Tradition et modernité. La concurrence dans les implantations du commerce de détail dans le Barcelone d’aujourd’hui

Abstract

This article analyses the present trends in the evolution of retail activities in the city of Barcelona, which in the very last decades has been transformed from an old and traditional industrial European city into a new tertiary one. This local transformation, which constitutes a very general urban process, has had some special features and some original location patterns, because of both its role of secondary city in Spain, and its always-vindicated national “capitality” of Catalonia. We first analyse the traditional retail functions in Barcelona and their diffusion. A second part introduces us into the relatively late (since 1993) modernisation of the retail structure. Finally, we point out some conclusions regarding the virtuality of a real retail organisation model in Barcelona, based on its intraurban location, pedestrian access facilities and quality of design.