Date Presented:

Abstract:

In the year 2000 it started in Barcelona´s Poblenou neighborhood a strategy of implementation of urban regeneration and economic development under the leadership of the public sector. The implementation of the 22@Barcelona project involves a transformation toward specialization in knowledge-intensive tertiary activity. As a result of new urban planning guidelines, the project has led to a productive process of displacement of traditional activities located in the new technological district. This paper presents a theoretical approach for the identification of the process of “productive gentrification", a concept that helps to interpret the relationships and effects on the productive base of the new economic space. The phenomenon of gentrification has been broadly defined and studied at residential level, especially within the Anglo-Saxon literature. The contribution of this paper focuses on redefining the concept in the field of production, taking business as units of analysis. To this end, we analyze the impact that the 22@Barcelona has generated focusing on the case of the industrial complex of Can Ricart. The urban reform plan implemented under the 22@Barcelona focuses on defining and promoting productive activities for new economy, which has resulted in the relocation of businesses to new metropolitan areas or its closing down. In this sense, the interpretation of the relationship between economic activities and connections of the new urban space can be understood from the productive gentrification concept, which is formulated and discussed in the article. Key words: productive gentrification, urban redevelopment, 22@Barcelona, public policy.