City profile: A history of changing urban powers to feed the city of Barcelona

City profile: A history of changing urban powers to feed the city of Barcelona Amaranta Herrero * , Ana Moragues-Faus Department of Economic History, Institutions, Politics and World Economy, University of Barcelona. Diagonal, 690, - 08014 Barcelona, Spain ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Urban food policy Sustainable food systems Governance Food system transformation Policy instruments ABSTRACT Cities play a critical role in advancing planetary sustainability and equity challenges, including the transformation of food systems. Addressing this transformation requires urban food scholarship to engage more deeply with their urban contexts and assess interventions within their historical and socio-ecological trajectories. This city profile analyses 800 years of food governance in Barcelona to progress our understanding of how different powers and capacities shape the city’s food systems over time. Using documentary analysis, participant observation, and interviews, we first identify five distinct historical periods, showing how local powers have shaped Barcelona’s food system through famines, wars, riots, dictatorships, and democratic transitions. We then analyse Barcelona’s contemporary urban food governance, highlighting critical challenges, key policies, and their impacts. Our findings reveal how a range of policy instruments and institutions have historically addressed complex urban food challenges - shifting from regulatory and coercive tools to softer, behavior-oriented approaches alongside a decline in citizen mobilization. Engaging with this historical evolution of urban food governance might contribute to a much-needed expansion of urban food policy imaginaries and practices to address planetary emergencies. 1. Introduction In an increasingly urbanized world (UN, 2022), recent evidence states that the struggle for sustainability and equity will be won or lost in cities (Nijman & Wei, 2020). Furthermore, food system transformations have been considered to be essential to address the climate emergency (Clark et al., 2020; Masson-Delmotte et al., 2022) and to deliver social, economic, environmental, and health benefits in an unequal and malnourished world (Ambikapathi et al., 2022; Fanzo & Miachon, 2023). At the juncture of these challenges, there has been an increasing interest in policy, civic, and academic arenas to transform urban food systems. Hundreds of cities are developing urban food policies and activities to create more sustainable food systems, and studies on urban food governance dynamics are globally expanding (Moragues-Faus et al., 2023). Currently, international agencies, policymakers, scholars, and social movements are calling for food system transformation and increased leadership of cities. 1 However, cities have been continually transforming food systems for centuries, shaping not only how food is accessed and consumed within their boundaries but also the wider global food system (Ghosh & Meer, 2021; Steel, 2013). Barcelona’s foodscape is a case in point. In this city profile article, we trace nearly 800 years of change in the city’s food governance through famines, wars, coups, bread riots, and periods of democratic control over prices and distribution, culminating in the city’s recognition as the Barcelona World Sustainable Food Capital in 2021. In the last decade, the rapid increase in activity around urban food systems has sparked a growing interest in the study of urban food governance. Research on this area has chiefly revolved around three domains. First, the analysis of the emergence and implementation of specific urban food policies and programs, such as public procurement (e.g., Smith et al., 2016), urban agriculture (e.g., Cohen & Reynolds, 2014), urban planning (e.g., Battersby & Watson, 2019), or healthrelated initiatives (e.g., Freudenberg & Atkinson, 2015). Second, many scholars have documented the development of urban food strategies that integrate different sectors and activities, from health to environmental concerns and from farm to fork. This includes the establishment of associated multiactor spaces of deliberation, such as food policy councils, which take a holistic and place-based approach to food policy * Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (A. Herrero), [email protected] (A. Moragues-Faus). 1 For example, the UN Food System Summit gathered in New York in September 2021 recognized the critical role of cities and local governments in transforming food systems. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Cities journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/cities https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2025.106025 Received 27 March 2024; Received in revised form 4 April 2025; Accepted 26 April 2025 Cities 163 (2025) 106025 Available online 2 May 2025 0264-2751/© 2025 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/bync-nd/4.0/ ). reform (e.g., Landert et al., 2017). Furthermore, several authors have conducted comparative studies to provide a comprehensive picture of how these urban food innovations spread. Their findings indicate a concentration of efforts in the Global North (Romero A et al., 2023; Zhong et al., 2023) alongside a generalized slow progress toward effective integration of sectors and goals as well as the establishment of pluralistic governance