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RESEARCH PRODUCT
Urban Development and Cultural Policy “White Elephants”: Barcelona and Valencia
Joaquim Rius-ulldemolinsGil-manuel Hernàndez I MartíFrancisco Jose Torressubject
Corruptionmedia_common.quotation_subject05 social sciencesGeography Planning and Development0211 other engineering and technologies0507 social and economic geography021107 urban & regional planningReal estate02 engineering and technologyEconomyLegitimationUrban planningSociologyWhite elephant050703 geographyCentral elementTourismmedia_commonCultural policydescription
AbstractThe importance of culture in defining new models of local development has been increasingly emphasized. However, less attention has been paid to the influence of local development models on local cultural policy. This article will focus on analysing two cities that have used culture as a central element in their economic and urban development. In both cases, they have followed different strategies but the two have finally finished generating two “white elephants”: the Universal Forum of Cultures in the case of Barcelona and the City of Arts and Sciences in the case of Valencia. From a comparison of the two cases, the paper analyses the causes of this urban phenomenon, which combines cultural legitimation, wasteful investments, financial and social unsustainability and, last but not least, corruption. These four characteristics of cultural white elephants express the depletion of a neoliberal city model based on real estate speculation and tourism, which de facto relegates culture – in spite of dis...
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015-09-03 | European Planning Studies |