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What Ground Zero Planners Could Learn From Barcelona

What Ground Zero Planners Could Learn From Barcelona (Update1)
April 12 (Bloomberg) -- The building model in the window of the Center for Architecture, in Manhattan's Greenwich Village, looks like a swaying bundle of firewood. When built to its 475- foot-tall height, this office tower by Frank Gehry would be a landmark anywhere. In the exhibit ``Barcelona in Progress,'' it's presented as just one small element of an urban makeover like no other in the world.

This is not simply a collection of luscious designs by big names. Prepared by Barcelona Regional, the city's metropolitan planning agency, the show demonstrates how to use architecture and planning to spur urban regeneration. (.....)
Pathetic Spectacle

They've gotten their way. At Ground Zero, design is distrusted and shunted aside at every turn in favor of the same enervating commercial product that can be erected and rented for a fraction of the cost elsewhere.

New Yorkers have averted their eyes from the pathetic spectacle. Better to have a look at how Barcelona does it right. The city doubled its tourism business after brilliantly remaking itself for the 1992 Olympics. Now it's undertaking no less than the physical transformation of the entire city, retooling its industrial past for a service-oriented future.

The architectural expressiveness for which Barcelona has long been known is calculated to strategically knit together damaged neighborhoods. The Gehry tower helps civilize a massive passenger-rail overhaul. The brightly colored surface of the Agbar tower, by Paris-based Jean Nouvel, emulates a luscious veil of water streaming down its curved surface. That's because it's been intentionally conceived as a landmark to anchor a vast new satellite commercial center. (.....)
Continue reading: Bloomberg News, http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=email_us&refer=culture&sid=a4lMIQK2guwg
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