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Urban crises across the North-South divide A comparative study of institutional transformations and urban policy responses in Valencia and Mar del Plata Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University College London by Alvaro A Sanchez Jimenez Department of Geography University College London August 2017 1 I, Alvaro Alberto Sanchez Jimenez, confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. Alvaro A Sanchez Jimenez 2 ABSTRACT The thesis analyses how episodes of crisis have shaped local institutional transformations and urban policy innovations in Valencia and Mar del Plata over the last three decades. Spainʼs ongoing public debt issues and Argentinaʼs long history of financial instability place current debates concerning local government responses to economic crises into context. The thesis engages with urban research that cuts across cities from the global North and South in order to exploit the potential of comparative urbanism to stretch conventional approaches, methods and concepts from urban theory. Drawing inspiration from literature on institutionalism, it brings into analytical scrutiny and conversation a number of formal and informal features of the local institutional environment of each city to offer a nuanced understanding of how local governments deal with economic, social and political urban issues in times of crisis. Narratives of crisis advanced by local actors provide an alternative empirical source for the analysis of the urban dimension of major episodes of crisis and reveal their multiple temporalities. The detailed consideration of different urban actors exposes the complexity of the institutional environment in which organisational transformations and urban policymaking processes take place as well as the wide variety of interests at play, and how these were differently constituted in the two case study cities. The examination of the relationship between crises and local institutional transformations reveals that crises are not simply economic in origin but are both politically constituted and politically mediated. Finally, the thesis considers in detail how specifically urban interventions and strategies were articulated by the municipal governments in response to crises. The thesis ends with an invitation to the reader to grapple with the rich experience of these and other ordinary cities dealing with multiple kinds of crises, drawing out lessons for how these might be tackled creatively and even positively in the future. 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The completion of this thesis would not have been possible without the help of many individuals over the past four years. Any attempt to say thank you to each of them is bound to be incomplete. Please allow me to name just a few of the protagonists to whom I feel most indebted. I wholeheartedly thank my main supervisor Professor Jennifer Robinson for her caring support throughout the journey. Jenny, your professional commitment and enthusiasm is truly exemplary and an inspiration for all of us. I remain grateful not just for your academic guidance, but also for supporting me and cheering me up when I felt “down”, overwhelmed with work or in the midst of a writing “crisis”. I would also like to thank my secondary supervisor, Professor Adriana Allen for her support and guidance in the early stages of the research and fieldwork. Professor Pepe Soribes, in Valencia, Spain and Lic. Monica Burmester, in Mar del Plata, Argentina, who cordially welcomed me in their respective university departments and guided me throughout the fieldwork period. The dozens of participants who welcomed me in their work places, who engaged with the project and the lengthy interviews with great interest and who shared their experiences and knowledge about their cities. My mother, in Valencia, Venezuela and my sister, in Nashville, United States, for their support in different ways. To my friends and colleagues at UCL Geography, London and elsewhere. At home, in London, I infinitely thank Jan Carsten for his encouragement and support throughout this long journey, emphasizing that it will provide me and equip me for a more stimulating and fascinating life! 4 CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION 11 2. THEORISING URBAN GOVERNANCE FOR TIMES OF CRISIS 21 2.1 INTRODUCTION 21 2.2 CRISIS 24 CRISES AND CRISIS NARRATIVES 31 2.3 INSTITUTIONALISM 34 2.4 URBAN GOVERNANCE 42 2.5 COMPARATIVE URBANISM 47 2.6 CONCLUSION 54 3. METHODOLOGY – COMPOSING COMPARISONS 57 3.1 INTRODUCTION 57 3.2 RESEARCH AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 57 3.3 VALENCIA AND MAR DEL PLATA: COMPARABILITY 61 3.4 METHODOLOGY 67 3.4.1 CASE STUDY SELECTION: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES 67 3.4.2 COMPOSING COMPARISONS AND ASSEMBLING COMPARATORS 69 3.4.3 EMPIRICAL FOCUS AND RESEARCH METHODS 72 3.5 DATA COLLECTION: FIELDWORK 78 3.6 DATA ANALYSIS: WRITING COMPARISONS 81 3.6.1 THE CRISIS COMPARATOR 81 3.7 ETHICAL ISSUES AND POSITIONALITY 84 3.8 CONCLUSION 87 4. COMPARING SPAIN-ARGENTINA AND VALENCIA-MAR DEL PLATA 89 4.1 INTRODUCTION 89 4.2 SPAIN AND ARGENTINA: COMPARABLE INSTANCES 90 4.2.1 CHRONOLOGICAL TIMELINES 93 SPAIN 94 ARGENTINA 97 5 4.3 ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL DECENTRALISATION 101 4.3.1 VALENCIA 106 4.3.2 MAR DEL PLATA 110 4.4 URBAN POLICIES AND STRATEGIES 113 4.4.1 VALENCIA 113 4.4.2 MAR DEL PLATA 118 4.5 CONCLUSION 122 5. NARRATING URBAN CRISES 125 5.1 INTRODUCTION 125 5.2 MOMENTS OF CRISIS 127 5.2.1 VALENCIA 128 5.2.2 MAR DEL PLATA 133 5.3 NARRATIVES OF CRISIS 138 5.3.1 VALENCIA 140 5.3.2 MAR DEL PLATA 146 5.4 MULTIPLE TEMPORALITIES OF CRISIS 151 5.4.1 LEGACIES OF CRISIS 152 VALENCIA 152 MAR DEL PLATA 156 5.4.2 EPISODES OF CRISIS REDUX 159 VALENCIA 159 MAR DEL PLATA 164 ADDENDUM: CRISIS AND RECENT POLITICAL CHANGE IN VALENCIA 168 5.5 CONCLUSION 171 6. URBAN ACTORS AND THE LOCAL INSTITUTIONAL ENVIRONMENT 175 6.1 INTRODUCTION 175 6.2 URBAN ACTORS 176 6.2.1 VALENCIA 176 CHARISMATIC LEADERS: RITA BARBERA 176 LOCAL ECONOMIC AND BUSINESS ACTORS 179 CONSULTANTS AND EXPERT TEAMS 182 6 THE MUNICIPALITY 185 SOCIAL ACTORS 188 6.2.2 MAR DEL PLATA 193 POWERFUL INDIVIDUALS: ALDREY IGLESIAS 193 LOCAL ECONOMIC ACTORS AND PROFESSIONAL ORGANISATIONS 196 THE MUNICIPALITY 200 SOCIAL ACTORS 203 6.3 LOCAL INSTITUTIONAL ENVIRONMENTS AND CULTURES 207 6.3.1 VALENCIA 207 6.3.2 MAR DEL PLATA 211 6.4 CONCLUSION 214 7. LOCAL INSTITUTIONAL TRANSFORMATIONS 219 7.1 INTRODUCTION 219 7.2 EPISODES OF CRISIS AND LOCAL INSTITUTIONS 220 7.2.1 VALENCIA 221 7.2.2 MAR DEL PLATA 225 7.3 POLITICAL CRISES: DEMOCRACY AND DECENTRALISATION 232 7.3.1 VALENCIA 233 DEMOCRATIC TRANSITION 233 DECENTRALISATION 239 7.3.2 MAR DEL PLATA 248 DEMOCRATIC TRANSITION 249 DECENTRALISATION 256 7.4 CONCLUSION 262 8. URBAN POLICIES IN TIMES OF CRISIS 267 8.1 INTRODUCTION 267 8.2 URBAN POLICY INTERVENTIONS AS OPPORTUNITIES IN THE MIDST OF TRANSITION CRISES 268 8.2.1 VALENCIA 269 8.2.2 MAR DEL PLATA 274 8.3 THE RISE OF STRATEGIC PLANNING INITIATIVES IN RESPONSE TO EPISODES OF CRISIS 280 7 8.4 URBAN POLICY STRATEGIC AGENDAS IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS OF 2008 298 8.5 THE URBAN CONSEQUENCES OF CRISIS 304 8.5.1 VALENCIA 305 8.5.2 MAR DEL PLATA 307 8.6 CONCLUSION 310 9. CONCLUSION 315 9.1 URBAN CRISES ACROSS THE NORTH-SOUTH DIVIDE 315 9.2 URBAN POLICIES IN TIMES OF CRISIS 320 9.3 THEORISING URBAN GOVERNANCE FOR TIMES OF CRISIS 322 9.4 FUTURE RESEARCH 326 10. BIBLIOGRAPHY 331 11. Appendix 01 357 12. Appendix 02 371 13. Appendix 03 373 14. Appendix 04 375 15. Appendix 05 377 16. Appendix 06 379 17. Appendix 07 381 18. Appendix 08 383 19. Appendix 09 385 20. Appendix 10 387 8 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 01. Comparative work by Clarke (1995), Savitch and Kantor (2002), Goldfrank and Schrank (2009). Chapter 2. 48 Figure 02. Formal and informal features considered in the study of institutional and urban policy responses in times of crisis. Chapter 3. 74 LIST OF TABLES Table 01. Municipal sources of revenue and finance in Valencia and Mar del Plata. 62 Table 02. Division and allocation of competences across tiers of government in Spain and Argentina. 66 Table 03. Population growth in Valencia and Mar del Plata. 68 Table 04. Rate of Unemployment in Valencia and Mar del Plata. 68 LIST OF BOXES Box 01. Federalism and decentralisation in Spain. Chapter 3. 63 Box 02. Federalism and decentralisation in Argentina. Chapter 3. 64 Box 03. Democratic transition and decentralisation in Spain. Chapter 4. 102 Box 04. Democratic transition and decentralisation in Argentina. Chapter 4. 104 LIST OF MAPS Map 01. Location of the two case study cities in relation to their national and regional contexts: Valencia (top) and Mar del Plata (bottom). 71 9 Map 02. Location of some of the large-scale projects and community-led initiatives that have shaped the urban landscape of Valencia since the 1980s. 119 Map 03. Location of some of the most iconic and large-scale projects that have shaped the urban landscape of Mar del Plata since the 1990s. 123 LIST OF IMAGES Image 01. Huertos Urbanos de Benimaclet, Valencia (Photos by the author). Chapter 6. 191 Image 02. Avance del Plan Especial de Reforma Interior: El Jardi del Turia (Photos by Taller de Arquitectura de Ricardo Bofill). Chapter 8. 273 Image 03. La Ciudad de las Artes y de las Ciencias, Valencia (Photos by the author). Chapter 8. 290 Image 04. Frente Marítimo, Mar del Plata (Photos by the author). Chapter 8.

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