Infraestruturas viárias e espaço público. O caso de Barcelona entre 1980 e 2007

Abstract

The central theme of this work is the relation between road infrastructures in the contemporary city and its public spaces. Reflecting on the the evolution of the road infraestructural function in the shaping of cities and in the urbanization of the territory, one can state that the major road layouts designed in order to the fast and free mobility of the automobile have transformed the city's conventional structure of growth in the territory and the traditional forms of the urban space. One can also state that the highways have splintered the urban space, questioning the role of the street and public space on building the city. But one can attempt to evince that the road today can also function as a means of recomposing the contemporary city and the public space, using by way of example the study of Barcelona urban recovery developed between 1980 and the early 2000s.