Industrial Heritage Geographies: the case of Barcelona

Abstract

Barcelona has a lot of old factories restored like a social or cultural centers. That transformation began with development of democratic city council in 1979. This had to answer to the citizen requests because they wanted new equipments in those factories that it had fallen into disuse. At the moment, some citizens of Barcelona attach value to their industrial heritage because it represents your identity, your sense of place and a specific urban landscape. That’s all it has created a new controversies between citizens and the city council policy. These controversies show a different point of view about city management and industrial heritage use and demand a wide range of agreements between the city council and the citizens. The outcomes of those citizen’s claims and those agreements have created a new and mutable geography into the urban space.