Impact of urban renewal and regeneration schemes.
Environmental and residential quality are assessed in four representative zones,
together with the completion of a perception and gentrification index.
Best practice case study, examining
the impact of the 'Barcelona Model' of culture-led gentrification.
Land use mapping can be undertaken as an alternative technique to a
gentrification index.
Application of urban
models and impact of sustainable city planning. The Eixample is a utopian garden
city development dating from 1859 which grew between outlying industrial towns
across what was then Barcelona's military exclusion belt.
The City Council is gradually restoring public gardens to the Eixample
blocks as part of its ProEixample sustainable city planning.
Application of the Hoyt
and Burgess models to the Eixample district of Barcelona. Its growth between
outlying industrial districts is reflected in its land use patterns. Eixample
district of Barcelona
The social, environment and economic impact of the new ProEixample garden
project developments. more
The Mayor of Barcelona,
Joan Clos, has blamed low density planning for the lack of social and economic
life in Barcelona's Olympic Village. There are few people on the streets and
public space, shops or bar terraces are little used by the neighbours.
In the Mayor's defence of the compact and dense city – building upwards rather
than outwards – the Eixample of Ildefons Cerdà is seen as a success. The
Eixample has 150 dwellings per hectare, creating a district “where yes, there
is life”. For Clos, the Olympic Village with 60 dwellings per hectare is an
example of what should not be done in city planning.
The study compares land use, environmental quality, economic data and
perceptions for sampled Eixample and Olympic Village blocks. The recording of
pedestrian counts and noise decibel levels assists hypothesis testing and
analysis.
Vilafranca
Vilafranca
Travel time: 30 minutes
Land use patterns within
Vilafranca and their application to urban models. Change in retail and other
functions, including areas of discard/assimilation and zones in transition. Role
of centrifugal and centripetal forces in a changing CBD. Regeneration and
re-imaging the CBD. Implications for city centre management.
A visit to the nearby
Torres Wine Bodega in the afternoon can compliment this study.
All fieldwork studies are supported with a wide range of
secondary data. Some urban studies require students to check the price of a
convenience item at a number of retail outlets. These fieldwork examples take a
full day. There is usually time available after the work for shopping or
sightseeing.
