Polycentricity, Performance and Planning
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07 2016 Polycentricity, Performance and Planning Concepts, Evidence and Policy in Barcelona, Catalonia Jaume Masip-Tresserra Polycentricity, Performance and Planning Concepts, Evidence and Policy in Barcelona, Catalonia Jaume Masip-Tresserra Delft University of Technology, Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, OTB - Research for the Built Environment TOC abe.tudelft.nl Design: Sirene Ontwerpers, Rotterdam Cover image: ‘BarcelonaSkyline.com’, Sergi Periche ISBN 978-94-6186-631-8 ISSN 2212-3202 © 2016 Jaume Masip-Tresserra All rights reserved. No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the author. TOC Polycentricity, Performance and Planning Concepts, Evidence and Policy in Barcelona, Catalonia Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Technische Universiteit Delft, op gezag van de Rector Magnificus prof. ir. K.C.A.M. Luyben; voorzitter van het College voor Promoties, in het openbaar te verdedigen op maandag 25 april 2016 om 10:00 uur door Jaume MASIP-TRESSERRA Master of Science in Urban Management and Valuation, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Spanje geboren te Barcelona, Spanje TOC Dit proefschrift is goedgekeurd door de promotor: Prof.dr. W.A.M. Zonneveld copromotor: dr. E.J. Meijers Samenstelling promotiecommissie bestaat uit Rector Magnificus, voorzitter Prof.dr. W.A.M. Zonneveld Technische Universiteit Delft Dr. E.J. Meijers Technische Universiteit Delft Onafhankelijke leden Dr. M.J. Burger Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam Prof.dr. W.K. Korthals Altes Technische Universiteit Delft Prof.dr. F.G. van Oort Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam Prof.dr. G.P. van Wee Technische Universiteit Delft Prof.dr. F.J.A. Witlox Universiteit Gent TOC To my parents, Jaume and Elionor, and my brother, Oriol. TOC 6 Polycentricity, Performance and Planning TOC Preface Whereas strategy is abstract and based on long-term goals, tactics are concrete and based on finding the best move right now. Questions are what matter. Questions, and discovering the right ones, are the key to staying on course. […] The wave of information threatens to obscure strategy, to drown it in details and numbers, calculation and analysis. To have strong tactics, we must have strong strategy on one side and accurate calculation on the other. Both require seeing into the future. [Garry Kasparov, World Chess Champion 1985-2000] This book is the result of a four-year PhD research project carried out in Delft, the Netherlands. As the reader has probably noticed, the doctoral research that I am presenting in this book revolves around three key concepts: polycentricity, performance, and planning. These concepts will be developed in the context of Barcelona, Catalonia, a small land of 32,000 square kilometers located on the European continent. As in a chess match, all research begins with a series of questions. The three main questions in this book, as the reader will see, are derived from wondering about the multiple relationships among the urban structure of metropolitan areas (polycentricity), their performance (considering each area’s economic, social, and environmental aspects), and how these metropolitan areas are planned through the elaboration of a spatial plan (planning). This book takes an analytical approach to this triple Ps. In other words, I break the links among polycentricity, performance, and planning into smaller pieces (e.g., polycentricity and performance) to render their examination more feasible. Therefore, I first develop both a policy/discourse analysis and empirical models to examine polycentricity both in policy (spatial plans) and in research (evidence). Second, I develop additional models to estimate the link between polycentricity and the performance of metropolitan areas. Third, I return to the relationship between polycentricity and planning to bring polycentricity’s estimated effects on metropolitan performance to architects, planners, and policymakers alike in an evidence-informed manner. Accordingly, the background idea of this book is to call into question the need for greater symbiosis between research and policy within the field of spatial planning and urban and regional studies to improve both the feasibility and the effectiveness of spatial plans. hisT idea primarily originates in a constructive criticism of the spatial planning training that I received while pursuing my 6-year Bachelor of Architecture. What I learned in the spatial planning field provided me with a high capacity to raise the appropriate questions to develop a territorial project based on reflection through a drawn representation of that territory while