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Time, power, and space. The metropolization of Barcelona The economic and social appeal of Barcelona was responsible for its having become one of Europe’s major urban centers. However, it was only in the mid-19th century that the city began to spread beyond its medieval walls. Although this belated expansion can be explained in economic terms by the fact that urban policies follow the evolution of production systems, such an approach overlooks the political and institutional aspect of Barcelona’s metropolization, which is also a consequence of changes in the power relationships between the various institutions on the metropolitan level and in the relationships they create with the major city service enterprises. This kind of “territorial governance” possesses characteristics which, though comparable to those found in the big French cities, are nonetheless specific to Barcelona.