Urban change and the European Left. Tales from the New Barcelona

Urban change and the European left: tales from the New Barcelona

'Urban Change and the European Left' looks at the way politicians and critics use the city to ground their political messages. The book explores local narratives of urban change through ethnography, biography, travelogue, and social history. Drawing on novels, architectural commentaries, urban plans, political speeches, history and autobiography, the author provides accounts of public art, architecture, grassroots struggles, battles for control of the 1992 Olympics, and the city and Catalan identity.

Taking five themes current to debates on the future of socialism in the city - Marxism and memory; European regionalism and city-states; social democrat new realism; the future of the urban social movements celebrated by Manuel Castells; and a `designer' socialism of architecture and public space - the book looks at the way politicians and critics use the city to ground their political messages. A final chapter looks into the future for the 'New Barcelona' and the implications for the Left of the pressures of European integration; the politics of the urban spectacle such as the Olympics or a cultural festival; the role of the city as a political space and the question of the 'right' to the city, particularly highlighted by environmental protestors.

Containing critical commentary on Barcelona previously unavailable in English, this book helps make sense of the shape of contemporary urban change and describes the way in which cities are central to the construction of place-based political identities.