REGULATORY FRAMEWORK AND METROPOLITAN GOVERNANCE

The population of the metropolitan area of Barcelona doubled between the 1950s and the 1980s. Despite the population remaining relatively stable over the last four decades, a number of demographic phenomena have affected its characteristics and location. At the same time, economic activities experienced a process of major territorial growth, transformation and expansion. Both processes have had significant effects on land occupancy, involving not only physical impacts but also effects on the functionality of the metropolitan system.

The 36 municipalities in the metropolitan area of Barcelona have been provided with various urban planning instruments in order to address these changing circumstances. The 27 municipalities that made up the former Metropolitan Corporation have been subject to the Metropolitan General Plan (PGM) since 1976. Seven of the other nine municipalities have a General Urban Plan (PGO) and two have a more recent Municipal Urban Plan (POUM).

However, most urban planning instruments are today showing their age. Over the four decades since its approval, and despite the more than 1,200 amendments to it, many of the provisions of the PGM have become obsolete, either because the socio-economic and environmental conditions have changed, or because some aspects that have become more important over time were given insufficient emphasis. Although it is more recent, there is also a need to update the contents of the planning of the other municipalities in the metropolitan area and ensure its consistency with the rest of the territory in some cases.

The need to review the ten general planning instruments, which organise and classify the metropolitan territory in detail, has been even more apparent since the approval of the Barcelona Metropolitan Territorial Plan in 2010, which defines mobility infrastructure systems, open spaces and settlements for the metropolitan region as a whole on a territorial scale. However, the Territorial Plan also establishes the obligation to draw up a master plan for the metropolitan area of Barcelona, as a prior urban planning instrument for reviewing and adapting the existing urban planning to its specifications.

The PDU is also obliged to comply with the stipulations of the Law concerning AMB. In this respect, metropolitan planning is not only essential for ensuring the planning and functioning of the metropolitan area, but is also essential for exercising the range of competences assigned to AMB.

The metropolitan area of Barcelona is a consolidated territory, in which there are not many options for new construction. Most urban development operations must therefore consist of urban renewal or rehabilitation and improving how the territory functions. The PDU is a key instrument in achieving environmental objectives, which call for reflection on the non-transformed natural space from an ecosystem perspective.

This new instrument must be based on a unique language, which unifies the ten management plans currently in force – the PGM, the seven general plans and the two municipal urban plans – and provides a continuous overview of the metropolitan area. This work also provides the opportunity to establish common definitions of urban concepts.

The plans have been subject to amendments and specifications over the years, and now contain over 7,000 different classifications. They must now be streamlined by reformulating the existing areas and systems and incorporating new instruments, such as three-dimensional hybridisation, which examine the possibility of the same land being classified for different uses on each floor.

Furthermore, apart from the number of free spaces and facilities, it is also necessary to evaluate their quality, because they play an important social and ecological role, as they improve the living conditions of the population.

Finally, the dynamism of today's society needs a regulatory framework that not only adapts to contemporary requirements, but can also be updated continuously based on new demands. The increasingly detailed knowledge of metropolitan needs provided by the growing availability of information and new technologies, must be transferred to planning in order to provide a more efficient urban planning response.

In order to address these challenges, the PDU offers flexible governance that can be tailored to the different needs in the appropriate territorial area using the relevant instruments. The agreements between AMB and other institutions, coordination with economic and social agents, and the role of a lobby of the Spanish Government and the European Commission are essential in this regard.