Barcelona, an open city: DeBat a Bat

During the democratic transition, Barcelona began a major renovation, especially concerning its public area project: it sanitised the centre and monumentalised the periphery. Later on, organising the Olympic Games became an excellent driving force for tackling this transformation on another scale, with the construction of infrastructures. And the city became internationally recognised.

Twenty-five years later, and in the context of the recent economic crisis, we review the 'Barcelona model'. A new generation of architects, urban planners and geographers critically and productively reflect on the recent past, observe the present and make hypotheses about a fairer and more egalitarian city of the future, where urban-planning instruments can become a motive for debate and a reference point on a global scale.