Universidad Católica DeLa Santísima Concepción__

Communicative Competence: Upper Intermediate I

INTERESTING CITIES

By:- Juan Castro Suil.-Maria Lagos Lagos

-Camila Belén Martínez Fierro. Teacher: Maria Alejandra Torres.

Date: Concepción- 27-March-2014.

Interesting cities: Barcelona

Barcelona is the capital city of Catalonia in Spain, and the second largest city in the country. It has a population of 1,620,943 within its administrative limits. Barcelona is today one of the world's leading tourist, economic, trade fair/exhibitions and cultural-sports centres. Moreover it has an influence in commerce, education, entertainment, media, fashion, science, and art for countries all over the world. Also all of them contribute to its status as one of the world's major global cities.

Bacerlona is a city full of architecture; we could find lots of interesting buildings parks and museums. Barcelona not only has interesting buildings but also has beautiful beaches. Barceloneta beach was listed as number one in a list of the top ten city beaches in the world according to National Geographic and Discovery Channel; this beach is one of the oldest and largest beaches in Barcelona and also the most popular. The city has lots of parks, one of them is the Parc Güell which was made by the architect AntoniGaudi and it was built in the years 1900 to 1914. The terrace is the biggest attraction of the Parc, it contained by a curved bench flowing around; it has a comfortable space in a fully rigid structure. The terrace is made by colorful mosaics, pottery fragments, and iron railings. In 1969 it was declared a historical artistic monument of national interest. Now, the park supports a wide variety of wildlife, notably several of the non-native species of parrot found in the Barcelona area. Other birds can be seen from the park, with records including Short-toed eagle. The park also supports a population of Hummingbird hawk moths.

The architecture of the Barcelona city is one of the main tourism attractions. Since the first types of architecture with the Romans and Gothic until now with the Art Nouveau Catalan and the modernism, the architecture of Barcelona represent the history and the past of the city.The architecture shows us the different periods that the city has had, started with: rare Roman remains, which now just are only archaeological remains. From the medieval times, with the Gothic style, for example the la Saint Eulalia Cathedral, the Tinell salon, etc. To continue with the architecture history, the modernism was one of the most important periods of the architecture in Barcelona with the most known and recognized modernist architect Antoni Gaudí with works as Sagrada Família, the Parc Güell, Casa Milà, etc. The city also has different samples of contemporary architecture.

On the other hand, in the post-Olympic stage the city has continued a remarkable architectural development, constructing buildings such as the Museum of Contemporary Art of Barcelona by Richard Meier, the Torre Agbar by Jean Nouvel, and draft a new station to Sagrera, or the Railway Triangle Tower Frank Gehry.

Finally, over the last 30 years, Barcelona has increased notoriously its urban development. Andreas Thomann suggested on the page of Credit Suisse news that Barcelona is one of the leading destinations for urban tourists from all over the globe. To that claim Jordi Borja adds that this occurs normally in most of the cities with a characteristic that Barcelona has in terms of culture and because of its tourist destinations. But in terms of development, Barcelona has experimented an important increasing in terms of urban constructions because of the rapid development of Technical Parks for high-tech industry. This carries on with some variation in terms of increase of population and all the effects of this situation, such as, traffic congestions. Because of that, Barcelona is considered as the second noisiest city in Europe after Sofia.

In conclusion, despite of the tourism, architecture, and beautiful places, the economy is the main factor of the physical expansion in Barcelona. Business tourism has been boosted by the development of Europe's largest conference centre on the Universal Forum of Cultures 2004 site, according to the website geographyfieldwork.com.

References

S.L., B. F. (12 de mayo de 2013). geographyfieldwork. Recuperado el 25 de marzo de 2014, de http://geographyfieldwork.com/BarcelonaUrbanDetail.htm

Thomann, A. (1997). CREDIT SUISSE GROUP. Recuperado el 27 de marzo de 2014, de https://www.credit-suisse.com/cl/es/news-and-expertise/news/economy/europe.article.html/article/pwp/news-and-expertise/2010/11/en/barcelona-city-of-constant-change.html

whatbarcelona. (2012). Recuperado el 25 de marzo de 2014, de http://www.whatbarcelona.com/guiabarcelona/arquitectura-barcelona.html