From Catalan Manchester to district of innovation. The symbolic changes of the neighbourhood of Poblenou

Abstract

In 2000 Barcelona’s town hall started the transformation of the old industrial area of Poblenou becoming a district of the city’s innovation. This change has not been free of critics, most of them done from the own district. The study deepens into the metamorphosis that the image of this space has experienced, specially in the field of artistic creation, trying to show how the image spread by the public administration, mainly focused in physical aspects, doesn’t adjusted completely to the reality. It is true that in the renovated spaces new enterprises from other areas have been installed or that an expulsion of the creative population has occurred. Nevertheless, these effects tend to appear mainly in zones outside the municipal action. In this sense, it is possible to conclude that the changes experienced have been more important in the level of the projected image by the administration than in the level of urban changes affecting the artists present in the neighbourhood. This local approach wants to show a bigger problem: the difficulties generated by the change of image of a space. For that reason, it is necessary to reflect about the role of the image in urban transformations and the possible elements that determine his successful or failure.