Expanding and Diversifying South Mediterranean Exports through Trade Facilitation

This article explores whether trade facilitation – i.e. improved and simplified trade procedures – could be an important part of the reform agenda of the Barcelona Process. Adopting a Southern perspective by focusing on exports to the European Union (EU) from non‐EU Mediterranean countries, it tests whether the efficiency of trade procedures affects (i) bilateral volumes of exports and (ii) the number of products exported. The findings suggest that trade facilitation could lead to substantially increased export volumes and export diversification.     

Soccer, civil religion, and public relations: Devotional–promotional communication and Barcelona Football Club

The aim of this article is to provide a public relations perspective on the civil religion phenomenon through a study of Barcelona Football Club (BFC) as an institution and its public relations efforts. We believe that BFC can be seen as a form of civil religion that uses a devotional–promotional communication model which sets forth, upholds and reinforces relations with “faithful supporters”. The paper links to three main contributions: the work of [Salvador, J. (2004). Futbol, metàfora d’una guerra freda: Un estudi antropològic del Barça. Barcelona: Proa.] on anthropological approach to BFC, [Giner, S. (2003). Carisma y razón. Madrid: Alianza] on civil religion and its communicative dimension, and [Tilson, D. J. (2006). Devotional–promotional communicationa and Santiago: A thousand-year public relations campaign for Saint James and Spain. In J. L’Etang & M. Pieczka (Eds.), Public relations: Critical debates and contemporary practice (pp. 167–184). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.] on devotional–promotional communication. Thus, this article advances a public relations approach to civil religion.     

浅谈巴塞罗那的城市色彩

从巴塞罗那的城市色彩出发,通过对该城市自然色彩（包括地形、植物和水系等）和人工色彩（包括建筑、道路广场、城市小品等）的分析,指出了形成当地城市色彩的内在根源,即自然因素、人文因素、时间、材料和功能。并提出在城市色彩的建设中,必须尊重当地的自然条件和历史文化,挖掘地域特征并处理好新旧建筑之间的矛盾。     

Place,identity and football: Catalonia,Catalanisme and Football Club Barcelona, 1899–1975

A growing body of work considers sport and the social construction of identities. Drawing from that research, this article considers how football clubs are involved in the construction of national identities by making explicit the connections between sport, identity and place. The first part of the article examines the literature addressing sport and collective identification/representation and considers critical approaches that uncover the power relations that frame the sport/identity nexus. The second part of the article applies these ideas to a discussion of Football Club Barcelona's role in the social construction of Catalan nationalism and national identity from 1899 to 1975.     

Everyday politics,social practices and movement networks: daily life in Barcelona's social centres

The relations between everyday life and political participation are of interest for much contemporary social science. Yet studies of social movement protest still pay disproportionate attention to moments of mobilization, and to movements with clear organizational boundaries, tactics and goals. Exceptions have explored collective identity, ‘free spaces’ and prefigurative politics, but such processes are framed as important only in accounting for movements in abeyance, or in explaining movement persistence. This article focuses on the social practices taking place in and around social movement spaces, showing that political meanings, knowledge and alternative forms of social organization are continually being developed and cultivated. Social centres in Barcelona, Spain, autonomous political spaces hosting cultural and educational events, protest campaigns and alternative living arrangements, are used as empirical case studies. Daily practices of food provisioning, distributing space and dividing labour are politicized and politicizing as they unfold and develop over time and through diverse networks around social centres. Following Melucci, such latent processes set the conditions for social movements and mobilization to occur. However, they not only underpin mobilization, but are themselves politically expressive and prefigurative, with multiple layers of latency and visibility identifiable in performances of practices. The variety of political forms – adversarial, expressive, theoretical, and routinized everyday practices, allow diverse identities, materialities and meanings to overlap in movement spaces, and help explain networks of mutual support between loosely knit networks of activists and non‐activists. An approach which focuses on practices and networks rather than mobilization and collective actors, it is argued, helps show how everyday life and political protest are mutually constitutive.     

Motivations for mobility and settlement of Polish female migrants in Barcelona and Berlin

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on individual perceptions that shape migration decisions and investigates how the process of migration or settlement itself is framed by a variety of personal considerations. It is a comparative study of Polish female migrants in Barcelona and Berlin who moved for the sake of economic and educational opportunities, because of family reunification and formation considerations (‘move for love') – as well as other reasons. It is argued that the factors influencing women's decisions about continuous mobility or settlement are negotiated within social, cultural and economic transnational spheres and exchanges. In most cases, Polish women formed families with foreigners or Polish migrants in the host countries which contributed to their settlement decisions. Complex perceptions of life abroad juxtaposed with previous experiences and present ideas about life in Poland also influence decisions to move or settle. It is argued that the specific cultural, intellectual, economic and professional capital as well as the potential of these privileged EU migrant women accounts for their opportunity to choose and their specific freedom to make migration related decisions. A balancing of premises related to life-projects in both localities is an important aspect of the gendered experience of migration within Europe. It also brings attention to individual agency in a globalized world. The study is based on ethnographic research in Barcelona and Berlin that has been conducted since 2010.     

气候变化背景下的城市NbS:巴塞罗那市的经验

由于气候变暖趋势加剧,适应气候已成为当前城市发展的重要挑战。在此背景下,基于自然的解决方案(NbS)理论逐渐产生并应用于城市规划与景观设计等领域,旨在通过“与自然合作”的方式增强城市适应力与灾害抵御力、协调社会与环境矛盾、促进城市可持续发展。当前国外关于NbS的研究已从理论走向实践,而国内该领域仍处于理论探讨阶段,对城市维度NbS相关规划的内容制定与实践运用缺乏系统性的研究。以欧洲典型高密度城市巴塞罗那为例,从规划实践角度,基于已有理论范式概括城市层面NbS运用的多重效益,梳理该市相关规划文件,介绍巴塞罗那在城市尺度采取的主要NbS措施,剖析其实践方法、制度优势与特点,以期通过总结巴塞罗那市的NbS实践经验,为将来我国城市制定基于自然的解决方案提供参考。