The imperatives of the knowledge economy: transformations of the BMR (Barcelona Metropolitan Region)

Marc Pradel Miquel

Abstract: Although the BMR is still one of the most relevant industrial regions of Europe, the city of Barcelona has nowadays a services based economy, and the rest of the region is under deep transformations towards this direction. This transformation has strong social and territorial consequences. New patterns of residence emerge whereas the economic activity concentrates in new places. This paper tries to analyse the impact of the consolidation of knowledge-based economy in the Barcelona Metropolitan Region (BMR) trying to put attention in the consequences both on social cohesion and competitiveness. In the first part of the communication we will try to analyse the main policies at local and regional level and the role of actors in the transformation towards a knowledge economy. We will analyse the policies aimed at creating and attracting knowledge-intensive companies as well as the strong role of public policies on the attraction of cultural industries. Analysing that, we can see different strategic patterns within the region based on knowledge or economy. In the second part, our purpose is analyze the respondents of these collective of creative and knowledge workers, focusing on the reactions to these policies in terms of soft and hard factors.

Introduction

Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, urban research is being focused in the increasing role of culture and creativity in the economic development of cities. This interest in creativity and culture can be explained as one step further in the conceptualization of the post-fordist economies. In fact, as Scott (2006) points out, cultural industries and other services activities have become the leading edges of growth an innovation in the contemporary economy. The study of that “new economy” is still under consolidation, but there is an increasing literature on creative cities and its spatial effects (Rantisi, Leslie, & Christopherson, 2006) Furthermore, the seminal work of Richard Florida The Rise of the creative class (2004) has inspired new formulas for urban regeneration based on attracting creativity and talent to the cities.

With the crisis of fordism cities have obtained more autonomy from the State and at the same time have started to play a role in the global economy (Brenner, 2004, (Jessop, 2004). That process has been conceptualized as ‘glocalization’ and is a consequence of the neoliberalization of the economy that took place during the eighties and nineties. Keynesian welfare states were designed to redistribute economic growth ensuring territorial equality between cities and regions. With the crisis of that model, most of the States decentralized their structure and the most advantaged cities started to concentrate economic growth, whereas other cities decayed. Thus, in the context of the global economy, cities have started to compete to attract capital and resources, creating a new rhetoric of urban hierarchies. That competition is based on the idea that place and territories are key elements explaining urban economic growth. Thus, urban development strategies are based on an institutionalist approach that put emphasis on the idea of endogenous growth of cities through agglomeration economies based on trust and formal and informal relations.

Following that perspective, Florida tries to grasp the elements that explain the economic success of a city in the contemporary economy. For him, tolerance and diversity allow creativity to appear and attract talented creative people from abroad. The cultural and creative milieu of a city attracts companies looking for talented high-skilled workers. At the same time the promotion of culture and diversity as well as the attraction of talent would bring social inclusion. Although there is no room

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in this paper to discuss Florida’s theories, several authors have criticised his vision on the concept of creativity and its role in the economy (Markussen, 2005; Scott, 2006). What is relevant for the purposes of this communication is the strong influence of these theories in the current strategies of growth that cities have adopted. In fact, Florida’s theory of the rise of a creative economy is placed in cities which are trying to ‘atract talent’. The main aim of the growth policies is to foster what Florida call the three Ts: tolerance, talent and technology, the key elements for urban economic growth. City managers should create the correct environment for the development of these elements. Economic research is focused on the relevance of that factors for location of companies who look for talent. These factors are called ‘soft factors’ in contrast to the classic location factors of companies (tax regime, land availability, workforce, etc.) Cities that achieve that objective are commonly labelled as ‘creative cities’.

Given that context, Barcelona is a good candidate to be considered a ‘creative city’: It has a strong cultural heritage and during the last decades its growth strategy was based on tourism and culture promotion (Rodriguez Morató, 2008). Furthermore, Barcelona attracts high-skilled workers due to its quality of life and tolerant atmosphere. Nevertheless, the city must face relevant challenges to achieve the objectives of attracting talent and capital and at the same time being an inclusive city. This communication is based on the results of the European research project ACRE, Accommodating Creative Knowledge-Competitiveness of European Metropolitan Regions within the enlarged union. The project is founded under the priory 7 ‘citizens and governance in a knowledge-based society within the sixth programme of the EU. Based on the results of this research (Pareja Eastaway et. Al., 2007, 2008), this paper tries to analyse the evolution of the Barcelona Metropolitan Region from an industrial city towards a creative city looking at the physical and social transformations. Three main elements are analysed. In first place the evolution of cultural industries in the city and their growing relevance in the economy. In second place the governance arrangements that configured policies and strategies of the city and the metropolitan region. The third element is the territorial impact of these policies in social and economic terms, taking into consideration the changing territorial patterns of the BMR.

Main features of the Barcelona Metropolitan Region

Although there has been a recent economic transformation to a service-oriented economy, the Barcelona Metropolitan Region (BMR) is one of the most relevant industrial regions of Spain (Oliver, 2006). The region has still a strong industrial profile with a multi-centric organisation of its industrial activity. The economic basis of this multi-centric shape is a very diversified economy, where traditionally the small and medium cities played a significant role through industrial specialization. The network of cities that forms the BMR includes more than 4.4 million inhabitants and 162 municipalities in an extension of 4,320 square kilometres. The transformation of the BMR’s economy from industrial to service oriented started at the time of Spanish transition, a period of reintroduction of democracy after Franco’s death. The process continued well into the 1980s when economic and political transformations went hand in hand. The decade started under a severe economic recession that was part of the global economic restructuration from Fordism to flexible capitalism. The city strategy and the great event of the Olympic games of 1992 accelerated tertiarization of the economy in the city centre whereas the rest of the region remained mainly industrial. During the nineties the region started a shift towards the knowledge economy, but tourism and construction sectors played a major role in the economic growth. In spite of these evolution, since 1980s the region saw an increase of the cultural and creative industries not only in terms of economic relevance but also in their relevance in the policy strategies. To understand the evolution of these creative sectors it is necessary to analyse the development path of the city, which strongly affects recent development.

