Els espais de trànsit indicadors del metabolisme de la ciutat actual

Abstract

The important amount of people's journeys, information and objects, explains at the present time, a dynamic and technologic time. For some authors such as Bauman (2007) or Sennet (2006), this time is guided by the sensation of the uncertainty towards the future. The possibilities that fast development of new technologies imply new logics which stump the traditional borders of space and time, transforms everything into immediate, instantaneous and near. In this context appears a predominance of flows and multiplication of the interconnections, which characterize the society of the information and the communication (Castells, 1996, 1998). The cities are changing to adapt themselves to the new social, economic and politic demands. The city reinvents itself in order to adapt at modern, both time and ways of life. The society and the urban space have a bidirectional relation, and it is in that relationship where the city takes form and meaning. According to Urry (2007) “the mobility paradigm” explains the constant exchanges and journeys (of people, ideas, objects and information) which guides towards new ways of living and relationships. In this way, in today's city we find urban places which facilitates people’s journeys and the transformation of the urban space, the reduction of the perception of the distances or the decentralisation of the city, etc. Transitspaces catalyse the necessities of the mobility. Transit-spaces, for Vivas, Pellicer and López (2008) are urban spaces designed to facilitate people’s journeys and mobility; they are contemporaries spaces and built through an ongoing process of multiple complex and changing interactions. They are places that have assumed huge relevance and upon which the modern urban network is sustained, and at the same time, inform about the power of the city.Within a range of different transit spaces we find: underground train, train platforms, connecting passageways, airports, motorways, service stations, some hotel chains and different vehicles. These spaces are vital in connecting the urban and social network. In them are revealed the common determinations of modern society. Characteristics such as mobility, homogenisation, anonymity, vigilance, globalisation, acceleration... are present in these spaces. These characteristics produce important effects in the organization and design of the city. Our attention will focus on these spaces: transit-spaces. These places are becoming spacial and architectural points of reference, and they claim a central role through their design as identifying elements of modern cities and society. Our proposal for the investigation of urban spaces is the urban ethnography. With this technique we research about Barcelona and its transformation. The space selected is the Barcelona underground train systems, a vast network of urban mobility. Focusing our analysis on Barcelona underground we are responding to the fact that they are a privileged viewing point to observe contemporary urban life, city and citizens. With our work we want to offer answers to ways of living and changing the city, and at the same time, we want to explain some aspects regarding the control practices and technologic possibilities, the form of practice these spaces and the effects of these spaces in the transformation of the city, for example.