The historical aspects of polycentric urban development on the example of Barcelona

Abstract

The article concerns the problems of implementation of the modern urban planning methods and principles in the context of historical process of urbanization. Network and polycentric urban planning actively developed in 19th century and implied the equal distribution of public facilities and communications, the unification of the urban space with the connecting axes, the integration of transport and engineering infrastructure. The purpose of the article is to consider the urban planning strategies of Barcelona's renovation of 19th centuries and to define it's correspondence to the tasks of modern urban development. The relevance of the topic is determined by it's connection with problems of modern growth-oriented urban structures. The article is based on complex and system theoretical approach. Theoretical analysis of urban planning strategies and urban space development is implemented to reveal the most perspective and progressive tendencies of urban planning, which anticipated the modern principles of urban space formation. The results of the work include the characteristic of polycentric Urban structures on the example of Barcelona, the determination of it's key features. The review of researches, dedicated to the history of urban planning and the problems of modern urban planning allows to make the conclusions about the advantages of polycentric urban planing and it's perspectives in future development of the cities.