The Olympic Games as a tool for urban renewal: the experience of Barcelona’92 Olympic Village

Paper discussing on the impact of the Games on the urban development of host cities, analysing in particular the Barcelona'92 Olympic Village. This article was published in the book entitled "Olympic Villages: a hundred years of urban planning and shared experiences" compiling the papers given at the 1997 International Symposium on International Chair in Olympism (IOC-UAB).

Introducció als Sistemes d'Informació Geogràfica

Amb aquest projecte es vol donar una visó global dels sistemes d'informació geogràfica (SIG), cada vegada més implantats a qualsevol àrea de la nostra societat (urbanisme, climatologia, medi ambient, hidrologia, vies de comunicació, cadastre, etc.). De fet, "qualsevol cosa" (riu, canal, camí, pont, contenidor, cotxe, tren, casa, fanal, senyal de trànsit, oficina, avió, vaixell, etc.) que hi ha a terra (a sota o a sobre) és candidata a ser georeferenciada.

Estimation of the extreme flash flood evolution in Barcelona county from 1351 to 2005

Every year, flash floods cause economic losses and major problems for undertaking daily activity in the Catalonia region (NE Spain). Sometimes catastrophic damage and casualties occur. When a long term analysis of floods is undertaken, a question arises regarding the changing role of the vulnerability and the hazard in risk evolution. This paper sets out to give some information to deal with this question, on the basis of analysis of all the floods that have occurred in Barcelona county (Catalonia) since the 14th century, as well as the flooded area, urban evolution, impacts and the weather conditions for any of most severe events. With this objective, the identification and classification of historical floods, and characterisation of flash-floods among these, have been undertaken. Besides this, the main meteorological factors associated with recent flash floods in this city and neighbouring regions are well-known. On the other hand, the identification of rainfall trends that could explain the historical evolution of flood hazard occurrence in this city has been analysed. Finally, identification of the influence of urban development on the vulnerability to floods has been carried out. Barcelona city has been selected thanks to its long continuous data series (daily rainfall data series, since 1854; one of the longest rainfall rate series of Europe, since 1921) and for the accurate historical archive information that is available (since the Roman Empire for the urban evolution). The evolution of flood occurrence shows the existence of oscillations in the earlier and later modern-age periods that can be attributed to climatic variability, evolution of the perception threshold and changes in vulnerability. A great increase of vulnerability can be assumed for the period 1850¿1900. The analysis of the time evolution for the Barcelona rainfall series (1854¿2000) shows that no trend exists, although, due to changes in urban planning, flash-floods impact has altered over this time. The number of catastrophic flash floods has diminished, although the extraordinary ones have increased.

La percepció dels canvis espacials. El cas de Sant Cugat del Vallès

L'estudi de la percepció dels canvis espacials des de finals del segle passat fins el present en el municipi de Sant Cugat del Valles ha permes la reconstrucció de l'evolució del seu paisatge entts com a lloc viscut. Per a aquest estudi hom va emprar el mttode de l'entrevista personal, al qual es dedica la primera part de l'article. Després de sintetitzar els trets més significatius de l'evolució del paisatge de Sant Cugat, s'exposa de quina manera han percebut els seus habitants els successius canvis del paisatge. L'analisi d'aquestes percepcions permet establir la hipbtesi que els estudis que tracten els lligams de les persones amb el seu entorn han de tenir en compte la dimensió social dels individus; altrament les causes profundes de les actituds envers l'entorn no poden ser explicades satisfactoriament.