spaces (Candel, 2019; Doernberg et al., 2019; Sibbing et al., 2021; Sonnino et al., 2019). Third, recent research has investigated how cities build translocal alliances by assembling knowledge, resources, and experiences, rescaling the impact of individual city transformations (Moragues-Faus & Sonnino, 2019). Despite the expansion of the urban food literature, recent compilations on the field show the need for a more rigorous engagement with the urban dimension of this phenomenon, which involves considering material, relational, and governance specificities of urban spaces rather than just conducting a general local analysis of their food dynamics (Battersby & Haysom, 2018; Moragues-Faus & Battersby, 2021). For that purpose, it is paramount to situate current urban food policy developments in their historical and socioecological context (Duminy, 2022; Friedmann, 2018; Yasmeen, 2022). In this city profile article, we aimed to examine the city of Barcelona as a compelling case study to progress our understanding of the different powers and capacities of city governments to shape food systems, how they have evolved, how they intertwine with other urban agencies, and how they shape current possibilities of further food system transformation to attain sustainability as well as food and nutrition security goals. Barcelona presents a highly relevant case study to understand the changing role of the city government in shaping food systems and, therefore, key urban dynamics, such as infrastructure, as well as the socioeconomic performance and health status of the population. In recent years, Barcelona has demonstrated leadership in transforming urban food systems (Ajuntament de Barcelona, 2021a; Covarrubias & Boas, 2020). In 2015, it joined other global cities in the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact (MUFPP), an international treaty that promotes healthy, just, and sustainable urban food policies. The launch of the MUFPP, together with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2015) and the New Urban Agenda (2016), marked a turning point in situating cities back as key food governance actors (Forster et al., 2022). In 2021, Barcelona was named the World Sustainable Food Capital, which involved the placement of sustainable urban food policies at the center of the social and political agenda. However, this surge in giving centrality to urban food policies is not new. As shown in this city profile, food governance has been pivotal in the city’s development throughout the past centuries. The reach and intensity of the interventions to ensure adequate food availability and quality within city limits have ebbed and flowed with the tides of municipal, regional, and state politics. The historical changes in Barcelona’s food system have been the focus of several studies, particularly its markets (Fava et al., 2010 and 2016; Fuertes & Gomez-Escoda, 2022; Gu` ardia et al., 2010; Renom, 2016a). Recent contributions include a range of topics from food environments to urban agriculture or sustainability (Camps-Calvet et al., 2022; Covarrubias & Boas, 2020; Garcia et al., 2020; Goossensen et al., 2023; Londo˜ no-Ca˜ nola et al., 2022; Planas et al., 2025). Herein, we build on this knowledge to identify the governance changes underpinning the city’s shifting foodscape from the 13th century to the present. Our analysis revealed the importance of including a historical and socioecological perspective in urban food governance analysis, which allowed us to reassess the innovativeness of urban food governance in the 21st century, with a particular focus on the governance tools used. Our results contribute to critical debates on the actual transformative capacity of urban food governance and open new avenues to explore political possibilities inspired by former interventions. This is particularly relevant as hundreds of cities are developing urban food policies, yet sustainability and food security challenges are increasing (HLPE, 2024). The research methods used included documentary analysis, participant observation in Barcelona food governance spaces and activities, and interviews with nine informants, including public sector representatives (4), academics (3), and civil society (2). We reviewed historical and contemporary secondary data sources on Barcelona’s food system, such as official reports, statistics, and food strategy, key publications from the Barcelona History Museum, as well as salient books on the history of Barcelona’s food provisioning (Planas et al., 2025; Renom, 2016a). Access to additional data on the key trends in Barcelona’s current food system and its governance was secured through the participation of both authors in the city’s urban food activities from 2019 to 2022. One author participated as an academic, whereas the other joined in the coordination team for the municipality’s food policy unit. The most relevant activities included leading a diagnostic assessment of Barcelona’s food system, designing and coordinating the development of the 2030 Barcelona Health and Sustainable Food Strategy, coordinating the international relations of the city’s food policy unit, and attending interdepartmental and intergovernmental meetings. In total, we participated in over 100 meetings organized by the City Council related to urban food policies. Our interviews and data analysis focused on uncovering what urban powers have been mobilized to shape Barcelona’s food system in each historical period, with a particular emphasis on the City Council’s actions. The reminder of this study is organized as follows. Section 2 depicts the city’s geographic and social contexts. Section 3 involves a historical analysis of Barcelona’s food governance, which identifies five distinct historical periods. Section 4 presents the key trends characterizing Barcelona’s contemporary food system. Section 5 examines novel governance, policy interventions, and identified impacts. We conclude by highlighting the importance of historical analysis of urban food governance to expand current political imaginaries and undertake necessary socioecological transformations. 