Bilbao and Barcelona 'in Motion'. How Urban Regeneration 'Models' Travel and Mutate in the Global Flows of Policy Tourism

• Published in: Urban studies (Edinburgh, Scotland) Vol. 48; no. 7; pp. 1397 - 1418
• Main Author: Gonzalez, Sara
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01.05.2011; Longman Group; Sage Publications Ltd
• Subjects: Barcelona Spain; Bgi / Prodig; Bilbao Spain; Circuits; Cities; Consulting services; Convergence; Diffusion effects; Economic liberalism; Economic models; Europe; Geography; Human geography; Messages; Policy making; Policy transfer; Popularity; Redevelopment, Urban; The Iberian peninsula; Tourism; Travel; Urban areas; Urban conditions; Urban planning; Urban Policy; Urban regeneration; Urban Renewal; Urban studies; Catalonia; Basque Country; Barcelona; Spain; Spain, Cataluna, Barcelona; Spain, Pais Vasco, Vizcaya, Bilbao; Innovation; Urban renewal; Urban planning; Urban policy; Neo liberalism; Tourism policy; Urban area; Governance; Private sector; Public sector
• ISSN: 0042-0980; 1360-063X
• DOI: 10.1177/0042098010374510

This paper explores how the so-called Bilbao effect and Barcelona Model are diffused internationally through what may be called urban policy tourism: short trips made to Bilbao and Barcelona by policy-makers to learn from their regeneration in the past 15 years. The paper reveals for the first time the substantial extent of this practice and contextualises it within a wider phenomenon of urban policy transfer and the international 'motion' of urban policies. Although both models are internationally known for a set of elements, this research shows that in fact the messages mutate and shift as they circulate through the policy circuits. Ultimately, however, the popularity of the Bilbao and Barcelona models suggests a process of global urban policy convergence.