ABSTRACT
The Can Serra Game simulates the planning and decision processes involved in the provision of new road and community service infrastructure in an outlying neighbourhood of the Barcelona (Spain) conurbation Can Serra in the Municipality of Hospitalet in the late 1950s. The built-up area on the right is an extension of the Barcelona centre. By the 1970s, the growth of the periphery had spread to envelop Can Serra as well as the old Hospitalet town centre (the built-up area to the left), and most other parts of the municipality. Source: Hospitalet Council. https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781315111780/63050512-bad6-47d5-8e16-042a0ed11c7f/content/fig81.jpg"/> <target id="page_108" target-type="page">108</target>Can Serra in 1970. By 1970 the road surfacing, pavementing and sewerage and drainage networks had been laid in Can Serra Avenue, the road snaking its way across the area. A school and several tower blocks bordering the road had also been built, but much of the collective service infrastructure - green zones, medical centres, pedestrian paths, schools and nurseries - remained absent. It is the provision of these service buildings that are the focus of the game. Photo: Metropolitan Corporation of Barcelona. https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781315111780/63050512-bad6-47d5-8e16-042a0ed11c7f/content/fig82.jpg"/> (Figs 5.1 and 5.2). The simulation focuses on the workings of a planning mechanism (Plan Especial de Reforma Interior) which is in some ways a Spanish counterpart to the British general improvement area/housing action area (see Chapter 4). At the same time, however, the game highlights political, social and economic aspects of council-developer -resident relationships in the post-Franco era.
