Urban re-scaling: a scenario post-crisis for a Spanish city. Valencia and its megaregion

Ramon Marrades
Econcult (Cultural Economics Research Unit, University of Valencia)
Friday, 13 February 2015 - 12:00

The present economic crisis follows three different dimensions in Spain: an economic dimension linked to the explosion of the construction bubble, a social dimension represented by the loss of confidence in public institutions and in traditional political parties, and a third dimension that questions the territorial model of governance. Spanish cities have already initiated processes of re-orientations, but those processes appear almost exclusively in terms of economic orientation towards a post-industrial and post-real estate models, but do not show any significant change in the spatial governance. Since the economic crisis has been reinforced by the governance framework, any institutional scenario post-crisis should consider not only the reorientation of the economy but should also re-think how the urban, regional, and national spaces are governed.

The new scenario post-crisis in Spanish cities, specifically in the case of Valencia, should involve not only an economic re-orientation to overcome the real estate bubble but also a re-orientation of the territorial and urban governance. In this paper it will be illustrated that the interaction of scales and multilevel governance is so far an unresolved matter. It will be asserted that Valencia and its region already show some preconditions, which are necessary to finally initiate a process of re-territorialisation of urban, metropolitan and regional governance. The proposal discussed is that the present crisis can create momentum for an urban transformation with new premises

Place: 

Ciudad Politécnica de la Innovación
Edificio 8E, Acceso J, Planta 4ª (Sala Descubre. Cubo Rojo)
Universidad Politécnica de Valencia | Camino de Vera s/n

Short CV: 

I am an urban economist (MSc, Utrecht University) and social entrepreneur, PhD researcher at Econcult (Culture Economics Research Unit, University of Valencia) and core member of URBEGO (the platform for young planning professionals of the International Federation of Housing and Planning). I received an honorable mention in the International Young Planning Professionals Award (2012) and the Spanish Social Entrepreneur Award (2013); I have been a guest lecturer at Universitat de Valencia (Spain) and a guest researcher at PUCESE University (Ecuador). I am also a regular contributor to the media. (http://cargocollective.com/ramonmarrades/Publications-Talks). My work looks in the intersection between economics and urban planning. I have five years of international experience -The Netherlands, Spain, Ecuador, Colombia, Germany- in research, teaching, advising and consulting in urban economics: economic resilience, sustainable transportation, participatory governance, tourism, cultural economics, temporary urbanism, smart cities.