Barcelona has undergone a profound transformation
in its economy, urbanism and infrastructure over the past twenty years
becoming a well known economic and tourist centre in the process.
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Barcelona is the main centre of a metropolitanregion with 4.5 million inhabitants: it is the sixth urban area in Europe in population terms and the fifth in terms of industrial employment.
Barcelona is a city which has made important changes to its
economic base: industry continues to have an important influence
(about 13% of the workforce), but services now have a
preponderant role (accounting for 82% of jobs).
Sectors such as company servicesand activities linked to tourism or commerce also have a major influence on the city's economy taken as a whole.
Recent years have also seen dynamic growth and diversification within the quinary sector, which brings together a series of strategic sectors - such as health, the cultural, education or art and entertainment industries - linked to innovative and creative activities where Barcelona has a great potential |
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The city's current offer of transport and communications infrastructures, with projects such as those for the extension of the port and the airport and the future high speed train will help Barcelona consolidate itself as the biggest logistics centre in Southern Europe.
One other aspect of note is the position of Barcelona as a base port for the main Mediterranean cruise companies, a fact which that has helped to position Barcelona as an important tourist destination in world terms
The international recognition of the city has also grown thanks to ongoing improvements in the quality of life, reflected in the positive temporal evolution of a series of concepts associated with the climate, geography, customs and Mediterraneangastronomy, which together with the rich historical and cultural heritage, architectural quality and a high level of social cohesion, make up the characteristic traits of the so-called Barcelona model
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| The projects of the future |
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The 22@bcn project has transformed 200 industrial hectares in the centre of Barcelona into an innovative productive district for the development of knowledge intensive activities.
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Barcelona, city of knowledge pays special attention to the development of digital technologies as well as information and communication technologies.In this sense the BarcelonaMultimediaParkwill strengthen the audio-visual sector in terms of economic dynamism and cultural interest.
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The arrival of the TGV high speed train in Barcelona and the construction of the intermodalstation at Sant Andreu-Sagrera will see an important urban transformation of the rail corridor towards France.
The TGV and the extension of the Port of Barcelona together with the efforts being made to open new international and intercontinental air routes represent the main projects for the improvement of the infrastructure.
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Barcelona's attraction as a tourist destination has been reinforced by its consolidation as one of the main destinations for the celebration of major congresses and conventions.
The city has met the constant demand by increasing the number of hotel places on offer whilst developing a tourist policy of quality that specialises in cultural tourism and leisure programmes.
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The consolidation of the city's promotion abroad through the so-called BarcelonaShopping line, a five kilometre urban "thoroughfare" linking four of the city's most attractive shopping areas, has reinforced the external promotion of Barcelona as an international standard shopping city. In order to give the sector a new impulse, Barcelona Year of Commerce is being celebrated between March 2006 and March 2007.
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Fira de Barcelona, is currently immersed in a project to extend and remodel its infrastructure and this will see the surface area of the trade fair complex increase to 355,000 square metres. When work is finished in 2009, Barcelona will have the second European trade fair complex in terms of surface area and the first in terms of architectural design and technological innovation.
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Barcelona has vouched to become the capital of a European BioRegion and to strengthen the cluster in biomedicine and biotechnology. The recently finished BiomedicalResearch Park hopes to become one of southern Europe's main scientific facilities for biomedical transfer research.Other strategic initiatives, such as the choice of Barcelona as the location for the headquarters of the European Observatory of Biotechnology (OEB) and the central headquarters of the European Federation of Biotechnology, are also worth mentioning.
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Within the social area, Barcelona is developing lines of action that favour social cohesion and the fight against inequality and exclusion. These include ongoing improvements to the coverage and quality of basic public services and those intended to cover the needs of certain collectives with specific problems.
Barcelona is a city that appeals to creativity. Culture is one of the most visible elements of the city and aims at transforming the city into a platform for the international promotion of cultural declarations and productions. In the city of Barcelona culture has a key role to play as an economic driving force and as a factor of social cohesion
The measures taken to revitalise the heritage sites and venues have given the city a renewed network of facilities, with a special emphasis placed on the construction of major infrastructures of international reference such as the Auditori Concert Hall,the Liceu Opera House, NationalMuseum of Catalonia, ...
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