The city and the historical imagination: historical knowledge, civic consciousness and urban regeneration in Barcelona, 1892-1929

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Published 24-04-2012
Joan-Antón Sánchez de Juan

Abstract

The analysis of the strategies of the municipality of Barcelona in order to symbolically reshape and celebrate an urban past of municipal autonomy allows me to reconsider the centrality that the development of urban historical knowledge had in the regeneration of the «historical» quarters of the city. In this sense I have divided this paper in three main parts in order to frame a complete picture of this process. In the first part, I analyse the rise of a specific branch of historical knowledge that developed a renewed understanding of the medieval city and its institutions at the end of the nineteenth century. In the second part, I show how the consolidation and institutionalisation of this historical knowledge contributed to the development of a strong civic consciousness, emphasising the significance of the city's municipal liberties during the Middle Ages. In the third part, I then address the consequences of the institutionalisation of this knowledge in the debates for the preservation of urban «historical» areas, and in the perception of the city as a place for the display and representation of this historical past.


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