AgroCulture in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona: Diverse Planning and Management Tools for Different Landscapes

Abstract

Agricultural lands in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona (MAB) are exposed to enormous urban pressures. Until recently, no single global study has attempted to describe the heterogeneous landscapes (agrarian and non-agrarian) of the Barcelona region in any official way. Since 2007, work has been underway on compiling an official Metropolitan Landscape Catalogue. This Landscape Catalogue is conceived normatively as a useful tool for the planning and management of the landscape from the spatial planning perspective. In recent decades, “territorial conflicts” have emerged related to periurban agriculture. Several strategies and instruments have the common aims of preserving its agrarian units of landscape from the urban process, planning and consolidating this goal through management criteria. Three experiences are explained extensively: the Agricultural Park of Sabadell (Sabadell), Gallecs (Molllet del Vallés) and the Agrarian Park of Baix Llobregat (14 municipalities of the Baix Llobregat District).