The “Ámbito Central” of the “Camp de Tarragona”: The emergence of a regional metropolis

Abstract

The “Ámbito Central” of the “Camp de Tarragona”, for its present economic and demographic
dimension, is the second most important urban region in Catalonia. Its polinuclear and
heterogeneous traditional urban system has suffered throughout the last three decades an
increasingly process of metropolisation, reflected in the transformations taking place in the
location and urban patterns of housing, economic activities of production, circulation and
consumption, in the mobility and its territorial infrastructures. The cross-cutting nature of
these processes and the need to protect and manage elements and territorial situations,
require a supra-municipal urban planning.