2. Geographic and social contexts Barcelona is the capital of Catalonia and the second-largest city in Spain. It is located northeast of the Iberian Peninsula on the main coastal corridor linking the Spanish mainland with France (Fig. 1). The Roman city of Barcino was settled in this location during the 1st century BCE, and cities have prospered there ever since. Barcelona sits on an inclined plain that gradually rises from the Mediterranean Sea in the south to the Collserola mountain range in the north. Collserola was declared a Natural Park in 2010. It covers 8000 ha and separates Barcelona from its inland suburbs. The city is situated between two rivers, the Bes` os and the Llobregat. The Llobregat River is separated from the city by the Montjuïc Mountain, a broad, shallow hill overlooking the harbor to the southwest of the city center. Seven more hills rise from within the upper part of the city, namely, Peira, Carmel, Rovira, Creueta del Coll, Putxet, Monterols, and Modolell. Barcelona is divided into 10 districts (Fig. 2), which serve as administrative units managed by councilors appointed by the city government. Each district possesses its own budget as well as certain autonomy and decision-making powers related to local issues, such as planning or infrastructure. Each district is further divided into 73 neighborhoods. Barcelona has 1.655.956 inhabitants and is one of Europe’s most densely populated cities, with 16.339 inhabitants/km 2 (Idescat, 2023). Approximately 81 % of its land has been urbanized, whereas its woodland mosaic accounts for 17 % and its agricultural land for 0.7 %. This implies only 7 m 2 of green public space per inhabitant if the Collserola Natural Park is excluded and 17.2 m 2 if included (Ajuntament de Barcelona, 2021b). Table 1 presents the demographic evolution of the city of Barcelona from the creation of the Consell de Cent (1249) to the present. The city’s population has nearly tripled since 1900. Feeding this rapidly growing city has been made possible by changes in the urban form and critical transformations in the global food system, from production and processing to trade, transport, and logistic innovations. A. Herrero and A. Moragues-Faus Cities 163 (2025) 106025 2 Barcelona’s spatial organization has evolved through different historical periods in line with demographic changes. Consequently, Barcelona showcases an urban form with three distinct areas: 1) The city center, characterized by its original irregular and compacted layout enclosed within city walls until the late 19th century; 2) the Extension Plan (Eixample), developed during the late 19th century and the first half of the 20th century to accommodate population growth by demolishing the walls and expanding through a grid structure with uniform buildings, absorbing nearby towns as neighborhoods; and 3) the periphery, which expanded since the 1950s to accommodate a growing immigrant population and is now mainly residential and features some green spaces and old rural centers integrated into the urban fabric (Reher, 1994). Over the past three decades, Barcelona has focused on the integration of urban peripheral areas, enhancement of public spaces, and improvement of mobility networks. Like many other European cities, Barcelona is part of a larger metropolitan region encompassing 36 and 164 municipalities in its first and second rings, respectively (Fig. 3). Since 1960, nearly the entire the population growth has been outside the city of Barcelona, creating a dense metropolitan area. Two adjacent municipalities of Barcelona–L’Hospitalet de Llobregat and Badalona–rank 1st and 3rd among the most densely populated square kilometer in the European Union (EUROSTAT, 2020). The metropolitan region of Barcelona showcases two distinct approaches to urban development and land use. In the center of the metropolis, there is a dense and interconnected urbanization model with a mix of functions. Conversely, the outer metropolitan periphery mainly displays zonal functionalism, discontinuous urban fabrics, and lower population densities, particularly in the second ring (Miralles-Guasch & Fulla, 2012). Barcelona and its metropolis are key economic poles in Spain. In 2023, the city’s unemployment rate was 7.3 %, which was lower than the 11.8 % average in Spain (Ajuntament de Barcelona, 2023a). The city’s economy is heavily shaped by the tourist sector, which accounted for approximately 12 % of its GDP and 9 % of its jobs (Ajuntament de Barcelona, 2023b). Since the 1992 Olympic Games, Barcelona has increasingly become a branded hub for international tourism, receiving approximately 28 million visitors annually. Barcelona is also a diverse city, home to 180 different nationalities. In 2022, more than half of Barcelona’s residents were born elsewhere, and 21.9 % of the population living in the city is from outside Spain (Idescat, 2023). 3. Historical development of Barcelona through a food governance lens This section portrays how changes in political regimes transformed institutions, regulations, policy interventions, and capacities to act regarding food availability and access in the city. Concurrently, it shows how food governance became a critical tool impacting wider urban dynamics, from shaping public spaces to sparking social revolts with lasting consequences. Based on the analysis of historical secondary data, we identified five distinct periods of urban food governance in the city (Table 2). 3.1. Consell de cent: Mobilizing city powers to feed the medieval and renaissance city (1249–1714) During this period, Europe was mainly governed by feudalism and monarchical systems, evolving into early centralized state authorities by Fig. 1. Barcelona location. Source: Adapted from www.alabamamaps.ua.edu A. Herrero and A. Moragues-Faus Cities 163 (2025) 106025 3 the later centuries. In 1249, King Jaume I of Aragon granted Barcelona’s resident municipal self-government privileges for the first time, establishing the Consell de Cent, which means a Council of One Hundred in English. This body served as Barcelona’s executive governing body until 1714. Comprised of one hundred members, including eight council members and a general assembly of citizens, it had significant powers to manage city affairs, particularly food security. Throughout this period, food systems were predominantly local and reliant on agricultural productivity (Braudel, 1981). Like many large European cities, Barcelona faced recurring food crises, particularly between the 12th and 13th centuries, with famines becoming more frequent (Benito i Monclús, 2016). Wheat was the main staple for both the rich and poor, mostly in bread form (Riera Melis, 2016). As grain production in the region was insufficient to cover the urban population’s needs, Barcelona became reliant on imports, which mostly arrived through maritime or fluvial routes, mainly from Italy (C´ aceres Nevot, 2016). To address the cyclical food crises, the Consell de Cent increasingly began to regulate grain trading, aiming to stabilize prices and ensure availability (Benito i Monclús, 2016; Corteguera, 2016; Verd´ es-Pijuan, 2016). It operated in an extremely unstable context characterized by limited food productivity, a lack of food alternatives to the most consumed grains, and often increased prices under the influence of speculative cycles (C´ aceres Nevot, 2016). Consell de Cent’s interventions included banning grain exports, subsidizing imports, confiscating grain when necessary, creating food stocks, and negotiating with other regions for supplies (C´ aceres Nevot, 2016). While the grain market was the main focus for interventions, it also intervened in other important food markets, such as lamb (Banegas-L´ opez, 2016) and fish (Comas Via & Vinyoles Vidal, 2016). Furthermore, inspired by the city of Valencia, the Consell de Cent established a legislative body and created a sui generis institutional authority figure, namely, the mostassaf, whose job was to protect the economic interests of both producers and consumers by ensuring fairtrade practices. The mostassaf oversaw and controlled weights, prices, the activity of traders, and the quality of products to avoid fraud and adulterations. He also had the power to fine, detain, restore goods, or even bar someone from their guild (Bajet Royo, 1995). In addition, the Consell de Cent oversaw critical food infrastructure and spaces in the city (Fig. 4), consolidating a stable food supply system that helped overcome famines and associated conflicts resulting from the city’s periodic food shortages. 3.2. Food provision in a Bourbonic city: Recentralization and bread riots (1715–1811) Between 1715 and 1820, Europe experienced significant political changes, marked by the consolidation of centralized monarchies, the rise of enlightened absolutism, and the spread of revolutionary ideas that would culminate in the French Revolution (1789–1799) and the Fig. 2. Districts of Barcelona. Source: Ajuntament de Barcelona. A. Herrero and A. Moragues-Faus Cities 163 (2025) 106025 4 Napoleonic Wars (1799–1815). During the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714), the Crown of Aragon, including Barcelona, supported Archduke Charles of the Habsburgs, whereas the Crown of Castile backed Duke Philip of the Bourbons, whose victory led to the establishment of absolutism in Spain. Between 1715 and 1820, the Spanish food system was characterized by its reliance on subsistence farming and local markets playing a pivotal role in distribution (Llopis, 2002). Efforts to modernize agriculture were slow, with transportation and storage inefficiencies exacerbating food insecurity problems (ibid). Moreover, the Bourbon reforms were aimed at improving agricultural yields and centralizing control, but their impact was limited by local resistance and political instability (ibid). The Bourbonic rule established the Nova Planta Decrees, which abolished Catalan institutions and led to Catalonia’s loss of control over its own economic, taxation, legal, military, customs, and monetary systems. These changes included dissolving Barcelona’s Consell de Cent and confiscating its properties and goods, such