ABSTRACT
The summer of 1992 marked the beginning of a magnificent rise to the world stage for Barcelona, when the Olympic Summer Games transformed the city’s urban structure, its neighborhoods and its transport system. Since then, the city’s urban transformation has become an inspirational model for other Olympic hosts, setting the highest standards on how to use the Olympic Games as a stimulator for urban development and competitiveness in the global realm. This transformative scheme became famously known as the “Barcelona model” (Capel 2007), in which the Olympic catalyst expedited Barcelona’s development by completing key projects within five years that would have taken 30 years without the games (Mosby 1992). The story of Barcelona’s success, however, is deeply rooted in a careful planning process for Olympic legacies. The following tale sheds light on a multitude of planning facets stretching from political engagement, personal relationships and strong individuals, all of which brought the politically neglected yet historically rich city back to its path on capturing the imagination of architects and allowing the city to rightfully claim the world stage.
