Good Families of Barcelona

Learning from Barcelona: Discourse, Power and Praxis in the Sustainable City

“…In this apprenticeship, my analyses often have crystallized around key eventscapes that have meshed the tensions of local/urban identity with global processes underpinning the transformations of the city (McDonogh 1986(McDonogh , 1999. In this apprenticeship, my analyses often have crystallized around key eventscapes that have meshed the tensions of local/urban identity with global processes underpinning the transformations of the city (McDonogh 1986(McDonogh , 1999.…”

“…Amid these frames, Barcelona and its citizens have made claims on the future that tie its modernist movements of the 19 th and early 20 th century to the "designiness" of its urban reform in the 1980s and its reinvention in 2004 and contemporary claims about global planning models (McDonogh 1986;Hughes 1992;Michonneau 2001;Resina 2008). Since 1992 Barcelona has become a branded destination offering history, leisure, the postmodernities of star architects and cosmopolitan buzz; the metropolis has become a city of consumption and capital for a new quality of life whose very economy challenges any model of sustainable growth.…”

“…Such events long have provided arenas for the definition of political, economic and cultural modernities, especially since industrial expositions in the early 19 th century that took on an even more modern and global form with the Universal Exposition of 1888 and the International Exposition of 1929 (McDonogh 1986;Grau 1988;Grandas 1988). Such events long have provided arenas for the definition of political, economic and cultural modernities, especially since industrial expositions in the early 19 th century that took on an even more modern and global form with the Universal Exposition of 1888 and the International Exposition of 1929 (McDonogh 1986;Grau 1988;Grandas 1988).…”

“…Again, this event catalyzed processes already in motion, especially as it spurred development of the mountain of Montjuïc (another point of centurial Spanish military control) and lands south of the older city that would become the elite garden residential zone of Pedralbes (McDonogh 1986;Grandas 1988;Michonneau 2001). Yet, it faced years of delay due to bloody class warfare in the city and the global impact of World War I (despite Spanish neutrality).…”

“…This investigation forms part of four decades of work in Barcelona in which I have explored society, culture and politics of this fascinating modern city. In this apprenticeship, my analyses often have crystallized around key eventscapes that have meshed the tensions of local/urban identity with global processes underpinning the transformations of the city (McDonogh 1986(McDonogh , 1999. Historically, eventscapes include both expositions like the previous 1888 and 1929 World's Fairs in the city and more convulsive periods like the Civil War, which canceled the 1936 Popular Olympics scheduled for Barcelona.…”