as the municipal grain warehouse, which was important in guaranteeing the city’s food security (Feliu, 2016; L´ opez Guallar, 2016). The new decree imposed the Council’s Castilian model with royally appointed members, an aristocratic composition of governors, and a chief magistrate supervising compliance with the royal will. The new Bourbonic Council, established in 1718, did not have taxation autonomy and accumulated an outstanding debt to the royal treasury. Despite losing autonomy, this new City Council built a new public bakery (Fig. 5) and maintained a bread monopoly with subsidized prices until 1765. Then, a new Royal Decree liberalized bread prices and ended municipal privileges on food provisioning (Feliu, 2016). However, this decree failed to tackle the famines. Just a few weeks before the French Revolution, in February 1789, a sudden, sharp rise in bread prices and declining quality, particularly of the black bread relied on by the poor, triggered widespread bread riots led by women known as els rebomboris del pa (Castells, 1970). Five men and one woman were executed for instigating the riots. These riots had long-term consequences for food governance in the city. Sortition–the selection of public servants using a random representative sample–was reintroduced to replace royal appointments. Significantly, the riots also halted the liberalization of bread markets. Thereafter, the authorities’ fear of triggering more riots shaped policies. The City Council retook control of bread provisioning and once again became an essential player in the wheat trade. This began a chaotic pendulum period of food governance characterized by swinging back and forth between attempts to reinstate the liberalization of breadmaking and the municipal government taking market control (ibid). 3.3. The rise of liberalism and capitalism (1812–1922) In this period, Europe experienced substantial political transformations, such as the decline of absolutist monarchies, the rise of liberalism and nationalism, the growth of democratic institutions, and Table 1 Demographic evolution of the city of Barcelona and sociopolitical context* Date Population Key elements of the sociopolitical context 13th Century 30.000 The beginning of a robust institutional regulation period for food provisioning by Consell de Cent. Beginning of the 18th century 40.000 After the War of Succession, there was a significant population loss, the municipal institutions were suppressed, and the city was ruled by the royal administration from Madrid. Beginning of the 19th century 100.000 Introduction and consolidation of economic liberalism and free trade of food until the emancipation as independent republics of the former Latin American Spanish colonies in the 1820s. Subsequently, food imports were banned to create an integrated domestic market within the Spanish Iberian Peninsula. 1890 400.000 Emergence of industrial working-class protests over both salaries and the transformations of factory work. After a liberalization period toward free trade (1868–1874), the Spanish Kingdom imposed strong protectionist tariffs on food imports to favor the big landowners who sold grains to Barcelona and other Spanish cities. 1900 550.000 Aggregation of independent municipalities into Barcelona (1897–1921). 1930 1.000.000 1936–1939 Spanish Civil War. In 1939, the Second Republic was replaced by the Francoist dictatorship. 1950 1.300.000 Massive arrival of immigrants from all over Spain to Barcelona. 1975 1.750.000 In 1975, the Francoist dictatorship ended. 2000 1.500.000 The 1992 Olympic Games catapulted the city into an international tourism hub. 2020 1.600.000 COVID-19 pandemic Source: Adapted from Renom (2016b) with the Barcelona City Council statistical data. * Round numbers are an approximation to provide a general view, considering the precarity of historical demographic accountability. Fig. 3. Barcelona metropolis region with its two rings in 2023. Source: Adapted from Miralles-Guasch and Fulla (2012) with data from Idescat. A. Herrero and A. Moragues-Faus Cities 163 (2025) 106025 5 World War I. The 19th century in Spain was characterized by political instability and deep social transformations, beginning with the Peninsular War (1807–1814) and continuing with conflicts between absolutists and liberal elites. This era saw revolutions, civil wars (such as the Carlist wars), and changes in government, including the brief First Republic (1873–1874) and the eventual restoration of the Bourbon monarchy. The turmoil of these social, political, and ideological conflicts resulted in a fluctuating regulatory environment, shifting between liberal approaches and protectionist policies. Different policy tools were utilized to construct a food system reliant on low-productivity agriculture that struggled to feed rural and growing urban populations (Simpson, 2003). Urban markets were vital for food distribution; however, underdeveloped transportation compared with other parts of Europe contributed to food shortages, price fluctuations, and social unrest. Moreover, Spain’s colonies provided key food imports, but the loss of most of them after the Spanish–American war in 1989 increased the country’s reliance on global markets (Clar & Pinilla, 2008). In early-19th-century Spain, liberal ideas highlighted free-market competition for food availability; however, for the first three decades, liberalism was paired with protectionism. This