ABSTRACT

The profound urban transformation experienced by Barcelona over the last 20 years is linked, to a large extent, to the 1992 Olympic Games. The case of Barcelona has been the focus of international attention and has been specifi cally analysed from different perspectives by economists, geographers or town planners. On many occasions, its ‘exemplary’ nature has been referred to as the ‘Barcelona model’, which ‘for urban transformation … has been a reference for other cities since the mid-’80s – the outstanding example of a certain way of improving cities’ (Marshall, 2004, p. 1). It must be said that this has been a common theme in most of the existing literature, particularly that originating locally and prepared by the leading fi gures of the Olympic experience (Barcelona City Council, 1983, 1987a, 1987b, 1996, 1999a, 1999b). To these viewpoints are added those of international critics, who have interpreted this unique experience as one of the most successful in the history of the Olympic Games (e.g. Chalkley and Essex, 1999). The ‘Barcelona model’, a much discussed and indiscriminately used expression, has been characterized in several ways, depending on the period and the aspect which is considered to be most representative of town planning in Barcelona (Monclús, 2003). For some, it would be a way of acting in accordance with the proliferation of specifi c interventions in public areas, which were undertaken from the beginning of the 1980s. For others, the most outstanding element would be the rebirth of the city with the implementation of a series of strategic urban projects linked to the 1992 Olympic Games.