Resistances in the transformation of industrial spaces in Barcelona

Abstract The article addresses some effects of the transformation of industrial spaces in Barcelona since the second half of the 1980s. It describes the phases of industrial heritage management in the city since the beginning of democracy and analyzes citizen resistances and actions arising in the context of the contradictions between collective identity, local development, and the global projection of the city that the transformation of industrial space generates. To illustrate these processes, two cases of factory complexes located in two of the city’s main industrial complexes are studied: Can Ricart (District X, Sant Martí) and Can Batlló (District III, Sants-Montjuïc).