approach to foreign trade involved banning imports to protect the creation and integration of an internal domestic market and implementing tax reforms to eliminate feudal privileges (Arnabat, 2016). The 1812 Constitution played a pivotal role in modernizing Spanish State structures, introducing modern city councils elected by certain taxpayers with voting rights (i.e., only in 1890 was the general suffrage for adult males established). Initially, these liberal city councils did not intervene in markets to address issues on food availability. For example, during the Triennio Liberal (1820–1823), grain imports were banned in Barcelona to protect local markets, though historically, maritime and fluvial imports had compensated for limited local grain production. Therefore, the city became dependent on inefficient land-based wheat and flour imports Table 2 Synthesis of food governance shifts in Barcelona (1249–2023). Governance context Food governance Consell de Cent City self-governance powers through local authority: Consell de Cent ⋅ Consell de Cent as the main city authority ⋅ Regulating trading through bans of wheat exports, incentivizing and subsidizing imports, implementing coercive measures (e.g., confiscations), creating food stocks, taxing, and proposing agreements with other regions for grain trade purposes ⋅ Overseeing food infrastructure ⋅ Controlling Barcelona’s food marketing activities and food quality through a dedicated civil servant–mostassaf Bourbonic city Recentralization of city and regional Catalan powers, end to Consell de Cent Lack of power over taxation, economics, and customs ⋅ Confiscation by the central government of infrastructure, such as the municipal grain warehouse ⋅ City Council invested in infrastructure: public bakery and monopoly on bread (subsidized prices) later liberalized by the Spanish King ⋅ Increase in bread price and lowering quality led to bread riots ⋅ Return to control of bread provision by the City Council to avoid riots Liberalism, and capitalism: from availability to regulating access Political instability: mixed and swinging use of regulation, which included liberal and protectionist measures Liberal city councils ⋅ The Spanish rule focused on banning imports to protect the creation of an internal domestic market and to ensure its integration, together with a tax reform to end feudal privileges. ⋅ Labor conflicts and mobilization on living conditions, including food shortages, famines, and food riots at several points in time, led to punctual local political intervention, mostly on bread prices ⋅ Development of municipal markets in the city–concentration of food retail in the city and power opportunity for the liberal City Council ⋅ Liberal city councils intervened in food provisioning through the creation and management of public municipal markets, the oversight of quality and price, punctual intervention to lower food prices, and the reduction of taxes ⋅ Creation of cooperatives for self-organized, affordable food provisioning Dictatorships Several dictatorships characterize this period, with a short republic period followed by the Civil War and Franco’s dictatorship ⋅ During the war, subsistence gardens and agricultural collectives thrived in Barcelona, partly linked to the anarchist trade union CNT ⋅ The end of the Civil War and Table 2 (continued) Governance context Food governance During the dictatorships, power was centralized by the Spanish State the dictatorship were characterized by famine, political repression, retaliation, executions, black markets, and ration cards managed by the Spanish central government Barcelona as a global city Democracy was reinstated and included elected City Councils Embrace of neoliberalism ⋅ City Council creates the Barcelona Municipal Market Institute to modernize municipal markets ⋅ Local management of the relocated wholesale market and internationalization as a global food hub, together with the expansion of the port Barcelona, the World Capital of Sustainable Food Consolidated democracy and diversity of powers and capacities at the local, regional, and national levels Capitalist and neoliberal regimes Increased participation of cities in food policies ⋅ Integrated urban food strategy and participative processes and structure. ⋅ Key pillars of city council action include sustainable food public procurement, increasing local and organic food provision through labeling in public markets and support to food distribution projects, improving food assistance programs, and supporting urban agriculture projects. ⋅ Vibrant foodscape of community-led initiatives mainly operating independently and with limited levels of coordination Source: Own elaboration. A. Herrero and A. Moragues-Faus Cities 163 (2025) 106025 6 from inner Spain, prompting the construction and improvement of railroads as a means of freight transport (Arnabat, 2016; Pascual Dom` enech, 2016). During this period, the industrial revolution was blossoming in Catalonia. Barcelona was Spain’s only industrial city, and its workingclass depended on limited wages to buy food (Borderías, 2016; Cuss´ o, 2016). The industrialization led to labor conflicts as workers feared the increasing mechanization processes that entail human labor replacement. The combination of intermittent unemployment cycles and famines fueled unrest among the working class, prompting them to improve their organizational skills. As a response to labor