THEMES , UAB - ICTA , 7 - 17 June 2006 Session : Urbanisation and water use in the Metropolitan Region of Barcelona

Short description Urban sprawl is eroding the traditionally compact, diverse, and mixed Southern European cities. Besides the rise in land and energy consumption, the expansion of low density urban forms also affects water, a critical resource in the region. The main purpose of the presentation is to examine how physical, but also economic, social and cultural processes are behind the current urban transformation of the Metropolitan Region of Barcelona. We intend to shed some light on the driving forces and consequences of process of urbanization of the MRB, particularly in what refers to water management and water consumption. In order to do so, we will first introduce briefly the water context in the Region of Barcelona. We will use garden irrigation to illustrate the importance of outdoor water use in the urbanization process, and, following the insights provided by urban political ecology, to highlight the differences in garden types and water spending according to power relations derived from income levels. Our results indicate that, generally, higher income households prefer and can afford more water-consuming Atlantic gardens whereas lower income households have to resort to more climate-adapted species. These differences produce in turn different urban natures based on who can and who cannot afford water costs.