A dreary Spanish port town that was sinking into in violence, poverty and oblivion experienced a miracle around 30 years ago. Bilbao, once an industrial sprawl, opened the Guggenheim Museum. This miracle actually began a little earlier, in the mid-1980s, and came in the form of a flood that laid waste to the port area and surrounding properties. Determined to take this destruction as an opportunity, the city planners prepared a master plan, which they implemented with all stakeholders in a spirit of unity that itself bordered on the miraculous. The outcome: “The real surprise is the self-evidence with which people (…) stroll along the banks of the Nervión. The scene looks as if everything has always been part of the city: the broad promenades, the whirring trams, scattered works of art and ice cream pavilions, not to mention the opera house, the glass office towers and, of course, the Guggenheim Museum.” (Bauwelt.de) This is nothing other than the “Bilbao effect”, named after this phenomenon in the Spanish city.
Bilbao used an outstanding building, the Guggenheim Museum, a true signature building, to reinvent itself and has developed a hitherto unknown self-assurance that has impacted and continues to impact on many levels. The city acquired a new image – both inwardly and outwardly – with this new building and the surrounding area. A fresh atmosphere, as described at the beginning, spread and attracted tourists. Other architects and urban nomads – whose passion for selfies has contributed to increasing popularity – are among the recent arrivals. The mix of sectors has changed and the urban planners have also noticed a new vivacity and burgeoning initiative among residents. So it is no surprise that the findings of a study that analysed the “Bilbao or Guggenheim effect” are positive: “An analysis by the Bloomberg Center for Cities at Harvard University in 2017 revealed that Bilbao’s GDP doubled between 1996 and 2015, despite the 2008 financial crisis. The unemployment rate dropped to 15.4 per cent, seven percentage points below the Spanish average. The audacious “Guggenheim” project also paid off. Beatriz Plaza, an economist from the University of the Basque Country, summarised in 2007 that the numbers of visitors alone will have amortised the costs of the museum within seven years. Between 850,000 and over 1 million people have visited the museum annually since it opened in 1997. Prior to the Guggenheim Museum, the entire city welcomed just 100,000 international guests each year.” (Bauwelt.de)
There is no doubt that this effect is relevant to more than just forgotten, once industrial cities: even major urban centres like Paris, a cosmopolitan city with no shortage of cultural and architectural highlights, needs stimulation from the construction sector, especially on its periphery. The motives are the same everywhere, whether in a cosmopolitan city or a small village: attracting travellers, creating jobs, driving urban revitalisation processes. And: strengthening and maintaining a sense of self-confidence among residents.
Economy, culture, quality of life, tourism, flair – and all of it “instagrammable”. This blend of effects is attractive and relevant for all urban planners. Indeed, a certain necessity to create premium cultural buildings has since emerged to avoid being left behind in the global competition between destinations. Whether it is a single structure such as the Guggenheim Museum, the Philharmonic in Hamburg or in the small town of Szczecin, or even entire “cultural clusters” such as the futuristic cultural district in Valencia: all of these projects require a cohesive master plan and the shared determination of all stakeholders to transform the ideas into reality. Bilbao is again exemplary in this respect: while it is not uncommon to experience municipal or institutional imponderables as early as the planning phase, Bilbao was convinced that all stakeholders – city, region, railway and port companies as well as landowners – would reap the rewards if the general direction was right. A motivating example for our work, not only in projects with eye-catching architecture and the potential to create signature buildings.
Further reading:
The Bilbao effect and its long-term impact:
Signature buildings and the selfie effect:
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