conflicts, workers set fire to several convents in 1835 (Fig. 6). The newly cleared spaces were later used for public squares and municipal markets, such as Boqueria (built in 1840) and Santa Caterina (built in 1844) (Renom, 2016b). Public pressure sometimes led to government intervention in food prices. In 1858, for example, the City Council lowered bread prices in response to demands for more affordable food options (ibid). The expansion of the municipal markets continued for decades and had significant social and economic implications (Fava et al., 2010). On the one hand, it addressed widespread unemployment and provided investment opportunities for the wealthy. On the other hand, it marked the beginning of a process to organize and centralize food-selling spaces to enhance hygiene and food safety under City Council oversight. Importantly, with the expansion of these markets, Barcelona City Council regained some control over food distribution, regulating quality and prices while generating income through market stall rentals. This income could then lower food prices by reducing taxes (i.e., a new indirect consumption tax that fell disproportionally on poorer families). Therefore, municipal markets became a key instrument for the City Council to navigate the free-market food supply from a position of authority (Renom, 2016b). Concurrently, this market expansion was part of a broader urbanistic transformation that involved the demolition of city walls and development of the Eixample, Barcelona’s grid-based urban expansion (Busquets, 2004; Fava et al., 2010; Renom, 2016b). At the same time, from the 19th through the early 20th century, dissatisfaction among the working class grew over high food prices and the consumption tax. This unrest was expressed through protests addressing wage issues and industrial work conditions (Gabriel, 2009). These protests involved the first general strikes and organized revolts (Borderías, 2002; Fuster-Sobrepere, 2016). During this time, the Catalan working-class movement also established cooperatives to facilitate affordable, self-organized food supplies (Mir´ o, 2016). During WWI, food shortages worsened in various Spanish cities owing to food exports to warring nations (Gabriel, 1988). In response, hundreds of working-class women in Barcelona engaged in direct actions against authorities, attacked shops and food transports, and organized marches and strikes to demand support for their communities’ sustenance rights (Kaplan, 1971, 1982). Fig. 4. Food provisioning spaces in Barcelona in 1697, AHCB. A. Herrero and A. Moragues-Faus Cities 163 (2025) 106025 7 3.4. The Spanish civil war and the dictatorship periods in Barcelona (1923–1966) The period between 1923 and 1966 in Europe was marked by major political shifts, including the rise of fascism. This period in Spain saw a civil war and three dictatorships. In the first third of the 20th century, clashes between the Spanish State and the employers on one side and workers on the other side became increasingly violent, particularly when the police murdered many labor leaders and union members (Balcells, 2009). This conflict contributed to the rise of military dictatorships of army generals Primo de Rivera (1923–1930) and Berenguer (1931), culminating in the Second Spanish Republic after the end of the monarchy. In July 1936, a military uprising supported by right-wing politicians revolted against the legitimate left-wing government of the Republic (Bengoechea, 2002). While insurgents gained control over nearly a third of Spanish territory, including the major agricultural regions, major urban centers such as Barcelona and Madrid resisted. This initial defeat of the insurgents, along with the support they received from Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, sparked a civil war that lasted until April 1939 (Preston, 2002). During the first year of the war, the breakdown of the Spanish State sparked a social revolution in Republican Spain, particularly in anarchist-controlled Catalonia (Ackelsberg & Breitbart, 2017; Breitbart, 1978). While Franco’s forces gradually gained control of more Spanish territories, blockading and jeopardizing Catalonia’s food supplies, subsistence gardens and agricultural collectives thrived in Barcelona. By the end of 1936, the Barcelonian agricultural collective supported by the anarchist trade union CNT cultivated approximately 1000 ha of urban and periurban land. As the war progressed, despite the food rationing imposed by the Barcelona City Council, food provisioning was increasingly complex, and an increasing number of families were independently cultivating (Calve et al., 2021). By 1938, approximately 10,000 garden plots were established in the city (Camps-Calvet et al., 2022). After the Civil War, Barcelona experienced famine and misery, political repression, retaliation, executions, ration cards, and socioeconomic disparities. Under Franco’s regime that restricted freedoms and imposed moral and religious values, society was sharply divided between winners and losers and between wealthy and poor. Those years of hunger, fear, autarky, black market, and smuggling were marked in the memory of an entire generation that had to live through these difficult times (Molinero & Ys` as, 2002). However, overcoming the fear of that traumatic experience under Spanish fascism, a democratic resistance movement led by clandestine labor unions emerged against the enduring Franco dictatorship (Dom` enech, 2022). 