The Global Cultural Capital: Addressing the Citizen and Producing the City in Barcelona

308 Pages·2017·12.8 MB·English

by  Mari Paz Balibrea (auth.)

The Contemporary City
Series Editors
Ray Forrest
Lingnan University
Hong Kong
Richard Ronald
University of Amsterdam
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
In recent decades cities have been variously impacted by neoliberalism,
economic crises, climate change, industrialization and post-industrializa-
tion and widening inequalities. So what is it like to live in these contem-
porary cities? What are the key drivers shaping cities and neighborhoods?
Towhatextentarepeoplebeingboundtogetherordrivenapart?Howdo
these factors vary cross-culturally and cross nationally? This book series
aimstoexplorethevariousaspectsofthecontemporaryurbanexperience
from a firmly interdisciplinary and international perspective. With editors
based in Amsterdam and Hong Kong, the series is drawn on an axis
between oldandnew cities in theWest andEast.
More information aboutthisseries at
http://www.springer.com/series/14446
MariPazBalibrea
The Global Cultural
Capital
Addressing the Citizen and Producing the City
in Barcelona
MariPazBalibrea
CulturesandLanguages
Birkbeck,UniversityofLondon
London,UnitedKingdom
AllquotesoriginallyinSpanishandCatalanareprovidedintranslationandwere
translatedbyMariPazBalibreaEnriquez
TheContemporaryCity
ISBN978-1-137-53595-5 ISBN978-1-137-53596-2(eBook)
DOI10.1057/978-1-137-53596-2
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2017935425
©TheEditor(s)(ifapplicable)andTheAuthor(s)2017
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TheregisteredcompanyisMacmillanPublishersLtd.
Theregisteredcompanyaddressis:TheCampus,4CrinanStreet,London,N19XW,United
Kingdom
To my parents,in memoriam: Barcelonianliveswithout cultural
capital
C
ONTENTS
1 Introduction:Still Paying Homage toBarcelona 1
PartI InTheory: The SubjectofCulture
2 Theorizing Culture inthe CreativeCity 13
PartII Tamingthe PoliticalCitizen
3 Stories We LiveBy:...and theGames Created the City 45
4 Culture Isto theSocial Materializationof Democracy
as theCritical SubjectIstoDemocratic Citizenship 53
5 Building ParticipatoryMeasures 77
PartIII The Olympic Framework
6 Preamble 103
7 Working for the CityImage:MunicipalPublicity
Campaigns Redefining the PreferredBarcelonaSubject 107
vii
viii CONTENTS
8 Exercising Democratic Citizenship: Sport
in the Run-Uptothe Olympics 129
9 RethinkingBarcelona’92 asaCultural Milestone 147
10 Olympic Volunteers: Rise ofthe Super-Citizen 163
PartIV Backto Work: Governingthe CreativeCity
11 Volunteers Unbound 181
12 New Regimesof Government 191
13 Masterminds ofCulture 203
PartV Be YourselfOut There:InhabitingBarcelona
for the Global Market
14 Capital Subjects:Redefining Capitalityin Global Films
onBarcelona 217
15 Barçain the NewMillennium: The Other
Barcelona Model 235
Bibliography 273
Index 297
L F
IST OF IGURES
Fig.4.1 “Cambiatuciudadconlossocialistas”(Changeyourcitywith
thesocialists)1979Electoralcampaignposter(PSOE,José
RamónSánchez) 70
Fig.7.1 “Barcelonamésquemai”(Barcelonamorethaneverbefore)
logo(AjuntamentdeBarcelona) 109
Fig.7.2 “Barcelona’92”logo(COOB’92S.A.,1988) 110
ix
CHAPTER1
Introduction: Still Paying Homage
to Barcelona
Is there anything new remaining to be said about Barcelona? The city’s
internationalprestigeisnowadaysindisputable.Ithasbecomeacommon-
placeintheEuropeanCitiesMonitor–whichliststhetopEuropeancities
forbusinessexpansionaccordingtotheopinionofseniorexecutivesfrom
leadingbusinesses–tofindBarcelonaatthetopofthatlist(Cushmanand
Wakefield 2010) in the quality of life category.1 Equally, its stature as a
touristdestinationdoesnotevenrequireanargument.DesiringBarcelona
comesforthepotentialvisitorasnaturallyasbreathing,itsstatusendlessly
validatedbyarmiesofprecedingtouristsleftinawebyitscharms.Inmore
specializedcircles,theonesthisbooknowjoins,saturationtakesdifferent
forms. Barcelona’s transformation in the post-Francoist period is widely
consideredamongarchitects,urbanplanners,andlocalpoliticiansaround
theworld,asamodelbecauseofitsperceivedabilitytoreconcileeconomic
restructuring with spatial regeneration and the widening of the citizens’
right to the city (McNeill 1999; Kirby 2004; Marshall 2004a; Busquets
2005:345–445).2Assuch,theBarcelonacasehasbeenwidelystudiedin
academic contexts and emulated across the world by policymakers and
other local institutional agents (González 2011). But no less abundant
have been the critical accounts of this transformation as the end of pro-
gressive urban life andthe silencing of democratic voices at the service of
globalcapital.
Injoiningsuchacrowdedscene,thisbookpays,onceagain,homageto
the exceptional Barcelona case and claimsto illuminate previously untold
©TheAuthor(s)2017 1
M.P.Balibrea,TheGlobalCulturalCapital,TheContemporaryCity,
DOI10.1057/978-1-137-53596-2_1