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The configuration of a cultural capital

Since its foundation Barcelona was a centre for commerce and trading. A small, strategically located city during the Roman Empire, in the middle ages Barcelona became a key player in the Mediterranean commerce. The city was the capital of Catalonia and one of the most relevant cities of the kingdom of Aragon. During this period, the main activity of the city was trading and commerce, and the harbour was the key economic motor of the city. That brought cultural diversity to the city. That envisaged also the entrance of new ideas and generated an entrepreneur milieu based on trade. With the coming of the modern era the city decayed. The discovery of America in 1492 moved the trading routes to the Atlantic Ocean, whereas the union of the kingdoms of Aragon and Castile to form the new kingdom of Spain moved the political power to Madrid. Hence, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the city was forced to find its place in a new geopolitical order. The creation of the crown of Spain in 1469 generated not only a centralization of political power in the monarchy but also more power for the catholic church, that started to expel non-catholics from the country, what hindered diversity. In august 2, 1492 -the same day that Columbus started their travel to the new continent- the Jews were expelled from Spain. On the other hand, after the discovery of America the city was excluded for political reasons from transcontinental trading and tried to maintain its economic influence in the Mediterranean but failed. Until the beginning of the eighteenth century the city was immersed in permanent recession.

After the war of the Spanish succession (1701-1714)1 Spain was ruled under the principles of the Castilian-borbon monarchy. Consequently, the Catalan institutions for self-governance (Generalitat de Catalunya and the aragonese legislation) had been also abolished. The new king Felipe V considered Barcelona a military fortress. It was forbidden to build outside the city walls and part of the city, the neighbourhood of la Ribera, was demolished to build a military citadel. The idea was to hinder the trading development of the city and to allow troops to attack the city easily in case of rebellion. In spite of that, during the rest of the eighteenth century Barcelona was the place of birth of spainsh capitalism. Since the last stages of the middle ages there was a strong system of guilds and artisans in the city, as well as a strong trading tradition. Barcelonese traders and artisans formed the first bourgeoisie of Spain creating new products and new ways to produce it. The driving force o that first industrial wave was the textile sector2. The economic development of the city cannot be understood without taking into consideration the industrial development in other nearby cities in which there where also strong guilds and artisans. Cities such as Sabadell, Terrassa or Mataró saw the rise of capitalism at the same time. Thus, the development of the first capitalism affects the entire current metropolitan region and shows one of its main features: its polycentrism.

During the first half of the nineteenth century Spain was under continuous conflict. The French invasion brought liberal ideas to the country and helped the consolidation of liberalism as ideology of the emergent bourgeoisie. During the second half of the century there was a certain liberal restructuration of the State. In this context, the emergent Catalan bourgeoisie began to pose a series of demands to the central government in Madrid. Nevertheless, the central government was still deeply connected to nobility and retained many feudal features, and the catalan bourgeoisie failed in having influence in a consistent manner. Thus, the identity of this bourgeoisie was based mainly on Catalan nationalism. The project of the bourgeoisie since then is to build a political institution for self-government and to ‘fill the gap’ of the central State in all the policy fields. In that sense, the political project is embedded to a cultural movement “la renaixença” based on the recovery of the Catalan culture.

1 The spanish succession war involved most of the European countries between 1701 and 1714. In Spain the conflict became a civil war between the kingdoms of Aragon, who wanted Charles of Austria as King, and Castile, who wanted Felip d’Anjou, from the borbons, as king. 2 Ironically, as Grau (2004) points out, the continuous needs of the military forces created a Strong demand that allowed the guilds and artisans to flourish and consolidate in Barcelona.

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The Catalan bourgeoisie was strongly interested in the demolition of the city walls of Barcelona. Knocking down of the walls was seen of the essence to improve hygienic and living conditions of the population. On the other hand, with the demolition the economic power of the bourgeoisie could be deployed. Despite political reservations on the part of the central government, the demands found favour and in 1854 the demolition of the city walls started. The construction of an enlargement to the city (eixample) began ten years later. The expansion envisaged the use of vast territories between the rivers Besòs and Llobregat, as well as the addition of the towns located in the nearby flatland which were already economically dependant on Barcelona. With the enlargement of Barcelona two different cities appeared: the old medieval town and the modernist bourgeois town. The process of enlargement allowed the preservation of the old town, what nowadays is a cultural active of the city. The expansion was designed by Ildefons Cerdà whose plans take very much into account the needs of an industrialized society (Solà-Morales, 1995). Thus, the plan included the construction of housing for the working class, industrial districts, equipments and transport infrastructures such as railway and underground. Although the city, as planned by Cerdà, was to be compact from its inception, land speculation and the pressure of promoters led to even more building an the final result was an area that was much denser than expected. Besides, the textile industry had located in towns on the borders of Barcelona because of the lack of space that prevented expansion in the city. With the enlargement of the city these towns became part of Barcelona serving as its industrial districts. Those areas corresponded mainly to the current districts of Sants and Sant Martí (Grau, 2004). Many other cities that are part of the metropolitan region today experienced sustained industrial development thanks to the textile and energy industries. This would be the case for Sabadell and Terrassa, cities that attracted a considerable number of workers.

