In recent months, there has been much talk in economic circles about the book Madrid DF by architect Fernando Caballero. A story about the great Madrid that is projected unstoppably towards a large metropolitan area of ten million inhabitants. Caballero's book is good, very good, not so much for the content, which it also is, but for its ability to project an imaginary in which the former capital of Spain, provincial, bureaucratic, and with hardly any industry or primary resources, is projected today as the great global city of Southern Europe. A leadership based on the success of its liberal economic model and the drive of the financial and services economy that characterizes the economy of the 21st century.
The success of this new and renewed narrative of Madrid DF lies, from my point of view, in three fundamental elements that I developed in my book The Republic of Reputation and that Madrid has intelligently managed to combine and energize: economy, power, and emotions. It is no minor issue, however, that political and economic Madrid has benefited from the political, economic, and emotional vacuum generated by the self-inflicted wounds produced by certain leaderships in Barcelona and Catalonia in the last decade, and especially from the sovereignist procès. The consequence has been the absence of a powerful, sophisticated, and credible narrative from Catalonia as a counterpoint to Madrid's drive.
But let's be clear, the problem is not Madrid, which plays its cards, but the need to articulate a new collective project from Barcelona and Catalonia that generates adhesion and enthusiasm both internally and internationally. And for that, some taboos must be broken. The great narrative and political, economic, and emotional project of Catalonia is called Barcelona, the great Barcelona, that of the metropolitan region of five and a half million... and beyond. A territory that does not have well-defined borders, but is an open political, economic, and social construction that should be based on a great alliance that brings together all the actors in the territory.
Against the thrust of narratives that advocate for uniformity, a new centralism, and leadership of the great Madrid DF, we should prioritize the project of the Republic of Barcelona.The objective should be to gain competitiveness in a global economy with a commitment to sustainability, equity, culture, security ---in the broadest sense---, as well as the preservation of an open, inclusive, and democratic society. Barcelona must and can be a great global brand that contributes equally to territorial balance from the Vall d'Aran to l'Ampordà, the Terres de l'Ebre and the territories of Ponent.
Faced with the push of narratives advocating for uniformity, a new centralism, and leadership of the great Madrid DF, we should put forward the project of the Republic of Barcelona. It is not about creating a State, but a new powerful imaginary and a community of destiny represented by the values of classical republicanism around concepts such as freedom, self-government, the rule of law, civility, the commitment to civil society and the common good, civic virtue and culture, patriotism, or democratic government. Values that reference us with a certain way of understanding Europe and the world that projects Barcelona as one of the global metropolises of reference. And looking at ourselves in the mirror of the world, this Barcelona Republic could well be inspired by another of the great emerging global metropolises such as Singapore, a city-state of growing global relevance with which we share many approaches and characteristics.
From a geographical and demographic point of view, the Barcelona Metropolitan Area and Singapore bear some similarity. Greater Barcelona has an area of 636 square kilometers and 5.5 million inhabitants, while Singapore has an area of 728 square kilometers and 5.6 million inhabitants. In strategic terms, we share the commitment to attracting talent and investments, technology and innovation, and sustainable development through coherent and quality urban development.
The Singapore model should be the reference for Barcelona and CataloniaBoth cities know the importance of connectivity and the commitment to key infrastructures such as ports and airports with intercontinental connections,crucial for global competitiveness and their ability to attract quality tourism, talent, and international business.Singapore is in a strategic location, in the Strait of Malacca in Southeast Asia, acting as a key logistics and transport hub between Asia, Europe, and Oceania. Its global connectivity allows it to be a hub for trade and transit in Asia, with direct access to numerous emerging and established markets in the region.
Barcelona also has a strategic geographical position on the Mediterranean coast, serving as a gateway between Europe, North Africa, and the Mediterranean. Its location facilitates trade with markets in Southern Europe and North Africa, in addition to being a natural bridge to Latin America due to cultural and economic ties. In short, Singapore's commitment to air and maritime connectivity reinforces it as a global financial and logistics center, attracting multinationals and favoring job creation in high value-added sectors such as technology and finance, and this should be the benchmark for Barcelona and Catalonia.
Likewise, both global cities must manage a dense and limited territory with a vertical and efficient development approach in the planning and use of urban space with the creation of new public facilities and green areas. Something that the new neighborhoods of Barcelona such as 22@ and the new large Plaça de les Glòries or Marina del Prat Vermell can well represent. A new vertical urbanism that preserves the architectural heritage and the design of the historic urban core of its neighborhoods such as the Eixample, expanding and integrating it with new developments such as the Nou Clínic on Diagonal or in large green areas such as the expansion of Ciutadella Park and or Montjuïc mountain.
Against the emerging and self-serving discourse on the inevitability of Madrid DF's leadership, we can put forward a serious, solvent, and non-centralized project from the Mediterranean.Beyond vertical urbanism, efficient metropolitan transport and the necessary physical and digital infrastructures, the Barcelona Republicwell it can learn from Singapore inembrace and integrate a great diversity of cultures and identities.Barcelona generates economic and social opportunities and development, and largely thanks to new arrivals from all over the planet in recent years, but it demands a new, much more sophisticated and inclusive governance to coherently reconcile the challenges of a plural and multicultural society. Likewise, as fashionable cities for urban tourism, we must face complex challenges such as the increase in housing costs and the overcrowding of certain points of the city. In this too, Barcelona and Singapore share challenges and we can learn from each other.
In short, against the emerging and self-serving discourse of certain media and political, economic, and cultural elites about the inevitability of Madrid DF's leadership, we can put forward a serious, solvent, and non-centralized project from the Mediterranean. The audacious narrative of Fernando Caballero's book, with whom I hope to be able to publicly discuss all of this, beyond some half-truths and omissions, is a narrative that resembles sweet wine; it goes down very well, but it can produce a significant hangover and unwanted effects.
The new political leaderships of Catalonia and Barcelona have set to work after a lost decade, but recovering leadership requires a solid narrative, combining energies, resources. Leadership will not be measured only by GDP, but by the recovery of recognition, complicity, and admiration both throughout Spain and in Europe and the world. Something that will require new coherences and country syntheses that are much richer, more complex, and transversal.