Creixement urbà i producció de l'espai a Lleida (1940-1980)

Aquest article té com a objecte establir la relació existent entre les formes materials que adopta el creixement urbi i les caracteristiques del mercat del sòl i del m rcat immobiliari. La proposició inicial de la qual es parteix és l'afirmació e la dependència de les primeres respecte al grau de desenvolupament del mercat; i això en dos aspectes: primer, en l'origen d'una determinada forma urbaba; segon, en la seva posterior evolució. El cas analitzat, el procés de creixement urbà de Lleida en uns anys de gran creixement econòmic -canvi agrícola basat en l'especialització fruitera i en la difusió de les granges d'estabulació ramadera- i demogràfic -41.464 habitants el 1940, 106.814 habitants el 1981- pretén servir per treure unes remarques qenerals, formulades en el present treball com a hipòtesis, que poden orientar aquelles recerques que busquen en les característiques d'una formació social la variable independent que ha de permetre la comprensió d'unes morfologies. El marc eneral de referència és la teoria sobre la "producció de l'espai", encara que matisada i acotada a aquells aspectes que poden ser més rellevants en la comprensió del sorgiment de les formes materials urbanes.

Gallery districts of Barcelona: the strategic play of art dealers

This article focuses on Barcelona"s art market to explore the underlying factors behind the clustering of art dealers in several of the city"s districts. Drawing upon quantitative and qualitative data, the article analyses how such clustering reveals a strategic action in the sense attributed to it by Crozier and Friedberg (1981). Gallery districts are not a reflection of structural factors (economic, urban development-related or social) but the result of a combination of strategic choices either individual or collective which explain the permanence of leading gallery districts or the emergence of new ones.

El Cort a Catalunya

El cort és una magistratura judicial local documentada des del tombant del segle XI al XII amb un caire representatiu comtal pròpia dels indrets repoblats tant sota domini del titular de Barcelona com de l’urgellenc, la qual es veurà afectada per la feudalització, pel desenvolupament urbà i per l’aplicació de fórmules romanistes, alhora que aviat serà espill de les relacions entre el poder municipal i la corona fins haver d’integrar-se, a partir del pas del segle XIII al XIV, en les institucions jurisdiccionals batliars i vicarials. Malgrat la seva arrelada presència, la historiografia sols n’ha apuntat determinats trets destacats gràcies a notoris treballs aïllats fruit, bàsicament, de l’esforç de Klüpfel i Lalinde, cosa que no ha impedit les evidents i excesssives dificultats actuals en la comprensió de la institució i el seu desenvolupament. Potser, doncs, és bo de contribuir a l’homenatge al Dr. Manuel Riu amb l’atenció posada en el cort, malgrat que la limitació d’espai disponible obliga a reduir l’aportació a l’esbós dels eixos articuladors de la figura i la seva evolució.

Territorio y sostenibilidad : diagnosis del metabolismo social de Amorebieta-Etxano : con los pies en el suelo

Postprint (published version)

Knowledge, networks of cities and growth in regional urban systems

The objective of this paper is to measure the impact of different kinds of knowledge and external economies on urban growth in an intraregional context. The main hypothesis is that knowledge leads to growth, and that this knowledge is related to the existence of agglomeration and network externalities in cities. We develop a three-tage methodology: first, we measure the amount and growth of knowledge in cities using the OCDE (2003) classification and employment data; second, we identify the spatial structure of the area of analysis (networks of cities); third, we combine the Glaeser - Henderson - De Lucio models with spatial econometric specifications in order to contrast the existence of spatially static (agglomeration) and spatially dynamic (network) external economies in an urban growth model. Results suggest that higher growth rates are associated to higher levels of technology and knowledge. The growth of the different kinds of knowledge is related to local and spatial factors (agglomeration and network externalities) and each knowledge intensity shows a particular response to these factors. These results have implications for policy design, since we can forecast and intervene on local knowledge development paths.

Tourism and urban transport: holding demand pressure under supply constraints

Scholars and local planners are increasingly interested in tourism contribution to economic and social development. To this regard, several European cities lead the world rankings on tourist arrivals, and their governments have promoted tourism activity. Mobility is an essential service for tourists visiting large cities, since it is a crucial factor for their comfort. In addition, it facilitates the spread of benefits across the city. The aim of this study is to determine whether city planners respond to this additional urban transport demand pressure by extending supply services. We use an international database of European cities. Our results confirm that tourism intensity is a demand enhancing factor on urban transport. Contrarily, cities do not seem to address this pressure by increasing service supply. This suggests that tourism exerts a positive externality on public transport since it provides additional funding for these services, but it imposes as well external costs on resident users because of congestion given supply constraints.

