Rethinking the built city

Cities are the stage upon which major societal transformation processes are played out, whilst also acting as their driver and the yardstick against which the continuity of such changes is measured over time, charting their evolution in terms of sustainability. Permanence, change and continuity interweave to configure a highly complex, diverse and dynamic metropolis that must be capable of regenerating and reinventing itself if it is to have any hope of lasting survival.

The personality of the singular Mediterranean metropolis of Barcelona has been forged over centuries of history. Forty-eight per cent of the land in this cosmopolitan city has been developed to form a diversity of urban fabrics whose density ranges from mild to extreme consolidation and whose habitability is in need of varying levels of urban renewal, while the remaining 52% is occupied by open spaces of great environmental and social value that offer a major opportunity to build a healthier and more sustainable metropolis.
Understanding the growing complexity of the contemporary city is a challenge that forces us to periodically reconsider both the concepts analysed and the instruments used to address the territorial phenomena that come to light during processes of reflection.

And the metropolitan area of Barcelona is no exception. The urban processes implemented in recent decades have radically transformed it and made it once again necessary to conduct a comprehensive analysis of its constituent municipalities – this time from an interdisciplinary perspective and using the latest tools – in order to precisely map out its future with the Metropolitan Urban Master Plan (PDU).