Crisis and Evolution of Urban Governance in Spain

Abstract

This paper analyses how the urban development of austerity has affected urban
governance in Spain. Since democracy was restored in Spain in the 1970s, local authorities and
regional governments have played a key role in the development of the Spanish welfare system. In
the 1990s there was an increase in urban enterprise in the major cities, with the development of
new megaprojects and public–private partnerships. As a result of the 2008 economic crisis, high
unemployment and increasing social inequality has occurred alongside a programme of institutional
and legal reforms carried out by the Spanish government and the European Union. These reforms
involve budget cuts and an attempt to recentralise welfare policy at the expense of regional and
local government, while further entrenching neoliberal urban policies. In response to this situation,
the 2015 local elections saw new coalitions taking shape on the councils of major cities, bringing
together the social response in recent years. Through a description of the general evolution and a
comparison between the country’s two major cities, Madrid and Barcelona, we explore both the
similarities and the variations in urban governance in Spain.