Poblenou, Urban Change and Social Transformation

Abstract

With the nomination of Barcelona as the venue for the 1992 Olympic Games, it was decided to built un Olympic Village in Poblenou. The objective of this article is to assess the social impact of urban planning courrently being undertaken or to be carried out in the future in Poblenou. Apart from the Olympic Village, the recovery of sea view and the Coastal Highway, the Nord-Glòries sector and the Peri de la Diagonal are the most important interventions. All these form an agregate of actions which have important socio-economic implication for the neighbourhood and for the city. The phenomenon of «gentrification» is analised in terms of the social substitution or displacement of the lower and lower middles classes by upper middle and upper class sgroups. The central hypothesis of this study is that the urban change in Poblenou will stimulate a tertiary and residential land-use and also a social transformation by middle classes.