Behind the showcase of a mega-event: displacements, evictions, and resettlement of communities

Abstract

The Catalan capital city has become widely known, either through the Barcelona model under the auspices of the strategic planning process, either by the fascination building upon the 1992 Olympic Games. In order of host the sporting mega-event Barcelona'92, the Spanish city showed its level of compliance with the execution of urban regeneration megaprojects in the short term. In this light, this paper maps and examines the possible socio-spatial implications resulting from the planning process for structuring and appropriation of urban space. Therefore, it’s the main goal is to unveil the socio-spatial contradictions hidden by the Barcelona’92. So, it explores the relation between sporting mega-events and evictions, and the historical implications of this phenomenon on Barcelona’s socio-spatial structure. Therefore, bibliographical research and documentary research were contemplated through several sources aiming to make explicit the emblematic issue of removals with the urban transformations in the city of Barcelona. In addition, open and semi-structured interviews were conducted between 2011 and 2016. Given the success of Catalan strategic planning, preparations for Barcelona'92 reached several families through the construction of sports venues and urban transformation projects. In the case of removals, 624 families were impacted; have been displaced from the designated areas.

Keywords: Barcelona; Mega-events; Evictions; Strategic urban planning; Communities.