The position of Barcelona as regards Spain’s economy has accorded the city a paramount role generating economic, social and cultural phenomena associated to the process of industrialization that surpasses that of any other region in Spain. In addition, Spanish trade policy was oriented to preserve the inner market for the national industry, a fact that benefited directly catalan businesses. Industrial development first and industrial diversification later on made of Barcelona a referent. Industrial development implied the emergence of a bourgeois class that during the romantic period –last quarter of the eighteenth century– managed to consolidate the cultural recovery of Catalonia. The restoration affected literature, plastic arts and architecture mainly and was at its most visible in the city of Barcelona where culture in general and architecture in particular flourished.

At the same time the working class was also under a process of consolidation. During the second half of the eighteenth century working class associations based on republicanism appeared and self-help grew in the city. In the last twenty years of the century, in contrast to what happened in other European countries, these associations were organized around the principles of anarchism regarded as a cultural and political movement. The existence of a vibrant anarchist current allowed for the coexistence in the cultural field of a strong catalan nationalism of bourgeois origins and of internationalizing anarchism which promoted social auto-organization of the population. Between these two trends there was a wide array of positions, some of them mixing both cultural systems3.

Both cultural systems left their impact in the city. Anarchism promoted the creation of workers’ associations an actively campaigned and provided the means for achieving literacy among popular classes. It was also responsible for the advancement of publishing, imported movements such as naturism and vegetarianism, and advocated for the rights of the workforce. The movement succeeded in creating a social network for the support of poor people and that, in addition, lent a helping hand to immigrants. Catalan bourgeoisie promoted the use of catalan and its codification, the scientific research, and the development of all the artistic disciplines. They created cultural

3 Is the case of the nationalists republican movement who advocated for self-government and independence from Madrid.

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associations and equipments such as the Liceu (opera theatre) or Palau de la música (orchestra theatre).

The consolidation of Barcelona as an industrial city occurred in the last years of nineteenth century. The organization of the international exhibition of 1888 shows this consolidation. It was organized by the local bourgeoisie and was based on urban renewal. Thus, the universal expo and attracted working force from the Spanish countryside and created new infrastructures recuperating the area of the old military citadel. The exhibition was considered a success and popularized the city outside Barcelona. The industrialization o the city envisaged also the creation of the first cultural industries of Spain. The main sectors of these new industries were publishing and leisure industries. During the first third of the twentieth century the show business of Barcelona experimented a rampant growth, with the “Paral·lel” avenue concentring theatres and music halls. There was also a pioneering motion pictures industry with studios and theatres. In the same line, the first radio station of Spain was settled in Barcelona in 1924. Only one week after the first emission, there were more than 80,000 hearers. Nationwide there was a general feeling of cultural renaissance and new ideas and currents of thought from the rest of Europe were avidly received.

Nevertheless, all this process took place in a context of marked social segregation. In the first decades of the twentieth century the social class struggle intensified. It was within the above context that in 1931, the Second Spanish Republic was proclaimed. Catalan nationalism saw in the new democratic political system the possibility of recovering the institutions of self-rule that had been abolished in the eighteenth century, whereas the working class, despite the general anarchist and revolutionary orientation, saw an opportunity for improve their living conditions and their rights. Indeed, the new Spanish Republic contemplated, at its inception, the autonomy of Catalonia that would become a reality with the Generalitat de Catalunya. Regarding the workers support, the first article of the republican constitution shows the orientation towards the working class: “Article 1: Spain is a democratic republic of workers of all the classes, organized in freedom and justice”.

1936 saw the advent of a fascist military regime that rose to overthrow the democratic government of the republic, but the coup d’état did not succeed. The events evolved, instead, towards civil war. In Barcelona the coalition of anarchists and loyalist forces defeated the army. Between 1936 and 1939 Barcelona came to be, firstly, a revolutionary city, where the principles of anarchism were implemented and, secondly, a stronghold of republican resistance. For that reasons, fascist forces bombed the city during the war and after their victory the city suffered fierce repression. In fact, the reactionary spanish fascism consided the city dangerous and the birthplace of the two dangers menacing Spain: separatism and socialism. Franco dictatorship means a gap in the cultural and creative tradition of the city. The new regime abolished one more time the Catalan institutions for self-governance and all forms of democratic freedom. The dynamic civil society of Barcelona almost disappeared for forty years.

After the Spanish civil war Spain suffered a period of extreme poverty and unabated repression. The 1940s decade was a period of marked economic recession and of severe repression, especially in the city of Barcelona. The economic policy of the dictatorial regime, based on maintaining economic activity in primary sectors to the detriment of manufacturing, caused amidst general scarcity, higher relative prices and salaries in activities of the primary sector rather than in the industrial sectors. The new regime forced the incipient post-war industry to turn to the domestic market promoting protectionism and autarchy. The defeat of the Axis powers in 1945 begot certain abatement in the fascist ways and iconography of the Spainsh regime for it began to consider a rapprochment with the allied forces and the possibility of opening the economy. These political changes would become more evident from the 1950s onwards.

Since 1950s Barcelona saw an economic recuperation due to the fordist industrialization. The

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dictatorship released at certain extent its control over the market forces and promoted at the same time the creation of large companies through the National Institute of Industry. The creation of that large national and monopolistic companies allowed the rise of private auxiliary services. The most relevant case is SEAT the national automobile industry founded in 1950. The automobile company was settled in Barcelona and generated employment growth in the city. As a consequence, from the 1950s onwards the city of Barcelona began to attract significant migratory inflows from the rest of Spain. The need to provide housing for the new population caused the accelerated urban development of Barcelona. Another side effect was the emergence of sub-standard housing. Until the beginning of the 1970s Barcelona and the neighbouring cities suffered accelerated growth and persistent lack of infrastructures for the newcomers. Since 1960s the polycentrism of economic growth started to decrease and interdependence between municipalities began to grow. The fist ring of the metropolitan region was formed by Barcelona, who concentrated the companies, and their neighbour cities which became residential working class municipalities. Other secondary industrial centres formed a second ring of the metropolitan region increasingly economically dependent of Barcelona.

The growing industrialism since 1960s was characterized by two main trends. Firstly, by the increase in industrial diversification; this meant going from an industrial sector that had its sustain on the textile industry to a more diversified industrial sector. Secondly, by the loss of significance of the industrial sector for the whole economy of the area. Thus, new economic growth was linked to both the emergence of new industries and to the development of new activity related to services. On this line, tourism would cause the service sector in Spain to grow considerably. In terms of cultural and creative industries, Barcelona continued to concentrate publishing industries of Spain. Nevertheless, after the civil war motion pictures activities had concentrated in Madrid. The strong control that the dictatorship maintained over motion pictures production as well as the creation of the first state-owned television studios explain the loss of weight of Barcelona in media industries. Radio production is an exception to that general trend. As a consequence, the region saw the emergence of record companies and music activities, being the leader in Spain. In parallel to the industrial development and the growth of the city, other creative activities like advertising or architecture became increasingly relevant. In spite of that, the dictatorship did not allow the spread of artistic activities which in many cases took place in the clandestinity. Dictatorship’s prohibition of the catalan culture expressions was determinant in that sense. As a consequence, all these creative activities would see an explosion since the democratic transition started in 19575.

The industrial growth of cities and metropolitan regions generated strong social problmes. The social and political conditions of the country did not allow for sustainable transformation of the city, what entailed entire neighbourhoods and even municipalities of working class residents living without basic equipments and without affordable housing. The housing deficit that accompanied the steady arrival of immigrants evolved towards the emergence of infra-housing an the construction of illegal houses –by the immigrants– in unpopulated areas of different cities (Pareja Eastaway,Tapada, Van Boxmeer, & Garcia Ferrando, 2003). This context saw, from the 1960s onwards, the emergence of active neighbours’ associations that would press the administration demanding basic services and infrastructure for housing estates. The housing deficit was compensated for, from the 1970s onwards, with massive building. Housing demand was addressed to a major extent through the contruction of housing estats and social housing by national organisms such as Obra Sindical del Hogar and the Patronat Municipal de l’habitatge.

Summarizing, between the second half of the nineteenth century and the first third of twentieth century Barcelona shows a huge industrial development, what generates also the rise of cultural and leisure industries as well a strong cultural milieu in the city. The local elites play a singular role in that development, that takes place without the collaboration of the State. These elites created cultural and social institutions and promoted international events such as the international

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exhibitions of 1888 and 1929. Francoism (1939-1975) finishes with this local initiative, but, as shall be seen in the following section, it appears again during the democratic transition. In fact, during the seventies new cultural industries start to grow in the city one more time, and they become a referent for the whole country. The main sectors of this renewed industrial fabric are publishing, advertising and discography. Despite the dictatorship attempts of control, Barcelona lives also a revival of their civil society through cultural and civic associations, what envisages the recovery of certain cultural milieu (Rodriguez Morató, 2008).

With the arrival of democracy the evolution of policy strategies in Barcelona can be divided in two main periods (García, 2008). The first period, between 1979 and 1995 was based on the modernization of the city, the creation of governance mechanisms for participation and the provision of services granting rights of citizenship. The second period, between1995 and 2005 is based on the internationalization of the city, the promotion of its tourist industry and the growing complexity of the metropolitan region. Since 2005 a new period seems to be configurating a new policy agenda for the city council. In the following sections these three periods are described.

The creation of the ‘Barcelona model’ (1979-1995)

Since 1979 the city of Barcelona and, at a lesser extent, the rest of the metropolitan region saw a radical transformation of their economy and urban structure. During this period the new democratic city councils organized governance arrangements including civil society and private agents in the development of the city and the region. The strategy of development followed two main steps. In first place most urgent urban renewal was tackled, doing small interventions in the territory and looking for consensus with neighbourhood associations. In second place, since 1986 the city faced the challenge of organizing the Olympic games of 1992, what entailed an integral strategy at a higher scale. As shall be seen, the organization of the games allowed for the emergence of creative industries as well as the participation of civil society.

With the arrival of democracy the city had to tackle an economic recession due to the crisis of fordism. In that context, the initiative of the local elites and the civil society was a key element. As one of the main industrial areas of Spain, Barcelona metropolitan region (BMR) was strongly affected by the economic crisis. Thus, the region suffered a strong economic recession and population decrease, which would not experience a slight recovery until 1986. Therefore, the advent of democracy and the first democratic town councils coincided in time with the intensification of economic recession. In the BMR leftist parties (mainly communists and socialists) controlled most of the city councils, whereas conservative parties controlled regional and national governments. In that framework, city councils could not start large social policies against exclusion. Furthermore, the global context was not favourable for developing social policies at regional or national. Firstly, because of the economic recession, that forced them to financial austerity. Secondly, and even more important, keynesianism was being replaced by neoliberalism as the hegemonic economic project (Brenner, 2004).

