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Urban Development and Cultural Policy "White Elephants": Barcelona and Valencia

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  • Joaquim Rius-Ulldemolins
  • Gil-Manuel Hernàndez I Martí
  • Francisco Torres

Abstract

The 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 discourses about social cohesion and sustainability - as an instrument of urban branding and elite socio-economic domination.

Suggested Citation

  • Joaquim Rius-Ulldemolins & Gil-Manuel Hernàndez I Martí & Francisco Torres, 2016. "Urban Development and Cultural Policy "White Elephants": Barcelona and Valencia," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(1), pages 61-75, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:eurpls:v:24:y:2016:i:1:p:61-75
    DOI: 10.1080/09654313.2015.1075965
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Pierre-Michel Menger, 2010. "Cultural Policies in Europe.From a State to a City-Centered Perspective on Cultural Generativity," GRIPS Discussion Papers 10-28, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies.
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    Cited by:

    1. Marc Compte-Pujol & Jordi San Eugenio-Vela & Joan Frigola-Reig, 2018. "Key elements in defining Barcelona’s place values: the contribution of residents’ perceptions from an internal place branding perspective," Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 14(4), pages 245-259, November.
    2. Valeria Saiu, 2017. "The Three Pitfalls of Sustainable City: A Conceptual Framework for Evaluating the Theory-Practice Gap," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-23, December.

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