Planning the urban emblematic: Valencia and the politics of entrepreneurial regionalism Item Type text; Dissertation-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Prytherch, David Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 10/10/2021 01:02:51 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/280378 PLANNING THE URBAN EMBLEMATIC: VALENCIA AND THE POLITICS OF ENTREPRENEURIAL REGIONALISM by David Lloyd Prydierch A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY AND REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY WITH A MAJOR IN GEOGRAPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2003 UMI Number: 3107029 UMI UMI Microform 3107029 Copyright 2004 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 9 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA ® GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Final Examination Committee, we certify that we have read the dissertation prepared by L. Prytherch entitled Planning the Urban Emblematic: Valencia and the Politics of Entrepreneurial Regionalism and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement^for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy —r-Ti ^ Salli9^A,^Marston Date George L^ Henderson Date 200"^ Diana Llvorman / , Date Richa Date o ^ yA/«? Laura Huntoon Date Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candidate's submission of the final copy of the dissertation to the Graduate College. I hereby certify that I have read this dissertation prepared under my direction^nd recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirenfeyt. Dissertation'Director Sallie A. Marston Date 3 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment for an advanced degree at The University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgement of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the head of the major department or the Dean of the Graduate College when in his or her judgment the proposed use of the material is in the interests of scholarship. In aU other instances, however, permission must be obtained from the author. SIGNED: 4 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation would not have been possible without the support of a wide range of people and institutions. The nine months of field research were generously supported by a Fulbright Fellowship, co-sponsored by the U.S. State Department and the Spanish Ministerio de Asvintos Exteriores, and administered by the Institute of International Education. A pre- dissertation research trip was funded by a Tinker Foundation Grant, which was administered by the Latin America Area Center at the University of Arizona. This research, and the incredible experience doing it, would not have been possible otherwise. Thank you. I am also indebted to the intellectual support I enjoyed at the University of Arizona, and particularly in the Department of Geography and Regional Development. For my main advisor I was lucky enough to have Sallie Marston, whose careful and balanced application of critical guidance and personal support was extremely effective. Also on my doctoral committee were Diana Liverman and George Henderson in my major of geography, and Richard Bribes and Laura Huntoon in my minor of planning. I benefited much from their constructive critique and friendship. I must also mention my gratitude to Malcolm Compitello of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, whose mentorship and friendship made my choice of this university a particvilarly fortuitous one. I am particularly anxious to acknowledge the support of those in Valencia who made this project, and this research experience, so valuable. Josep Vicent Boira of the Universitat de Valencia was the first contact I made there, and became both my guide to the city and a valued colleague. He remains a treasured friend. There are many others in Valencia who helped us find our way, too nvimerous to name. But I appreciate them aU. In terms of institutions, I am particularly thankful for the generous assistance of the librarians of the BibHoteca Valenciana. My most heartfelt gratitude, however, goes to my family who supported this prolonged endeavor. I couldn't be luckier. 5 To ICathleen, who is everything. And to Ella, who joined us for the ride. 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 9 LIST OF TABLES 9 ABSTRACT 10 PREFACE 12 CHAPTER ONE: Introduction Globalization, RegionaUsm, and the Ciiltural Landscape 17 Planning and the New 'Europe of the Regions' 21 Theorizing Globalization as a Matter of Scale 26 Valencia, an Emblematic City of European Change 30 A Temr Via? The Compromise Politics of Entrepreneurial Regionalism 39 Sources and Methods 41 An Overview of the Dissertation's Structure 47 Delimitations: Theoretical and Methodological 54 Europe's Global Future in a Local Landscape 56 CHAPTER TWO: European Restructuring and the Politics of Scale Introduction 57 Contemporary Theory on Space, Scale, and the State under Capitalism 60 Tbe Social Production of Space and Scale: Henri L£febvre's Insights 61 From Space to Scale: Neil Smith and Unveven Development 66 Scale, Politics, and the 'Politics of Scale' 51 Globalization and the Territorial State 72 Globalisation as Reterritoriali^ation 73 From ^scaling to State Planning: Scalar Fixes and "Regulation Theory 76 Scalar Fixes and the State 79 deregulation and the Entrepreneurial City-Region 82 Assessing the Limits to Structxaral Abstraction: Rethinking the Politics of Scale. 86 Conclusion 91 CHAPTER THREE: Two Millennia of an Iberian Politics of Scale Introduction 94 Producing Scale by Imagining National Community 98 Early Territorial Frameworks: Valencia as Mediterranean Periphery 102 Valencia in the Orbit of Rome 103 A New Muslim World Order. 105 Reterritorialis^ing the Peninsula for Christian Europe 106 7 TABLE OF CONTENTS - Continued Briefly at the Core: Valencia in the Age of Catalan Hegemony 110 The Ascendant Catalan Order. Ill Valencia and the Emerging Scale of Spain 114 On the Peninsular Periphery: Valencia and the Consolidation of Spain 117 ^scaling hy Force of Arms 117 Political Integration versus Uneven Industrialisation 118 Resurrecting the Region: Scale Politics in Modern Spain 122 From Renaixenga to Political Regionalism 122 The Botched Centralism of Primo de Rivera 124 Republicanism, Re^onalism, and Civil War. 125 Franco and the Suppression of the Regional Scale 128 RescaUng Spain as a "State of the Autonomies" 132 The Democratic Transition 134 Regional Autonomy and Political Decentralisation 135 Valencia Tom between Madrid and the Mediterranean 138 The Comunitat Autonoma as Entrepreneurial City-Region? 139 Spanish Regionalism and European Integration 142 Conclusion 145 CHAPTER FOUR: Regional Ambitions and Urban Planning Introduction 148 Planning and the Historical Landscape 154 Democracy, Autonomy, and the Rescaling of Planning Policy 161 The Scalar Narratives behind Urban and Regional Planning 166 Capitalitat 167 Vertebracio Territorial. 169 UArc Mediterrani 170 Valencia and the Sea I: Municipal Planning 177 Valencia and the Sea II: Regional Interventions 180 L<2 Ciutat de les Arts i de les Ciencies 183 L<2 Zona de Actividades Ijogisticas 191 Conclusion 198 CHLAPTER FIVE: L'Horta, a Regional Landscape in the Way Introduction 201 Approaching the Cultural Landscape 208 Rereading Ijfebvre on Social Space 208 landscape and Cultural Geography 210 L'Horta as Material Landscape of Valencian Difference 213 L'Horta as Symbolic Landscape of Valencian Difference 219 City and Country amidst Modemit^ation 219 UHorta and Early Valencian Regionalism 222 L'Horta and the Uterary Imagination of Vicente Blasco Ibdne^. 223 8 TABLE OF CONTENTS - Continued "Renaixen^a, Modemisme, and the Iconography of the Horta 228 Valencian Difference and the Landscape Politics of Autonomy 231 The landscape according to Valencian 'Regionalism!Nationalism 231 UHorta as Regional Patrimony: Political Reflections of Public Actors 236 UHorta as 'Local Patrimony: Reflectionsfrom the Ground. 244 Conclusion 247 CHAPTER SIX: Globalization and the Regionalist Politics of Resistance Introduction 250 The Contested Politics of Patrimony: L'Horta as Cultural Landcape 256 A Brief Historical Backdrop to Conflict over the Horta de Valencia 262 Rjiral Innocence host 262 The Crystallisation of Resistance: L'Horta Nord and the Tercer Cinturo'. 266 Transition to Democracy: L'Horta and the Politics of Valencian Autonomy 269 Planning Debates in the 1980s: Ughtening Rod for a New Pro-Horta Politics 272 L'Horta in Contemporary Politics: Case Studies in Conflict 279 E/ Plan Verde: The Life and Death of "Green" Planning in Valencia 280 The ZAL and La Punta: Battling for the City's Last Croplands 286 The Popular Initiative: "Per UHorta". 304 Conclusion 316 CHAPTER SEVEN: The Landscape Planning of Enttepteneutial