Barcelona’s fabled basilica recently celebrated the completion of its first tower with a giant star. But as at every stage in its history, not everyone is pleased.
Joël Guiot, Aix-Marseille Université (AMU) and Wolfgang Cramer, Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS)
The Mediterranean region, with its biodiversity, climate, demographics, and economic activities such as tourism, agriculture and fisheries, is particularly vulnerable to environmental risks.
Part of Barcelona’s Eixample district.
marchello74/Shutterstock
The neighbourhoods of Paris, Barcelona and Amsterdam with densities 3-5 times those of Melbourne and Sydney offer an insight into how we could transform our cities for the better.
Outside their usual living environment, tourists feel freer from social constraints. Much to the chagrin of the locals.
Nito/Shutterstock
From wearables with monitoring chips to face scanners that assess your contentment, workplace surveillance seems to be going in one direction.
The benefits of ‘superblocks’ for Barcelona include better health, access to green space and other public space, and more transport-related physical activity.
Orbon Alija/iStock
The Spanish city is remaking urban neighbourhoods by limiting through traffic in superblocks that give priority to pedestrians and street activities, not cars.
The process of radicalisation is a complex system that cannot be reduced to the brain, behaviour, or environment. It exists at the intersection of all these elements.
Venice is among the cities that have had public protests against soaring numbers of tourists – including this protest banner on the Rialto bridge.
Andrea Merola/EPA/AAP
The future of tourism depends on ensuring visitors do not wear out their welcome. Giving locals more of a say in tourism can help ensure they share in the benefits and minimise the costs.
Barcelona is a city where various “smart” aspects contribute to everyday life.
Photo by Tim Easley on Unsplash
Advertising as a life story – this clever campaign branded a Spanish beer with a sense of belonging.
A smart city is usually one connected and managed through computing — sensors, data analytics and other information and communications technology.
from shutterstock.com
As cities become ‘smarter’, they need more and more objects fitted with technology. We need to think about designing these objects to accommodate computers, which often break down and create e-waste.
Directeur de Recherche CNRS, Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d’Ecologie marine et continentale (IMBE), Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS)