¿Espacio de consumo o consumo del espacio? El caso de Palo Alto Market, Barcelona

Las ciudades han pasado de ser el escenario privilegiado para la reproducción social, a convertirse en verdaderos espacios de y para el consumo. Las políticas neoliberales han empujado a ciudades como Barcelona a dejar atrás su pasado industrial y abrazar un proceso de terciarización que supone una potente metamorfosis local, no solo en su carácter productivo, sino también en su entramado urbano. Los antiguos mercados de abasto, así como otros de nueva creación, se muestran como auténticos epicentros de estas prácticas mercantilizadas, deviniendo centros de consumo y de ocio. Palo Alto Market, en el barrio barcelonés del Poblenou, se caracteriza por su apuesta por la sofisticación, así como por su inigualable emplazamiento. Sin embargo, tras una apariencia cargada de potentes recursos simbólicos que lo hacen único en la ciudad, podrían esconderse prácticas y relaciones de dominación, además de actuar como vanguardia en las transformaciones socio-espaciales de su entorno más inmediato.Cities have gone from being the privileged scenario for social reproduction, to become spaces of and for consumption per excellence. Neoliberal policies have been pushing cities like Barcelona to leave behind its industrial past and embrace a process of terciarization, which has generated a potent local metamorphosis, not only in its productive nature, but also in its urban fabric. The ancient food markets and other newly created are shown as real epicentres of these commodified practices, becoming centres of consumption and leisure. Palo Alto Market, in the Barcelona’s neighbourhood of Poblenou, is characterized by its commitment to sophistication, as well as its great setting. However, the powerful symbolic resources that make it unique in the city could hide practices and relationships permeated by domination. Furthermore, Palo Alto Market could be acting as a vanguard in the socio-spatial transformations that its immediate surroundings are witnessing

Palaeoenvironmental changes in southern Patagonia during the Late-glacial and the Holocene: implications for forest establishment and climate reconstructions

Three continuous terrestrial high-resolution palaeoenvironmental records for the Late-glacial and the Holocene have been reconstructed for different ecosystems in Fuego-Patagonia on a longitudinal transect at latitude 53°S. The records describe the nature and extent of environmental and climatic changes inferred from palynological evidence supported by lithostratigraphy, tephrochronology and radiocarbon dating. The environmental changes recorded at the three sites displays a significant degree of synchrony in response to similar large-scale climatic changes. Clear stratigraphical evidence alongside the pollen record indicates a shift to warmer interstadial conditions between c. 14,800 Cal yr BP and 14,400 Cal yrs BP. During the period coeval with ACR the vegetation was dominated by cold resistant dry land herbs such as Poaceae, Asteraceae (Suf. Asteroideae) and Acaena, by c. 13,200 Cal yr BP the vegetation changed from the dominance of cold resistant dry land herbs towards more mesic conditions and the expansion of steppe dominated by Poaceae with patches of Nothofagus forest. The establishment of the forest and an eastward shift of the forest-steppe ecotone by c. 12,500 Cal yr BP from which a gradual shift from colder to warmer conditions and the relatively stronger influences of the SSWs is inferred. The sequence of Late-glacial environmental changes places Fuego-Patagonia within the new palaeoecological data provided by this study includes “the earliest” evidence for the establishment of subantarctic Nothofagus forest during the LGIT in Fuego-Patagonia. During the Early-Holocene two major phases of Nothofagus forest expansion were registered between c. 11,700 - 10,500 Cal yr BP and c. 9,500 - 8,200 Cal yr BP. These intervals of expansion of Nothofagus forest are separated by an interval of forest contraction in response to lower effective moisture between c. 10,500 - 9,500 Cal yr BP. An intense arid phase is inferred between c. 8,250 Cal yr BP and 6,800 Cal yr BP and probably leading to an increase in the amount of dry fuel available during the mid-Holocene in Fuego-Patagonia leading to the highest fire activity promoted by very weak SSWs at this time. The later Holocene was characterised by an increase in humidity and an inferred intensification of the SSWs

The short summer of tourismphobia. Social movements and urban conflict in the neighborhood of Poblenou, Barcelona

L’any 2017 podria ser considerat, a Barcelona, com l’any de la turismefòbia. Els canvis socials i econòmics viscuts per la ciutat durant les darreres dècades s›han vist acompanyats per l’aparició de tot un entramat de moviments socials íntimament lligats a aquestes transformacions, així com als seus impactes. Al barri del Poblenou, el diagnòstic realitzat per #EnsPlantem, Veïns en Perill d’Extinció, apunta a la turistificació com un dels seus principals reptes. Mitjançant una aproximació etnogràfica de dos anys al voltant d’aquesta plataforma, el present article pretén mostrar el paper exercit per aquest tipus de moviments davant de l’aplicació de polítiques urbanes contemporànies de tall neoliberal vinculades al turisme.The year 2017 could be considered, in Barcelona, as the year of tourismphobia. The social and economic changes experienced by the city during the last decades have been accompanied by a complex network of social movements closely linked to these transformations, as well as their impacts. In the neighborhood of Poblenou, the diagnosis made by #EnsPlantem, Neighbors in Danger of Extinction, points to the touristification as one of its main challenges. Through an ethnographic approach of two years around this platform, this article aims to show the role played by this type of movements around the application of neoliberal contemporary urban policies linked to tourism

A geological model for the management of subsurface data in the urban environment of Barcelona and surrounding area

The overdevelopment of cities since the industrial revolution has shown the need to incorporate a sound geological knowledge in the management of required subsurface infrastructures and in the assessment of increasingly needed groundwater resources. Additionally, the scarcity of outcrops and the technical difficulty to conduct underground exploration in urban areas highlights the importance of implementing efficient management plans that deal with the legacy of heterogeneous subsurface information. To deal with these difficulties, a methodology has been proposed to integrate all the available spatio-temporal data into a comprehensive spatial database and a set of tools that facilitates the analysis and processing of the existing and newly added data for the city of Barcelona (NE Spain). Here we present the resulting actual subsurface 3-D geological model that incorporates and articulates all the information stored in the database. The methodology applied to Barcelona benefited from a good collaboration between administrative bodies and researchers that enabled the realization of a comprehensive geological database despite logistic difficulties. Currently, the public administration and also private sectors both benefit from the geological understanding acquired in the city of Barcelona, for example, when preparing the hydrogeological models used in groundwater assessment plans. The methodology further facilitates the continuous incorporation of new data in the implementation and sustainable management of urban groundwater, and also contributes to significantly reducing the costs of new infrastructures.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Correlation between magnetic interactions and domain structure in A1 FePt ferromagnetic thin films

We have investigated the relationship between the domain structure and the magnetic interactions in a series of FePt ferromagnetic thin films of varying thickness. As-made films grow in the magnetically soft and chemically disordered A1 phase that may have two distinct domain structures. Above a critical thickness $d_{cr}\sim 30$ nm the presence of an out of plane anisotropy induces the formation of stripes, while for $d<d_{cr}$ planar domains occur. Magnetic interactions have been characterized using the well known DCD-IRM remanence protocols, $\delta M$ plots, and magnetic viscosity measurements. We have observed a strong correlation between the domain configuration and the sign of the magnetic interactions. Planar domains are associated with positive exchange-like interactions, while stripe domains have a strong negative dipolar-like contribution. In this last case we have found a close correlation between the interaction parameter and the surface dipolar energy of the stripe domain structure. Using time dependent magnetic viscosity measurements, we have also estimated an average activation volume for magnetic reversal, $\langle V_{ac}\rangle \sim 1.37\times 10^{4}$ nm$^{3},$ which is approximately independent of the film thickness or the stripe period.Comment: 25 pages, 11 figure

Controlling the exchange interaction using the spin-flip transition of antiferromagnetic spins in Ni81_{81}Fe19_{19} / α\alpha-Fe2_2O3_3

We report studies of exchange bias and coercivity in ferromagnetic Ni$_{81}$Fe$_{19}$ layers coupled to antiferromagnetic (AF) (0001), (11$\bar{2}$0), and (11$\bar{0}$2) $\alpha$-Fe$_2$O$_3$ layers. We show that AF spin configurations which permit spin-flop coupling give rise to a strong uniaxial anisotropy and hence a large coercivity, and that by annealing in magnetic fields parallel to specific directions in the AF we can control either coercivity or exchange bias. In particular, we show for the first time that a reversible temperature-induced spin reorientation in the AF can be used to control the exchange interaction.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let