcelona City Council 2012). Before the regeneration, the land was an eyesore of abandoned industrial buildings. In 2004, Barcelona regenerated more urban space as the host of the Forum of Culture in 2004. The new complexes built for the forum were also used as a selling point for Barcelona as a tourist destination. However, the urban regeneration for the forum plaza was criticized for its lack of strategic focus (Smith 2006). According to Hiller (2006), the forum created a wasteland of Plazas that has no utility in the future for residents and tourists. They argue that the plazas were only useful for a planned event. The regeneration associated with the Forum for cultures was a spectacular failure for a city renown for using urban redesign systematically. Conclusion Barcelona has successfully used tourism-focused urban regeneration to better the live of its residents and position itself as a top tourist destination. By carefully planning its regeneration process since the 1992 games, Barcelona has been able to transform formerly inaccessible urban spaces to luxuriant attractions for local and foreign tourists (Girginov 2008). Barcelona long-term focus is seen as the most important success factors as it enabled the city avoid creating white elephants that had no utility after the Olympic Games (Hiller 2006). Using the Olympic Games, Barcelona was able to kickstart one of Europe’s most successful urban regeneration project. Barcelona was able to create a legacy on how to use urban regeneration associated with mega-event, it resulted in the long-term enhancement of the city’s and indeed the whole city’s economy (Colantonio and Dixon 2003). The seafront around the Olympic village was opened as a result of the railway and road project that were part of the Olympic Games. Nowadays, the seafront near the Olympic village is one of the most attractive tourist destinations in Barcelona (Smith 2006). Roads built to ease traffic during the games still serve the city’s residents and tourist who visit the Catalan city. Tourism urban regeneration has enabled the transformation of Barcelona from a dull industrial city to a vibrant tourist destination. Barcelona is now considered a world class cultural and business city alongside London, Paris and New York (Degen and García 2012). Barcelona has also become home to people from around the world proving its attractiveness and good living standards. Barcelona’s ambitious urban regeneration project has also enabled the transformation of deprived neighbourhoods into tourist attraction and thriving business centres (Smith 2006). The Raval area formerly considered the most densely populated urban slum now has a well developed service industry to meet the needs of thousands of tourist who make a detour to the area. Tourist arrivals in the city of Barcelona are one of the indicators of the cities success in its urban regeneration initiative. According to Turisme de Barcelona (2013), over 10 million tourists spend a night in Barcelona and estimates put tourist arrival in the greater Barcelona metropolitan area at 30 million. The airport records over 20 million arrivals every year (Turisme de Barcelona 2013). These impressive figures indicate that tourism focused regeneration can turn an ordinary city to a top tourist destination. However, Barcelona must know that urban regeneration is a never-ending challenge. Many cities are still face the eyesore of post-industrial wasteland which needs to be renewed and enhanced to attract visitors to the cities (Barcelona City Council 2012). Barcelona seems to have put this in mind as evidenced by their regeneration of the Poblenou Quarter, a formerly obsolete industrial wasteland. Nevertheless, Barcelona and other cities must be careful to avoid creating white elephants in the name of urban regeneration. Barcelona’s urban regeneration legacy was blighted by the wasteland of plazas that was the aftermath of infrastructure developed for the Cultures forum in 2004. References Balibrea, M 2001, Urbanism, culture and the post-industrial city: Challenging the ‘Barcelona model’. Journal of Spanish Cultural Studies, 2(2), 187–210 Barcelona City Council 2012, 22@ Barcelona Plan. Accessed 15th march 2015, http://www.22barcelona.com/documentacio/Dossier22@/Dossier22@English_p.pdf Busquets, J 2005, Barcelona revisited: Transforming the city within the city. 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Law, CM 2000, Regenerating the city centre through leisure and tourism. Built Environment (1978-), 117-129. Marshall, T 2004, Transforming Barcelona: the renewal of a European metropolis. Routledge. Martín-Vide, J., Moreno, M. C., & Esteban, P. (2003). SPATIAL DIFFERENCES IN THE URBAN HEAT ISLAND OF THE PRE-AND THE POST-OLYMPIC BARCELONA (SPAIN). In Fifth conference on Urban Climate. Lodz, Polonia. Cartel. Miles, S, & Paddison, R 2005, Introduction: The rise and rise of culture-led urban regeneration. Urban studies, 42(5-6), 833-839. Smith, A 2005, Reimaging the City: the value of sport initiatives , Annals of TourismResearch, Vol. 32, No. 1, pp. 217-236 Smith, MK 2006, Tourism, culture and regeneration. Cabi. Smith, MK 2007, Tourism, Culture and Regeneration, Oxfordshire: CAB International Turisme de Barcelona 2013, Tourism statistics in Barcelona and regions, accessed 15th March 2015, http://professional.barcelonaturisme.com/Professionals/publicacions-estadistiques/publicacions-estadistiques-estadistiques/_fRw6AmMgtpd1wpDRrhXUYCz3rKtVNGjWHKNyYWX5SG3TYhVIdQnNww Read More