Bilbao Effects and Narrative DefectsA Critical Reappraisal of an Urban Rhetoric

Working paper, Cahiers de recherche du Programme Villes & Territoires, Paris, Sciences Po The realization of the Gehry-designed Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao is probably one of the most recurrent success stories regarding the role of contemporary architecture in promoting urban regeneration, economic development and city branding. In the last fifteen years it has been referred to as a model for regeneration by many authors and, more importantly, it is still an ubiquitous narrative among urban decision makers. This paper analyses the most diffused and simplistic representations of this story. Secondly, it contextualizes the realization of the museum in the broader process of transformation of the city, explicating public and private investment mechanisms in urban regeneration. Thirdly it deconstructs this narrative showing the inconsistencies between the narration and actual processes of urban regeneration and local development. The reconsideration of this narrative regarding spectacular architecture leads one to notice that representing architectural aesthetics and cultural facilities as a determinant factor in regeneration does not respond to actual urban processes (in terms of actors’ motivation, public relevance and desirability of the effects), but, nonetheless, it has been the means for diffusing beliefs and behaviors among decision makers providing certain types of actor with apparently favorable conditions and inducing potential perverse and paradoxical urban effects.