Does a ‘Barcelona Model’ Really Exist? Periods, Territories and Actors in the Process of Urban Transformation
Abstract The so-called ‘Barcelona Model’ of urban regeneration is known world-wide as a ‘success story’. Amongst the most frequently mentioned features of this ‘model’ are: the use of major events – such as the Olympic Games – as catalysts for great urban regeneration; the adoption of a relational mode of urban governance based on the collaboration between different tiers of government, public and private bodies; the political and administrative decentralisation and the participation of the citizenship. However, the ‘Barcelona Model’ has also received strong criticism from certain segments of the city's academic elite and several local social movements. This article calls into question the mere existence of one ‘Barcelona Model’. It highlights how the main strategies of urban public policy have changed in different periods. It illustrates that, territorially speaking, the strategies of urban regeneration have also been very varied. Eventually, it shows that the networks of urban actors involved in processes of urban change have been significantly diverse. Some learning elements for the analysis of urban regeneration are highlighted at the end of the article.
Urban governance and regeneration policies in historic city centres: Madrid and Barcelona
In this article we seek to analyse and compare the models of regeneration of the city centres of Barcelona and Madrid in the light of the transformation of urban governance in Spain. New ways of network governance are emerging in European cities and Madrid and Barcelona are no exception. Urban policies are evolving towards the creation of more integrated strategies for regeneration that involve not only multiple public stakeholders, but also private actors including social and community organizations. Despite both cities showing some common trends, the analysis reveals significant differences between the two cities, both in terms of the composition and the dynamics of the governance networks, and the priorities and strategies for regeneration. The article concludes by discussing the possible explanatory factors for such differences and their political implications.
Reforming the Russian legal system
Preface 1. Pre-revolutionary Russian law 2. The Bolshevik experience 3. The history of legal reform 4. Forging a new constitution 5. Citizens and the state: the debate over the Procuracy 6. In search of a just system: the courts and judicial reform 7. Law and the transition to a market economy 8. Legal reform in the republics 9. Legal reform and the transition to democracy in Russia Appendix Notes Index.