Thus, BMR had to tackle huge social problems inherited from the dictatorship in a context of redefinition of the State structure. In fact twenty years of unregulated capitalist development had resulted in a severe urban crisis embracing social and political problems (Blackeley, 2005). In the first half of the eighties Barcelona city council's main action was focused on solving basic housing and equipment problems. Moreover, in economic terms, the city was suffering a deindustrialization process. Industries and factories started to settle outside the city, in the city region from the beginning of 1970s. As a consequence, Barcelona and their neighbourhood cities started to loose population in favour of cities farther away in the metropolitan region. The configuration of the metropolitan region posed new problems to the municipalities, like mobility, waste treatment or

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water provision. Since mid-seventies a supramunicipal organism was created to manage this problems: The Barcelona Metropolitan Consortium.

Barcelona city council started a policy of small interventions in neighbourhoods, creating basic equipments and providing the most deprived neighbourhoods with public transport infrastructures and other public services. Perhaps the most important element of this policy was the consensus with the civil society representatives, not only neighbourhood associations but also the Chamber of commerce and entrepreneurs and workers associations (Blackeley, 2005; García, 2008). In doing this, the city council created efficient governance institutions to manage the city combining participative and representative democracy (García, 2008). This model allowed for the regeneration of the city avoiding conflict and providing public services to all the districts of the city. The process of regeneration was based on the creation of new centralities, creating a town centre in each district and providing it with equipments and infrastructures. That meant also the decentralization of cultural equipments for the citizenships, like civic or cultural centres.

In 1986 two events would acquire paramount relevance in changing the expectative of Barcelona as metropolitan region. On the one hand Spain admission to the EU allowed for openness and improved competitiveness. On the other hand, Barcelona's nomination to organize the 1992 Olympic games would open the way for major urban renewal, and for a change in the economic structure of the city. In fact, if the admission to the EU allowed the industrial economic growth, the nomination for the Olympic games meant the possibility to attract tourism and to consolidate the tertiarization of the economy. Furthermore, the nomination for the Olympic games was an opportunity for creative industries to grow. As shall be seen later, after 1992 activities linked to culture saw a rapid upward: theatre and cinema consumtion almost doubled. Other creative activities began also to grow. The huge urban renewal of the city generated strong demand on architecture sector. The games brought also the rise of design and a large set of activities in which design plays a central role.

The governance model acquired in the first years of democracy was of foremost relevance in the transformation of the city. The Olympic project was developed under a hegemonic consensus between the civil society and the public administrations. These consensus translated into a Strategic Plan for the development of the city which became a main feature of Barcelona policy-making. The city mayor Pasqual Maragall established efficient negotiations with regional and national governments. As García (2008) points out that multi-level governance generated physical and economic transformation, social cohesion, civic proud, and redistributive justice. The result was known as the “Barcelona model”. One main feature of this model is a growing interdependence between stated and civil society and the blurring of boundaries between the two.

In spite of this consolidation of governance institutions, conflicts between national regional and local authorities are of foremost relevance to understand the evolution of the BMR. In 1987 the regional government abolished the Barcelona metropolitan Consortium. The nationalist regional government saw a counter power to the autonomous authority. In fact, the consortium defended a project for Barcelona different from the project defended by Generalitat de Catalunya. The autonomous government allowed only the creation of institutions for the management of basic needs: waste, water and public transport management. As shall be analysed later, the dissolution of the consortium has created coordination problems of the municipalities of the region. Thus, the growth of the region and the demographic changes in the municipalities has not been based on a common strategy, and that sometimes has entailed competition for resources between municipalities. In the same line, conflict between national and regional government hindered the cultural role of Barcelona in Spain. Given that nationalist regional governement considered that competences on culture are their responsibility, the national government felt free to create the major cultural institutions and funding in Madrid (Rodriguez-Morató, 2008).

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Nevertheless, at the municipal level the success of the Olympic games both in terms of governance and of urban transformation generated an increasing interest for Barcelona not only as a city to visit but also as a model of urban development and strategic planning. The Olympic games created an inflow of tourists and transformed the economic basis of the city towards services activities. This growth was one of the objectives of the celebration of the event. In fact, the urban renewal done between 1986 and 1992 was based on the transformation of Barcelona into a touristic place. The impoverished old town was reformed with the creation of museums and massive building renewal, and new cultural equipments were created in other districts. Between 1986 and 1992 the city started to loose the last features of an industrial city. The last factories of the inner city moved to the rest of the region, in cities of the first or second ring. That entailed an increasing daily mobility of workers and a loose of population of Barcelona in favour of the municipalities of the first ring of the metropolitan region.

Furthermore, in the aftermath of the Olympic Games, the economy in Barcelona went into recession, which affected in particular manufacturing sectors such as the automobile, and mechanic sectors. Between 1991 and 1994 employment decreased 17.9 per cent in the city of Barcelona. At the same time, cities of the second ring of the metropolitan experienced an increase in employment. The increasing differentiation between the city of Barcelona and the rest of the metropolitan region started to become visible. The city concentrates service companies and knowledge-economy activities, while the region is dedicated to traditional industrial activity, mainly thanks to small and Medium companies. As shall be seen, this trend will intensify considerably at the beginning of the twenty-first century. In addition, political strategies to partly counteract the above trend will be implemented.

Policies for a leisure city (1995-2006)

The nineties were a period of profound changes in the economic pattern of the BMR. Likewise, the social transformations that had been initiated in the previous decade continued and intensified. In may 1995 Barcelona citizens elected a new mayor. Joan Clos substituted the charismatic mayor Pasqual Maragall, –promoter of the Olympic games–. Although both were members of the Socialist party, the new city council was based on a different style of management that generated different governance arrangements with the citizens and the private actors. Private actors and market played a major role in the definition of the city strategy, partly for the indebt of the city after the games and the economic recession that the city was suffering. In October 1996 the new city council announced that the city would host an unprecedented world event, namely the Fòrum de les cultures 2004. From that moment on, the event was to dedicate a significant part of the global political strategy for the city of Barcelona. Nevertheless the shift in the national government from socialist to conservative sign in 1996 as well as the lack of definition of the project hindered possibilities of efficient multi-level governance.

During the nineties the territorial distribution of activities and population consolidated. Barcelona became a city of services with tourism as its foremost activity, whereas municipalities of the first ring strengthened their residential use. During the nineties, Barcelona saw an upward in the number of visitors, who were not only tourists but also visitors for business purposes4. Between 1996 and 2005 city council implemented different policies to enhance this trends. In the new policies of the city culture is a central element. The growth of cultural assets of the city as well as the growth of cultural demand generated increased. For that reason, in 1996 an autonomous organism for the cultural promotion in Barcelona was created: the Culture Institute of Barcelona (ICUB is its catalan acronym). The main aim of the institute was to coordinate the interests of the different cultural

4 Between 1996 and 2005 visitors to the city almost doubled, from 3,061,994 in 1996 to 5,061,264 in 2005.

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sectors. In parallel to the creation of ICUB the first strategic plan of Culture was launched with the same objectives. The emphasis on culture as a motor for economic growth strongly affected tourism and the image of the city. As table 1 reveals, architecture and cultural activities are between the most valued facts of the city.

Table 1 - Barcelona most valued facts

Barcelona most valued Facts (1-10)

Range

Architecture 8.6Cultural activities 8.4Leisure activities 8.2Character of people 8.0Public transport 8.0Infrastructures 7.8Information 7.6Safety 7.2Source: BCN economía

Since 1995 the economic profile of the city was transformed from industry to services. Added value services started also to appear, and education of population of the metropolitan region improved. In 1991 only 7.6 per cent of population of the metropolitan region had a university degree. Between 1996 and 2001 the percentage rose to 14.6 per cent. In the city of Barcelona, though, the percentage of graduates was even higher (21 per cent in 2001). The delocation of industrial activity from the first to the second metropolitan ring generated intensified intraregional mobility. The number of individuals who work and live in the same district or in other districts of the same city decreased. Distances to work increased. The investment in transport infrastructures, mainly in motorways and roads improved communications between municipalities of the first ring and Barcelona until then isolated from the city centre. The housing market pressures allowed the urban growth of those municipalities, which attracted middle and higher classes of Barcelona. That generated an incipient process of social segregation between municipalities based on the strong dependence of private transport that it entails. Investments in the public transport system, mainly investments in the railway system were insufficient, in particular when compared to investments in roads and motorways. The growth of mobility entailed a rise in the passengers of public transport but, except the inner city underground, there were little investments on railways.

On the other hand, the airport and the harbour grew diversifying their uses. The harbour strengthened its position as one of the most relevant commercial harbours of the Mediterranean. It became not only recipient of goods but also of tourists. The Barcelona-El Prat Airport saw a rise in the number of passengers and flights as well as companies operating on it.

As has been stated previously, in that period the city council promoted a great event to stimulate the city. Nevertheless the economic situation was by far more complex during this period with diversified activities and increasing social diversity and needs. To tackle these new challenges, the city council as well as other public authorities adopt a managerialist perspective in which the public-private partnership plays a central role. As in many other European cities, a large set of institutions is created making more complex the governance mechanisms. These institutions are public-public and public-private and entirely partnerships aimed basically at urban development. The Forum 2004 event wanted to develop the coastal area of the city, the largest plot of land still available for development in Barcelona. The project included the urban renewal of the former industrial districts of the city and transform them into districts for the uprising of the knowledge economy. This renewal was labelled 22@

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22@ district is located in Poblenou, a district that was, in the past, one of the most industrialized areas of Barcelona. It was quite isolated from the rest of the city and dedicated to manufacturing activities. The displacement of large companies to the first and second rings of the metropolitan region affected lesser and later this district which at the end of the XXth century was still productive even that the general perception of decay: there was a general lack of infrastructures and social segregation as well as illegal houses. The urban renewal started in 1998 with the aim of giving new economic impetus –based on knowledge-intensive activities– to the district. However, residents’ associations in the district reacted negatively to some of the contents of the project such as the building of Skycrapers. Thus, the involved parties started negotiations and some changes in the initial plans were made in order to accommodate resident’s demands. Furthermore, the 22@ project entailed integral urban renewal without taking into consideration the industrial past of the district.

The 22@ project is the central piece of the city strategy to become a ‘city of knowledge’. Nevertheless in its first steps the private promoters are the main agents in the urban renewal, what means expensive offices to attract excellence and large companies. On the other hand this large project has hindered opportunities for the rise of creative industries not linked to knowledge. Between 1994 and 2006 Poblenou has lost 18 cultural centres and 133 artists that used to pay low rents for abandoned factories. The development of the project found resistance in these artists and the neighbourhood associations. Both saw that private interests were lacking collective needs. What this opposition reflects is an increasing gap between political elites and civil society organizations. As shall be seen in the next section, recent developments allow for renewed spaces of dialogue between city council and civil society organizations.

Recent developments: towards a creative and knowledge region?

The celebration of the Forum de les cultures in the summer of 2004 means, in many senses, a turning point for the city of Barcelona. The idea was to create a space for the cultural exchange and dialogue based on universal values. The outcomes of this event are not comparable to the consequences of the Olympic games of 1992 but for the relevance of the urban renewal it meant. The event itself, was not successful neither in the number of visitors nor in social impact of its conclusions. Furthermore, the Forum closed a large period in which great events were the motor for urban development.

