Barcelona has received a lot of international coverage since the Olympic Games were held in the city in 1992. It is regularly
featured in
architecture magazines and extolled as a paragon of urban planning.
However, the real Barcelona is far removed from this PR fantasy. The
infrastructure built for the Olympic Games is not only showing its age but also evidences the planning blunders committed back in the late 1980s and early
90s. These include failure to: (1) grapple with private vehicle traffic (the ring roads - designed to relieve congestion - are now at saturation point); (2) provide services (the Olympic Village - subsequently converted into
a residential area - is woefully lacking in shops and offices); (3) tackle sustainable development and pollution (Barcelona ranks 1st in Europe and 8th worldwide in terms of micro-particle pollution according to a recent WHO
report).
The city’s Socialist council (in power for the last 30 years) continues to pursue policies that pander to property developers and big corporations whilst largely failing to provide the infrastructure
required by a modern European city. A prime example of this was the city’s Universal Forum of Cultures in 2004 which proved a bonanza for real-estate companies but hideously expensive for taxpayers. Barcelona’s other attempts
at showcasing the city - particularly its funding of fashion fairs (Salon Gaudí, Gaudí Home, Bread & Butter) - have also been expensive flops of little relevance to the lives of citizens.