The modern history of Barcelona can be explained from the perspective of how there has been discussion about what should or should not be done in the city. Until four years ago, these debates, controversies and reflections were mainly channeled from the political parties through their circles of influence made up of architects, urban planners and intellectuals; Now, these debates are being promoted by business platforms, associations and organizations. In a certain sense, civil society has taken the initiative in thinking about the city and its future development.
The meeting point of all the entities mentioned below has been to determine the great challenges facing Barcelona and point out which are the issues that must be faced with a broad consensus of the city.
Barcelona Oberta, the union of the commercial and tourist hubs of Barcelona, ??tries to promote initiatives that make it possible to generate “commercial excellence” programs that imply rethinking what quality services should be offered to citizens. This entity seeks to activate solutions to the mobility problems that separate Ciutat Vella from Eixample.
Barcelona Futur has promoted a series of meetings to reformulate the superilla project and establish a mobility plan for Barcelona. The RACC also considers mobility as one of the main axes to review “so as not to sacrifice mobility for the quality of urban space”.
Foment del Treball, through RethinkBCN, and the Fer Metrópoli meetings have made it possible to verify that the future of Barcelona is based on a metropolitan development that implies favoring greater coordination between municipalities and adding more cities to complete its development. Foment del Treball has favored the debate on Barcelona’s large infrastructure, such as the necessary expansion of the Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat airport, as well as the key role played by the private sector in promoting progress capable of responding to social inequalities.
The Cercle d’Economia promoted the Think Barcelona cycle in 2018, highlighting the urgent need to guarantee good governance of the institutions so as not to miss out on opportunities.
The Cercle del Liceu has stimulated the debate with acts such as The mayors of democracy take the pulse of Barcelona. In it, Narcís Serra, Joan Clos and Xavier Trías identified the challenges that Barcelona must face in the coming years. He has also discussed the great cultural challenges.
The Círculo Ecuestre has organized debates on the future model of the Fira de Barcelona, ??the urban planning of the city or the future of technological innovation in the field of health.
The Cerdà Institute has carried out important work, with the publication of a series of reports on the need to promote strategic alliances between the public and private sectors based on trust as a determining factor for the future.
In particular, Barcelona Global, which has contributed to the America’s Cup being held in Barcelona, ??has promoted initiatives, among which it is worth highlighting those that highlight the value of the education sector in the university sphere, to attract talent from other countries to the city, and its report on Mobility as a tool for the city, sustainability and progress, which calls for the committed infrastructures and investments to be carried out quickly and transparently.
The Esade business school has promoted the study The effects of the limitation of rental prices in Catalonia, alerting the international scientific community, because it can produce “unwanted effects”. IESE’s Sector Research Center launched a report in which 19 think tanks defined points to overcome the stagnation. Barcelona Tribuna, an opinion and debate forum organized by Amics del País, has held a series of conferences emphasizing innovation and talent management or the cultural projection of Barcelona. Fundació Catalunya Europa has carried out important work to establish, establish and conceptualize the scope and challenges of the value of metropolitan development. The PRO BCN initiative has promoted the Barcelona Present and Future report, prepared by a large number of city entities.
During these last four years, the debates, conferences, reports, studies, articles and presentations that these different entities have been publishing have coincided on the need to achieve broad consensus on issues such as mobility, infrastructures, the fight against inequality, the sustainability, the role of tourism, innovation, education, culture, urban planning, trade and establishing political actions that favor business development.
These are aspects that are also addressed in three special supplements of La Vanguardia: More Barcelona: ‘Ideas to relaunch Barcelona’ (2018), ‘Ideas to relaunch the metropolis’ (2019) and ‘Ideas to recover Barcelona’ (2020). Other reference points in the documentation chapter are the publication Hänsel* i Gretel*; the Barcelona Metropolis magazine of the City Council; the digital publication Metropoli abierta of Crónica Global; another digital publication, Converses a Catalunya, has started a series of initiatives to try to stop the production of superilles; The New Barcelona Post, the Barcelona District Federal association publishes reflections to define the future of the Port of Barcelona or the airport, as RethinkBCN does.
In other cultural entities, the new guidelines and modes of action in the local economy (Barcelona Activa) or the new cultural actors that contribute to activating the artistic vitality of the city (Àfora Focus) are shown. The role of architecture and urbanism in the seventies helps to understand Barcelona today (La Virreina). Art understood as a mirror to face and show environmental challenges, climate change and the exploitation of the Earth with exhibitions/projects such as Environment (Macba), the role of mobility in the new economy (Casa Seat), the engine of solidarity to build progress (CaixaForum Palau Macaya) or the development of the ideal of the open, frank city, capable of integrating its contractions, cultures, tensions and creative overflows to continue deploying the full potential of cities (CCCB). If we add up all these initiatives, we see that the public agenda is focused on establishing how to approach the future of cities and, specifically, Barcelona.
Contrary to those who predict the crisis of the polis as a model of life, there is a continuous effort to show the potential of cities as a place where it is possible to solve the crises in which citizens live.