Modelling the Future Metropolitan Territory. To Calculate Urban Development Potential in Barcelona Metropolitan Area

Abstract

The Barcelona Metropolitan Urban Plan (PGM) from 1976 was based on operational urban models. The PGM still is the main metropolitan regulation framework. However, the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona (AMB) is currently drafting the new Metropolitan Master Plan (PDU), which will update key structural elements of PGM that are outdated. The aim of this work is to detail how the PDU is evolving the operational urban models from PGM. This is analysed in two specific directions. On the one hand, the change of the urban objectives: in the 1970s PGM aimed at accommodating and regulating urban growth whereas nowadays we are dealing with the transformation and regeneration of existing fabrics. On the other hand, the obvious evolution of scientific knowledge and technological state of the art. These two factors are closely related. The availability of detailed and disaggregated databases allows to apply the operational models to specific urban areas. Also, it allows better tracking and monitoring of certain key urban parameters. This dynamic characteristic becomes especially useful to model different urban development scenarios and to evaluate urban strategies. Finally, in this paper, we present a methodology to calculate the urban potential development as an application of the operational urban models’ evolution. The methodology is characterized by detailed urban form modelling techniques from both the existing and planned city. This new approach opens the door to the evaluation of many urban scenarios.