Being metropolitan: The effects of individual and contextual factors on shaping metropolitan identity

摘要

While the single institution of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona (MAB) is a recent creation, some form of institutional cooperation among most of the metropolitan municipalities has been functioning over the past 40 years. However, despite the ample evidence about municipal and national patterns of identification in Catalonia, no data about political orientations or patterns of identity toward the metropolitan area among the metropolitan population have been gathered so far. Using new survey data we explore two main features of metropolitan identification among the Barcelona metropolitan population. First, we analyze the relationship between place of residence and metropolitan identification. Second, we explore the shaping of the orientations of citizens regarding the governance structure of the MAB, with particular interest in the central role of the city of Barcelona. Results underscore the role of the core city and the effects of residential mobility in shaping both metropolitan identity and governance orientations.