Identification, localization and characterization of deprived urban areas in the Barcelona Metropolitan Region

Abstract

During the last decades, social, academic and political interest in the situation of disadvantaged neighbourhoods has grown. The increasing socio-spatial segregation weakens cities development, causing high economic and social costs. The Catalan Government created in 2004 the Disadvantaged Neighbourhoods Programme, a pioneering initiative in Spain that has the objective of fostering the physical, social and economic regeneration of Catalan cities’ deprived areas. This research aims to identify the disadvantaged urban areas within the Barcelona Metropolitan Region, as well as to find out what their localization patterns are and what their characteristics are in terms of resident population and housing stock, identifying two main typologies of disadvantaged areas: old inner-city neighbourhoods and peripheral areas.