Abstract
The phenomenon of deindustrialization, as well as the vertiginous changes dependent on financial capital, produced new trends in the models of organization and production of western cities such as Bilbao. The socio-spatial organization and structuring of the ‘new city’ begins to be a topic of great importance. It is in this sense that the concepts of public and urban space take on greater theoretical relevance. The results obtained through the application of the theory in the case of Bilbao, follow global urban development tendencies. Spatial planning fulfils the strategic functions of a system that dominates urban processes at their convenience. There is a tendency to build aseptic spaces that are closer to the interests of capital than of citizens.
Highlights
CONTEXTUALIZING BILBAOSocio-spatial transformations and arrangements are practically inherent to cities
In addition to the de-annexation of some municipalities from the Bilbao Metropolitan Area (BMA), which caused a small population loss, we identified the de-industrialization that occurred in the 1980s, in the Biscay region, as one of the last major traumas for local socioeconomics, produced by the processes of economic restructuring and globalization
The space is consumed productively. In this general conception of space, we find the exception of public space as a space that transcends the merely physical, reaching the political-philosophical-communicational (Lefebvre, 1974)
Summary
Socio-spatial transformations and arrangements are practically inherent to cities. As a rule, and even more in the Western world, they have been a reflection of economic changes and they have placed in different positions the social classes that inhabit the cities. Along with the governance tool, this has made urban and public space vary in form and content. It is important to contextualize the city of Bilbao in recent history. At the end of the 70s, despite being the main service centre for the metropolitan area and the region, Bilbao was still fundamentally an industrial and port city. Taking the Ibaizabal estuary as its dividing axis, industrial activity focused mainly on the production of vehicles and transport material (18.5%), basic metallurgical production (17.4%), construction (14%) and in metal constructions (13.1%) (Atutxa et al, 2015)
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