Barcelona’s New Chinatown: Chinese Strategies in the Housing Market in Barcelona and Globalization

Abstract

Globalization of the urban real estate market, which was originally local, has generated new capital flows worldwide that have reinforced the secondary circuit. Barcelona has not been immune to this process, at least since Spain's integration into the European Union in 1986. Many legal changes in foreign investment regulations have been introduced in Spain, especially in the housing market. The latest major investments in real estate have been made by former socialist countries, notably the People's Republic of China and Russia, which both belong to the BRICS group. Chinese localization strategies have been more concentrated. With this theoretical background, the aim of the paper is to analyze the strategies of these recent appropriations of Barcelona's residential space, in the framework of other economic Chinese investments and in competition with other Mediterranean ports. The main conclusion of this study is related to the definition of Barcelona's Chinatown, its changing location, and processes of social differentiation.

629. Vivienda y movilidad. Comportamiento residencial de la migración china en España

“…Beltrán, 2000Beltrán, , 2005Tébar, 2011; McDonough, 2013;Martínez-Rigol et al, 2017 5 Palomares, Feria y Susino, 2017 …”

Perception of Health and Well-being Among the Chinese Immigrant Population in Seville (Spain): Does Territorial Concentration Matter?

“…In this way, as in other European countries (Liu 2020), ethnic enclaves of Chinese population in Spain have also emerged—in some cases called Chinatown (e.g., Pieke 2002; Thunø 2007)—to ensure the economic functioning of the Chinese community in Europe (Karreman, Burger and van Oort 2017). Specifically in Spain, the concentration of Chinese population in the neighborhoods of Usera in Madrid or Santa Coloma de Gramanet in Barcelona stand out (Martínez-Rigol et al 2017; Tébar Arjona 2013). However, complementary to this tendency toward concentration, it is worth highlighting the existence of a spatial dispersion throughout the city in small communities (Zhong and Beltrán 2020).…”

Comércio, Consumo & Governança Urbana

“…Ao nível da distribuição dos estabelecimentos comerciais, ao contrário do que se verifica em outras cidades europeias, como Barcelona onde uma Chinatown tem vindo a consolidar-se(Martínez-Rigol et al, 2017), em Lisboa o comércio explorado por imigrantes não se encontra tão concentrado espacialmente. A principal exceção a este padrão é a Praça do Martim Moniz e alguns eixos como a Rua da Palma e a Rua do Benformoso com uma concentração superior à que se verifica no resto da cidade.…”