In 2006 the mayor of Bacelona Joan Clos renounced and was substituted by Jordi Hereu. In one of his first discourses the new city mayor announced a new emphasis on development of cultural industries, as well as a new approach to social cohesion issues. This shift in the discourse (from knowledge to creativity and from tourism to social cohesion) exemplifies a major change in the city council strategy. Even that there is a continuum in the strategy of the city the emphasis on these elements shows that city council faces the main problems inherited from the 1996-2005 period. Nevertheless, most of the urban projects launched in the nineties are now in a step of consolidation. In that sense 22@ is going a step farther as a technological district. Since 2007 an international symposium on urban clusters is being held in the district. The objective is to share strategies with other metropolitan regions and to show main developments on each of the strategic clusters of the 22@ district: media, energy, ITC and biotechnologies.

In November 2006, a new strategic cultural plan was introduced. The plan ‘Nous Accents, 2006’ (New Accents 2006) is the updating of the previous one throughout a series of debates and workshops with all the agents involved in the production, creation and distribution of culture in Barcelona. The three basic lines of the new Cultural Strategic Plan are the following:

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Proximity to citizens Quality and excellence in the cultural production of the city A more interconnected cultural ecosystem.

This strategic plan is translated into policies trhough ten programs on different fields. At the same time, public infrastructures devoted to the sector at regional level are under construction. One of them is the Parc Barcelona media, aimed at promoting Barcelona as a city for film production. The aims of the strategic plan for culture are summarized in the following assessment of the mayor Jordi Hereu:

“We were a heavily industrialized city, we have suffered a major tertiarization of the economy and now we bet for new sectors. We want to convert Barcelona in a large centre of cultural production” (Jordi Hereu, interviewed in Público on February 3rd, 2008).

With that perspective the city council will create the ‘factories for creativity’ public centres aimed at helping novice artists with space and materials to develop their activities. The project is based on a successful bottom-up strategy in Poblenou called Hangar. Hangar is a cultural centre created in 1997 and managed by Association of Visual Artists of Catalonia (AAVC). The centre is placed in a former textile factory which was planned to be demolished in the context of the 22@ district renewal. Nevertheless the city council has approved now its enlargement in order to improve the spaces for artistic activities.

Nevertheless, in the rest of the Barcelona metropolitan region industrial sectors are still the most relevant economic activities. Nevertheless there is a process of conversion towards industrial knowledge-intensive activities. The entrepreneurial tradition of the region, based on small and medium familiar companies hindered possibilities for innovation. Even that some sectors like ICT or telecommunications have seen an increase. Other sectors such as the textile industries are in a process of transformation from manufacturing to design. This transformation has strong social costs with low-skilled personnel being fired of textile companies. Following this general trend, former industrial centres of the metropolitan region are following the steps done by Barcelona. Cities like Sabadell or Terrassa, industrial textile centres during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries are promoting culture as an economic factor of development. These cities take profit of their industrial heritage to generate cultural values. At the same time these cities tries to attract also talent and creativity. One more time, one major problem of the region is the lack of coordination of these efforts in a coherent singular strategy.

To avoid these coordination problems, since 2003 the former Barcelona strategic plan became the metropolitan strategic plan, with the consensus of all the participating actors and the cooperation between private and public actors. For the first time since the abolition of the metropolitan government in1987 there is a mechanism for supramunicipal coordination. That reflects the attempt to create an effective governance framework for the whole metropolitan region integrating the strategy of the city in a wider framework.

Empirical Is the BMR ‘doing well’? Evidences from creative workers

The previous sections have analyzed the development path of Barcelona linking cultural industries, governance and evolution of the metropolitan region. As has been stated, policies to attract talent and creativity are being held in the BMR. In this section I will try to assess the relevance of factors like the quality of life, tolerant environments and the image of the city –the soft factors– for the creative workers. To do that I present some results of a survey held in the context of the ACRE project. The survey was based on a sample of 200 creative and knowledge workers of the Barcelona Metropolitan Region.

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The aim of the survey was to obtain data of the relevance of soft location factors in the creative decisions of living in a certain place. The results are coherent with the analysis shown above. The image of Barcelona as a welcoming and tolerant place and the weight of its cultural assets would seem to attract creative and knowledge workers. Besides, the city is attractive not only for residents but also for visitors. In this sense, the supply of amenities and the tolerant atmosphere of the BMR are of foremost relevance. The majority of the respondents were very satisfied with the different possibilities of the BMR. In this sense, architecture and relevant monuments are the aspects related to leisure activities which people felt more satisfied with. Nevertheless the image of the city is less positive in other aspects. Environmental aspects are a major concern for respondents. In the same line, responses on general satisfaction with the city of living show differences within the metropolitan region. Those living in large cities were less satisfied, except for those living in Barcelona. That finds an explanation in the lack of resources and infrastructures in the large cities of the metropolitan region, mainly placed at the first ring. As a result, small cities of the first and second ring as well as the inner city of Barcelona are attractive for creative and knowledge workers in a greater extent than the large and medium cities which became residential during the nineties.

The majority of the surveyed creative and knowledge workers consider that the quality of life of the region has worsened in the last years (44.1 per cent), because the high cost of living the dirtiness in the cities of the region and the bad quality of services, and problems related to housing affordability. These assessments show that the perception of a recent negative evolution. On the other hand, when the creative and knowledge workers were asked for their neighbourhood as a place to live –where the influence of big infrastructures is not felt to be of foremost relevance–, they were much more positive.