Does urban sprawl increase the costs of providing local public services? Evidence from Spanish municipalities

This paper examines the impact of urban sprawl, a phenomenon of particular interest in Spain, which is currently experiencing this process of rapid, low-density urban expansion. Many adverse consequences are attributed to urban sprawl (e.g., traffic congestion, air pollution and social segregation), though here we are concerned primarily with the rising costs of providing local public services. Our initial aim is to develop an accurate measure of urban sprawl so that we might empirically test its impact on municipal budgets. Then, we undertake an empirical analysis using a cross-sectional data set of 2,500 Spanish municipalities for the year 2003 and a piecewise linear function to account for the potentially nonlinear relationship between sprawl and local costs. The estimations derived from the expenditure equations for both aggregate and six disaggregated spending categories indicate that low-density development patterns lead to greater provision costs of local public services.

Economic development and changes in car ownership patterns

The contributions of this paper are twofold: On the one hand, the paper analyses the factors determining the growth in car ownership in Spain over the last two decades, and, on the other, the paper provides empirical evidence for a controversial methodological issue. From a methodological point of view, the paper compares the two alternative decision mechanisms used for modelling car ownership: ordered-response versus unordered-response mechanisms. A discrete choice model is estimated at three points in time: 1980, 1990 and 2000. The study concludes that on the basis of forecasting performance, the multinomial logit model and the ordered probit model are almost undistinguishable. As for the empirical results, it can be emphasised that income elasticity is not constant and declines as car ownership increases. Besides, households living in rural areas are less sensitive than those living in urban areas. Car ownership is also sensitive to the quality of public transport for those living in the largest cities. The results also confirmed the existence of a generation effect, which will vanish around the year 2020, a weak life-cycle effect, and a positive effect of employment on the number of cars per household. Finally, the change in the estimated coefficients over time reflects an increase in mobility needs and, consequently, an increase in car ownership.

Learning to live together: an exploration and analysis of managing cultural diversity in ten early childhood development centres in South Africa

This study explores how South African Early Childhood Development (ECD) Practitioners and families meet the needs of the increasing number of children from diverse cultural backgrounds in their care. Research participants were identified through ten ECD centres located in two urban communities in the Eastern and Western Cape Provinces of South Africa. The values and attitudes held by Practitioners and families vis-à-vis cultural diversity was investigated, along with the knowledge and strategies they employ to manage cultural diversity in ECD programmes. The intercultural education model provides the necessary tools to address the challenges identified.

Urban design proposes for the norwegian cities

Alta is the biggest city in the country of Finnmark. The area of study, Bossekop, is situated 4km from the city centre. It has some commercial areas, offices, hotels and housing, mostly single family housing. The most important Norwegian road, E6 goes through Bossekop, there for it has a big traffic flow. The concept builds on the idea of two axis, one local leading from the local sports development area into the centre core, and one on a higher level, the E6. In Bodø, after analysing carefully the surroundings we reached the conclusion that it is posssible to conserve a lot of the green as well as offering the municipalities the chance to develop with several housing typologies. Nature should be preserved and with this connect directly the mountain to the sea, using the existing creek to make the water connection. In order to keep a big part of this land untouched, we suggest that the rest of the site can be developed quite densely in one of the areas and then continuously fading out in direction of the mountains. Finnsnes is an important communication point for the region with its good connections. In that way it is becoming a central point for commerce and leisure. The concept is based on the wish from the municipality of Lenvik to look upon the city’s connection to the surrounding sea and green areas, together with the wish to make the pedestrian access better and the car traffic lighter., and in that way improve the conditions in the city