Brand Barcelona: Marketing the Global City

Just as industrialization in the 19th century determined the development and role of the city during the modern period, so the advent of the post-industrial economy and globalization is transforming the city of the post-modern period. As economic control slips from the grasp of nation states, it is left to cities to compete amongst themselves for the investments and incomes so critical to the replacement of vanishing industrial bases. In the process, cities are forced to transform and re-brand themselves as they struggle to adapt to the new geographical, economic and symbolic environment in which they find themselves.

Brand Barcelona: Marketing the Global City will critically examine the success of the Barcelona Model of urban redevelopment and self-reinvention, paying particular attention to the way in which marketing has extended its sphere of influence from the selling of commodities to the selling of places. Given the consequent commodification of the city, the question will be raised as to who has benefited and who has lost out in this transformation.

As well as providing a solid foundation in theory, the course will also consider contemporary debates over the regeneration of Barcelona and will involve you in an exploration of the invisible city that is concealed by Barcelonas business/tourist friendly facade, through field studies and films. An important part of the assessment will involve project work, through which you will be encouraged to uncover aspects of the city that reveal something significant about how it is being transformed and reinvented through its global promotion.

Cross-listed as CUL358