A metropolitan perspective is needed to face the challenges of a changing Barcelona

This first event of the 'Repensant Barcelona' cycle held at the Ateneo Barcelonès put into debate some of the most urgent and complex challenges of the metropolis: gentrification, tourism and infrastructures. In addition to the participation of Oriol Estela, general coordinator of the Barcelona Metropolitan Strategic Plan (PEMB), the event was attended by Miquel Puig, economist and former secretary of Economic Affairs and European Funds of the Generalitat; Carla Izcara, researcher at Alba Sur and expert in tourism, and Rubén Martínez, director of Urban Planning and Ecological Transition at the Barcelona Institute for Urban Research (IDRA).

The four speakers agreed on the need to introduce changes to face Barcelona's challenges, especially in terms of tourism, despite proposing different solutions. To open the debate, the four answered the question of what Barcelona should experience. Rubén Martínez stressed the importance of developing more resilient and self-sufficient economies in the face of future crises, while Carla Izcara emphasised rethinking the tourism model. Oriol Estela emphasised the need to think about Barcelona from a metropolitan perspective and warned that it should not live "on rents", but on productive activity. Miquel Puig, for his part, defended a commitment to knowledge-based economies that guarantee a high standard of living for citizens.

The need for a metropolitan perspective

One of the issues that Estela underpinned during the debate, and in which she agreed with Carla Izcara and Rubén Martínez, was the need to address Barcelona's problems from a metropolitan perspective. In this sense, the general coordinator of the PEMB stressed that "we must go beyond the strictly municipal vision and understand Barcelona as the city of 5 million inhabitants, which is the real city", referring to the metropolitan region. This implies rethinking the economy in an integrated and connected way, avoiding the concentration of activities in certain areas and promoting greater territorial coordination.

Gentrification and tourism: towards a more balanced economy

The debate highlighted the need to govern tourism to ensure sustainability and reduce pressure on the most affected neighbourhoods, but there was no consensus on how to carry it out. Miquel Puig defended the limitation of tourist housing licenses to curb gentrification and advocated for "quality tourism", arguing that more expensive tourism would guarantee more decent wages for workers in the sector. Carla Izcara, however, refuted this idea, pointing out that "elitist tourism" does not necessarily imply better working conditions. He stressed the importance of strengthening initiatives in defense of labor rights and rethinking a tourism model that takes into account the well-being of residents.

Broadening her view, Estela pointed out that touristification is not a phenomenon exclusive to Barcelona and that other global cities have adopted various measures to regulate it without resounding success. "The only way out I see is a great pact between cities to establish clear and shared boundaries," he said.

Infrastructures and major events: what Barcelona do we want?

In terms of infrastructure, the speakers agreed on the need for a better metropolitan public transport system, especially a more efficient commuter network. Estela stressed that "the priority must be Cercanías and the connection of goods to reduce dependence on road transport".

But the debate on the expansion of the airport was also present. The general coordinator of the PEMB explained that it should not be conceived as an isolated action with an impact only on the environment, but rather it should be thought about the consequences it will have on housing, transport or the economy for the metropolitan region as a whole. A vision shared by the director of Urban Planning and Ecological Transition of the IDRA, who lacks more holistic views that point to the consequences of the expansion in a broader sense. Estela also stressed the importance of thinking in the long term: "If this expansion ends up being carried out, what will be the next step?"

In relation to major events, their benefits and impacts were discussed and the four speakers agreed that it is no longer necessary to organise events to place Barcelona on the international map.

Rubén Martínez warned about the need to condition them to clear social and environmental criteria and not leave the governability of the city in the hands of private companies, for example having a significant reserve of public land. In this sense, Estela is committed to not thinking of major events as a goal, but as a means to achieve something else that adds value to the territory and to citizens, such as the articulation of metropolitan connections. For her part, Carla Izcara criticised the negative externalities that these events often entail, such as job insecurity, environmental impact, food waste, etc., while Miquel Puig defended that they should only be celebrated if they really contribute to building the city and "generating collective self-esteem".

A metropolitan future with a strategic vision

In conclusion, the importance of metropolitan strategic planning to face the challenges of the city and its area of influence was highlighted. Estela stressed that it is necessary to commit to technology transfer and the improvement of infrastructures on a metropolitan scale, recalling that Barcelona is already the city of 5 million inhabitants and that more than half of the population works in a municipality other than its own. He warned that economic specialization does not imply concentration in a few kilometers, giving as an example Silicon Valley, which triples the size of the metropolitan region of Barcelona without losing its specialization.

The event showed that the debate on the future of Barcelona cannot be alien to the metropolitan reality and inevitably involves strengthening cooperation between municipalities and articulating metropolitan governance, without necessarily involving the creation of new institutions, according to Estela.