Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

A Smart City Initiative: the Case of Barcelona

  • Published:
Journal of the Knowledge Economy Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Information and communication technology is changing the way in which cities organise policymaking and urban growth. Smart Cities base their strategy on the use of information and communication technologies in several fields such as economy, environment, mobility and governance to transform the city infrastructure and services. This paper draws on the city of Barcelona and intends to analyse its transformation from a traditional agglomeration to a twenty-first century metropolis. The case of Barcelona is of special interest due to its apparent desire, reflected by its current policies regarding urban planning, to be considered as a leading metropolis in Europe. Hence, an assessment of the Smart City initiative will cast light on the current status of Barcelona’s urban policy and its urban policy of Barcelona and its future directions. This article analyses Barcelona’s transformation in the areas of Smart City management; drivers, bottlenecks, conditions and assets. First, it presents the existing literature on Barcelona’s Smart City initiative. Then, the case study analysis is presented with the Barcelona Smart City model. After describing this model, we further explore the main components of the Smart City strategy of Barcelona in terms of Smart districts, living labs, initiatives, e-Services, infrastructures and Open Data. This paper also reveals certain benefits and challenges related to this initiative and its future directions. The results of the case study analysis indicate that Barcelona has been effectively implementing the Smart City strategy with an aim to be a Smart City model for the world.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Ajuntament de Barcelona: 22@Barcelona, the innovation district (2010) May, Ajuntament de Barcelona

  2. Ajuntament de Barcelona: The City of Barcelona, Barcelona (2011) Ajuntament de Barcelona

  3. Barber A, Eastaway MP (2010) Leadership challenges in the inner city: planning for sustainable regeneration in Birmingham and Barcelona. Policy Stud 31(4):393

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Batlle J (2010) Barcelona Smart City: paving the way, Ajuntament de Barcelona

  5. Batlle J, Majo A, Ventura JL, Vila M, Ponti I (2011). Interviews, Barcelona City Council

  6. Caragliu A, Bo C, Nijkamp P (2009) Smart cities in Europe. Research memorandum, 48

  7. Cushman and Wakefield (2009) European city monitor

  8. Davis K (2010) The rise of the smart city. POWERGRID International. http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2010/01/the-rise-of-the-smart-city. Accessed 10 May 2011

  9. Domènech L, Saurí DA (2011) Comparative appraisal of the use of rainwater harvesting in single and multi-family buildings of the metropolitan area of Barcelona (Spain): social experience, drinking water savings and economic costs. J Clean Prod 19(6–7):598–608

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Ferrer A, Pie R, Nello O (1997) Els 20 anys del Pla General Metropolita de Barcelona, Papers 28, Regio Metropolitana de Barcelona

  11. Garcia B (2004) Urban regeneration, arts programming and major events: Glasgow 1990, Sydney 2000 and Barcelona 2004. Int J Cult Policy 10(1):103–118

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Garcia-López MÀ, Muñiz I (2010) Employment decentralisation: polycentricity or scatteration? The case of Barcelona. Urban Studies 47(14):3035–3056

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Garcia J, Raya JM (2011) Price and income elasticities of demand for housing characteristics in the city of Barcelona. Reg Stud 45(5):597–608

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Giffinger R, Fertner C, Kramar H, Kalasek R, Pichler-Milanovic N, Meijers E (2007) Smart cities: ranking of European medium-sized cities. Vienna: Centre of Regional Science. http://www.smart-cities.eu/download/smart_cities_final_report.pdf. Accessed 20 May 2011

    Google Scholar 

  15. González S (2011) Bilbao and Barcelona ‘in motion’. How urban regeneration ‘models’ travel and mutate in the global flows of policy tourism. Urban Stud 48(7):1397–1418

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Graham S, Marvin S (2001) Splintering urbanism: networked infrastructures, technological mobilities and the urban condition. Routledge, London

    Book  Google Scholar 

  17. Hall RE (2000) The vision of a smart city. (Brookhaven National Laboratory, USA), 2nd International Life Extension Technology Workshop, Paris, 28 September

  18. Hollands RG (2008) Will the real smart city please stand up? City 12(3):303–320

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Hospers GJ (2003) Creative cities in Europe: urban competitiveness in the knowledge economy. Intereconomics 38(5):260–269

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Leon N (2008) Attract and connect: the 22@Barcelona innovation district and the internationalization of Barcelona business. Innovation: Manag Policy Pract 10:235–246

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Majoor STJ (2009) The disconnected innovation of new urbanity in Zuidas Amsterdam, Ørestad Copenhagen and Forum Barcelona. Eur Plan Stud 17(9)

  22. Marshall T (2000) Urban planning and governance: is there a Barcelona model? Int Plan Stud 5(3):299

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Marshall T (2004) Transforming Barcelona: the renewal of a European metropolis. Routledge, London, p 288

    Google Scholar 

  24. Mascaro J (2002) Two low income social housings: a comparative study of the environmental behaviour. Manag Environ Qual 13(4):357–365

    Google Scholar 

  25. Mazzoleni C (2010) Space of the city in reconstruction: the lawscapes of Barcelona and Berlin. Int J Law Context, Suppl Law, Mov, Space 6(3):199–242

    Google Scholar 

  26. McCrone D (2000) Urban change and the European left: tales from the new Barcelona. Urban Stud 37(8):1461

    Google Scholar 

  27. O’Connell L (2008) Exploring the social roots of smart growth policy adoption. Soc Sci Q 89(5):1356–1372

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Stern BB (1998) Representing consumers: voices, views and visions. Routledge, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  29. UN (2008) World urbanization prospects: the 2007 revision population database

  30. Villalba G, Gemechu ED (2011) Estimating GHG emissions of marine ports—the case of Barcelona. Energy Policy 39(3):1363–1368

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Yin RK (2003) Case study research: design and methods, 3rd edn. Sage, London

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Information Systems Department, ESADE Business School, Av. Pedralbes, 60-62, Barcelona, 08034, Spain

    Tuba Bakıcı, Esteve Almirall & Jonathan Wareham

Authors
  1. Tuba Bakıcı
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Esteve Almirall
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jonathan Wareham
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tuba Bakıcı.

Electronic Supplementary Material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

ESM 1

(PDF 201 kb)

ESM 2

(PDF 75 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Bakıcı, T., Almirall, E. & Wareham, J. A Smart City Initiative: the Case of Barcelona. J Knowl Econ 4, 135–148 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13132-012-0084-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13132-012-0084-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation