Metropolitan Cities: Territory and Governability, the Spanish Case

Abstract

In the last 50 years, Spain has undergone significant urbanization which created both opportunities and challenges in critical areas such as human settlement, economic growth and particularly governance. The latest wave of urbanization in the Spanish context has not just meant the explosive growth of cities themselves but also of metropolitan regions because of new production and residence patterns, which shaped both processes of population dispersal and recentralization. By focusing on the five principal metropolitan areas in Spain - Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao, Seville and Valencia - this discussion will explore the transformative impact of recent urbanization on Spanish society: tracing Spanish metropolitan development over the last 50 years; exploring the most recent 'urban revolution' and the resulting processes of dispersal and recentralization; and analysing both the factors that threaten the sustainability of some urbanization models and the issues that make governance difficult within the current metropolitan reality. Lastly, we provide innovative strategies for improved management and governance in urban Spain.

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