3.5. Barcelona as a global city: Food as a commodity (1967–2014) This period in Europe was characterized first by the post-World War II recovery and Cold War tensions and second by the creation and expansion of the European Union (EU), which included the first Common Agricultural Policy (1962) aimed at increasing self-sufficiency and ensuring food security. From the 1980s onward, trade liberalization supported the creation of global food supply chains. Spain experienced the end of the dictatorship (1975) and transitioned to democracy, coupled with profound socioeconomic changes. The industrialization of agriculture slowly began in the 1960s and was bolstered by reforms in the 1980s aimed at improving the productivity of the sector, with gradual reductions in rural population as people migrated to cities. The EU accession and adoption of the Common Agricultural Policy led to further modernization and intensification of agriculture with high environmental impacts and a sector reorientation toward export markets. This overall increased participation in globalized food systems included the development of a large-scale agri-food industry and dietary shifts from traditional Mediterranean patterns to Western diets (Duarte et al., 2016; Gonz´ alez de Molina et al., 2020; Varela-Moreiras et al., 2010). During the 1950s to 1970s, a considerable influx of immigrants from across Spain led to a nearly half-million increase in Barcelona’s population, reaching 1.75 million. This rapid growth promoted the construction of new residential neighborhoods. These clustered the immigrant community in peripheral city areas, often lacking essential services. Between 1940 and 1979, 24 new markets were constructed to meet the peripheral residents’ needs (Gu` ardia, 2012). Contrary to the decline of markets due to rapid commercial distribution modernization experienced by other European cities, the municipal markets in Barcelona became increasingly vital. They served as a network of facilities to establish robust neighborhood centers by utilizing available land in densely populated urban areas (Gu` ardia et al., 2010). However, since Fig. 5. Map of the Bourbonic public bakery burned during the bread riots, ACHB. A. Herrero and A. Moragues-Faus Cities 163 (2025) 106025 8 the 1980s, municipal markets have begun experiencing several challenges due to the transformation of the global food system. Modernization of food retailing impacted consumption patterns. The rise of supermarket chains, changing consumption patterns, and increasing participation of women in the workforce reduced the frequency of market visits, contributing to the decline of municipal markets (Fuertes & Gomez-Escoda, 2022; Soler, 2013). After democracy was restored in 1977, the newly elected City Councils revived municipal food policies. In 1986, the pioneering Special Plan for Food Facilities (PECAB in Catalan) aimed to regulate food facilities in Barcelona, such as store locations and sizes, and was pivotal in consecrating the role of municipal markets as pillars of food supply in the neighborhoods (Fuertes & Gomez-Escoda, 2022). The initial PECAB highlighted the concept of commercial concentration around market halls as a strategy to enhance the city’s food system (ibid.) It also stressed the markets’ contribution to strengthening social relations, supporting small businesses, creating good job conditions, and maintaining high-value buildings (Ajuntament de Barcelona, 1986). In 1991, the Barcelona Municipal Market Institute was created to modernize and restore these markets (Fuertes & Gomez-Escoda, 2022). Changes in municipally controlled markets included the management of the wholesale market, which was located in the city center. The city’s rapid urban growth resulted in various logistical, communication, and environmental challenges for this type of market. Starting from 1971, there was a gradual relocation of the fruit and vegetable market, slaughterhouse, fish market, and flower market to the new wholesale market facilities, situated on the outskirts of the city (Mercabarna, 2023). This wholesale market has been managed by a publicly owned company called Mercabarna (Mercabarna, 2017). Throughout the decades, Mercabarna has experienced a process of business concentration as the number of operating companies has shrunk from 375 in 1980 to 154 in 2014 (Mercabarna, 2015). Concurrently, the evolution of the buyers’ typology in Mercabarna has gone through substantial transformations (Table 3), shifting from serving mainly municipal market stalls (70 %) to providing services to a wide range of clients, such as independent food outlets, supermarkets, restaurants, and caterings as well as export markets. Furthermore, since the 1990s, many of these clients have been located across various geographical locations. Over time, Mercabarna has evolved into a global center for industrial food owing to its strategic proximity to the Barcelona port and airport. The origin of the food sold in Mercabarna has also experienced considerable transformations. As shown in Table 4, during the last decades, food imports from the rest of Spain and abroad have increased at the expense of regionally sourced food. Although the data shown in Table 4 Fig. 6. Engraving showing the burning down of convents in 1835. Source: AHCB. A. Herrero and A. 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