In fact, the lack of infrastructures and equipment is a key factor to understand how the respondents assessed the relevance of soft factors. When problems linked to ‘hard factors’ are soled, soft factors are seen as having a greater prevalence. On the contrary, when there is a perception of general lack of infrastructures and equipment, soft factors play a secondary role.

Conclusions

This communication has tried to show the development of the creative economy in Barcelona taking into consideration the governance arrangements that allow its development and its social consequences.

An historic analysis of the development of Barcelona reveals that culture and leisure have been central for the city since its foundation. The influence of past development in current strategies for growth is two-fold. In first place, history has generated an institutional framework favourable to creativity and development of culture. In second place, this long tradition has its own footprint in the urban structure: middle ages constructions of the old town, modernist buildings in the enlargement of the city, renewed urban areas etc. Since its process of industrialization Barcelona has seen the upward of cultural and creative industries, with the notable parenthesis of francoism (1939-1975). In this period industrial growth based on fordism transformed the city and the region generating strong social problems and infrastructure deficits, some of them still present today.

The coming of democracy and the Olympic games 1992 generated a new economic basis for the city based on a strong tourism industry and culture development. At the same time the urban renewal for the Olympic games was based on governance mechanisms that allowed consensus between public administrations, private actors and civil society. After the Games the city council strategy was based on the improvement of touristic sector and the promotion of an urban renewal

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with a new great event: Forum de les cultures 2004. During this period, private agents played a major role and consensus with civil society weakened. In spite of that, first developments towards the development of a knowledge-based economy were started –22@ district, Scientific parks etc.– and culture started to become central for the city strategy.

Now Barcelona faces new challenges. Although having a strong cultural development tradition, culture and creativity is for first time being placed at the core of Barcelona’s growth strategy. After a period of strong emphasis on tourism and leisure, the city council has started to promote strategies aimed at fostering cultural industries. In this new period city council wants also to deploy the initiatives started in the nineties based on the knowledge society. The current strategy of the city council is not isolated from the rest of the region. In that sense, strategic planning has been enlarged to all the municipalities of the region looking for a coherent regional strategy. Recent developments of the city are focused on three main elements. One relevant objective is to improve infrastructures and classic location factors for companies. In that direction efforts are directed to the improvement of public transport infrastructures, mainly railway and underground systems. Also communication infrastructures and Internet provision are being tackled. The second objective is to reinforce and develop cultural industries. The creation of ten “factories of creativity” with public funds in the city shows that objective. The third objective is to foster social cohesion based on proximity policies. Nevertheless, the city region must face several challenges. In first place, BMR is growing in complexity with new residential patterns. The historical lack of a common strategy has generated competition between municipalities and duplication of efforts. At the same time the city council needs to make compatible a more inclusive city, with an active participation of civil society, with the creation of a governance framework at larger scales, generating a common strategy for the entire region.

As the ACRE survey reveals (Pareja Eastaway, Turmo Garuz, García Ferrando, & Pradel Miquel,2008), the creative and knowledge workers of the BMR share most of the objectives present in the current political agenda. That workers see Barcelona as a city with an attractive image linked to tolerance and quality of life. Nevertheless, they consider that construction and tourism are the most relevant sectors in Barcelona, what has prevented the development and maintenance of infrastructures and equipment. These aspects are essential for the development of economic diversification and social cohesion. Therefore, the direction that the BMR has moved in up to the present moment should be corrected in order to incorporate the necessary conditions to attract creativity and knowledge. On the other hand, the ACRE survey shows that soft factors have a secondary role when there is a perception of general lack of infrastructures and other classic factors for location.

One major conclusion of the analysis of Barcelona metropolitan region regards the relationship between soft location factors and governance arrangements. Far from being independent of the policy action, soft factors, even those linked to weather, need an institutional framework sustaining them. That is especially true when speaking of fostering tolerance. In Florida’s definition tolerance is relevant because it allows openness to new ideas, and that is of foremost relevance for creativity:

That regional economic growth is powered by creative people who prefer places that are diverse, tolerant and open to new ideas. Diversity increases the odds that a place will attract different types of creative people with different skills and sets of ideas. Places with diverse mixes of creative people are more likely to generate new combinations. Furthermore, diversity and concentration work together to speed the flow of knowledge. (Florida, 2004: 249).

From my point of view the emergence of tolerance and diversity in a city is not independent of the political elites and their action. The configuration of a specific governance regime can foster or

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hinder tolerance and diversity in the city. The openness of the policy action to new ideas also matters. In that sense, an inclusive governance regime that allows for the combination of representative democracy and participative democracy creates a climate in which creativity is socially relevant. The participation of civil society in the decision-making processes fosters social creativity against social exclusion. The creation of bottom-up cultural and educational centres or the creation of non-profit organizations against discrimination are examples of this kind of creativity. The role of civil society and its engagement in the urban management is key to understand the rise of tolerant and diverse environments, that is, is key to understand the rise of the creative economy. Moreover, it is not possible to avoid basic social conflicts when speaking of tolerance and diversity. Only places in which social cohesion and integration are in the policy agenda can foster their tolerant environments and can attract high-skilled talented people.

As has been stated, the current image of Barcelona is based at great extent on these elements. The success of Barcelona model of governance was based on the engagement of civil society in the project, what gave an image of openness to the city. After the Olympic games, civil society engagement weakened as well as social cohesion policies. In fact, the lack of basic infrastructures and the rise of touristic and construction sectors hindered possibilities for the consolidation of a creative economy. The new policy formulations are trying to correct that trend, emphasizing social cohesion and citizenship rights as well as economic diversification. Nevertheless, these efforts must face a massive and still growing tourism industry and an inherited lack of basic infrastructures.

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