Raising our gaze and building bridges, by Glòria Serra Coch

New York is no longer understood as one city, but as five. "New York is Brooklyn, a working-class city that reinvents itself on a daily basis; Queens, the world capital of linguistic diversity; the Bronx, an artistic phoenix; Staten Island, a suburban backwater; and Manhattan, the city of dreams that are fought for", explains Glòria Serra. Over the years, New York has shown itself to be brave and generous," she says, "because it understands that success is achieved by sharing. New York knows that making all these personalities its own builds its identity.

"Barcelona is a city with a magnificent urban planning trajectory, a legacy of linking cooperation, citizen initiative and visionary episodes, such as the Eixample or the Olympic Games," Serra stresses. However, the architecture and urban planning specialist believes that Barcelona still needs to broaden its horizons and look at all the opportunities it has around it. It still has to continue working with ambition and self-respect to build metropolitan connections that link the territory on a large scale, including areas such as Vallés or Collserola. "We must leave behind the idea of growth by absorption of adjacent urban centres and assume a real polycentrism, in which we cede the leading role without fear of losing our identity. Why not think of a pact of cities and not one that expands", says Serra.

Read the full article here.

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