ancient cities

Further Readings
Fourcaut, A., E. Bellanger, and M. Flonneau. 2007.
Paris/Banlieues—Conflits et solidarités. Paris:
Creaphis.
Pinçon, M. and M. Pinçon-Charlot. 2004. Sociologie
de Paris. Paris: Découverte.
Sayad, A. 2006. L’immigration ou les paradoxes de
l’altérité: L’illusion du provisoire. Montreal, QC:
Editions Liber.
Wacquant, L. J. D. 2008. Urban Outcasts: A
Comparative Sociology of Advanced Marginality.
Cambridge, MA: Polity.
Ba r c e l o n a, Sp a i n
Located in the region of Catalonia in northeast
Spain, Barcelona is the second largest city in
Spain, with a population of around 1,600,000 in
100 square kilometers. Largely as a result of the
regeneration processes of the 1980s that culminated
in the 1992 Olympic Games, Barcelona has
become renowned internationally for its postindustrial
urban restructuring planning. Indeed, the
“Barcelona model” of regeneration is often held
to be exemplary in repositioning the city in the
global economy and balancing economic outputs
with sociocultural goals.
Industrialization and Expansion
The actual urban morphology of Barcelona is
based strongly on its transformation and expansion
toward a modern city in the mid-nineteenth
century. In this period, Barcelona suffered from
three basic problems. First, though industrialization
and demographic growth were already taking
place in the first half of the century, the city was
constrained within its medieval walls until 1860.
Second, despite becoming the industrial center of
Spain, it lacked any political influence on state
politics. And third, industrialization and growth
were accomplished through local capital, but there
was not a strong and consolidated financial industry.
These problems reflected directly on how the
city developed. Almost any attempt to improve the
city and create the conditions for fixing capital
flows in town has necessarily implied resorting to
attracting nation-state government support and
Barcelona, Spain
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capital through events. Thus, the evolution of the
city is linked to big events (e.g., the Universal
Exposition of 1888 or the International Exposition
of 1929) or aborted ones (Popular Olympics of
1936, Expo of 1982). These events were usually
catalyzers for developing broader planning projects
(e.g., Cerdà, 1860; Macià, 1932; General
Metropolitan Plan, 1976). In this sense, it is no
wonder that contemporary city councils have been
using events such as the Olympics and the Forum
2004 for the same purposes.
Modern Urban Development
Barcelona’s urban development has been characterized
primarily by three moments: (1) the approval
in 1860 of the Cerdà Plan to guide the expansion
of the city outside its medieval walls, (2) the chaotic
urban and economic growth during the years
of Spanish dictatorship, and (3) the Olympic-led
regeneration once democracy had returned.
The Cerdà Plan
The first stages of Barcelona’s modern development
began with the implementation of the Cerdà
Plan, beginning in 1860. This was a plan that conceived
the city as a reticular grid based on three
modern, functional, and pioneering principles:
hygienism, circulation, and planning growth outside
the city borders. Although the plan contained
many progressive ideas for the time it was envisioned,
some of them disappeared in the construction
of l’Eixample (the neighborhood around
Barcelona’s Old Town) as a result of the pressures
of speculative real estate. Yet, this grid and the
Cerdà Plan are the bases of Barcelona’s twentiethcentury
urbanism.
Franco Dictatorship and Porciolismo
The second key moment for Barcelona’s urbanism
came with the arrival of a fascist regime in
1939. After a long postwar and international isolation
that ended in the 1950s, the collapse of the
Spanish state was avoided by the first and possibly
last successful International Monetary Fund structural
adjustment plan (1957–1959). This adjustment
was followed by years of disordered growth
for Spain, where Barcelona was one of the main