simultaneously addressing various territorial scales. However, the answers to these questions would only come from an extensive theoretical body of knowledge relating to urban form and territorial plans, in which the example of growth via Eixample (broadening, a grid pattern of development), the territorial model of ciutat de ciutats (city of cities) and Copenhagen’s 1947 Finger Plan featured in the territorial project in a very suggestive way. It is here, in the methodological approach to obtaining answers to the questions raised, where I believed that we architects can improve the tools used to develop a spatial plan. Is it possible to gain additional knowledge, based on empirical evidence, from which cause and effect can be determined? 7 Preface TOC All of my research not only involves personal travel (made with great effort to carry out independent research) but also requires external support so as to make that travel more enjoyable. Over the past four years, I have had the pleasure of receiving support from many people in various situations and roles. This preface cannot end without a word of thanks to all of them (albeit more briefly than they deserve) because their contribution has been more than vital to developing this doctoral thesis. Therefore, I feel I owe an unpaid debt of gratitude to the following people: I thank Wil Zonneveld and Evert Meijers, my promoter and co-promoter, for providing me the opportunity to perform a PhD research project at TU Delft. Moreover, I thank them for their continuous dedication, useful comments and excellent coaching that helped me to remain on track with my dissertation and to manage my frequently excessive enthusiasm for achieving more than what would have been possible during four years of research. I thank all of my colleagues in the Urban and Regional Development section of the OTB Department for Built Environment Research (Kees, Evert, Marloes, Jan Jacob, Erik, Dominic, Bas, Marlojein, Sjoerd, Christa, Dorina, Dena, Paul, and so on) for their hospitality and kindness, which made me feel at home during my time in Delft. A special mention to you, Arie Romein, for sharing your passion for Feyenoord with me and inviting me, more than once, to enjoy the show firsthand at the football stadium. I would also like to extend my gratitude to my office mates (before my relocation to the BK building), Rob Konings, Eikki Kreutzberger and Andreas Faludi, for their short but rewarding talks during working sessions (you made them shorter) and the articles (especially you, Andreas) that you recommended I should read. I shared space with PhD colleagues (André, Bo Wang, Paul, Dena and Igor, among others) at BG.West.550, BK, beginning in January of this year. Thank you for the working environment that you created, for the casual outings to Bouwpub and for inviting me to play football with you. André, I hope to be able to read your masterpiece soon! I thank the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya for the training and assistance that I received and for the most endearing memories with my travel companions during my time in Barcelona. I also thank Maria Montaner, who represents the interadministrative consortium of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority of Barcelona; Ernest Ruiz, who represents the public administration body of the Barcelona Metropolitan Area; and the Statistical Institute of Catalonia and the Department of Territory and Sustainability of the Catalan Government, which efficiently provided me with most of the databases required to develop my doctoral thesis. I also thank all of my friends who came to visit in Delft and encouraged me to carry on. Thank you, Alex, Arnau and Roger, for the long weekend when you visited and the frequent Skype calls, but especially for the strong friendship that had bonded us since we began school at Garbí. Pablo, David, Carlos and Àngel, thank you for our Skype chats, for the planned visits to Delft and the meetings half-way in Amsterdam. Keeping in touch with you despite our geographical distance to discuss our experiences ‘as architects’ abroad, in Chester, Beijing or Bamberg, helped me switch off when I needed to do so. Finally, I wish to thank my family—my brother and parents. Thank you, Oriol, for challenging me every time we saw each other, whether in Barcelona or Menorca, and when you used to come to Delft without notice (well, one hour’s notice, to be precise...), when you would say to me: “Jaume, when are you finishing? It’s about time, isn’t it?” Surely, this was the extra otivationm I needed! Dad and Mum, words cannot express what you have done for me. Jaume Masip-Tresserra Delft, December 2015 8 Polycentricity, Performance and Planning TOC 9 Preface TOC 10 Polycentricity, Performance