While Barcelona has achieved recognition as the European Capital of Innovation, the city has also done much to develop as a vibrant "Market City" with 45 permanent public markets across the city, a fact recognised by the New York based Project for Public Spaces (PPS). PPS notes that changing attitudes to food,k health, and community have done much to revive the idea of a Market City "with markets acting as catalysts foir creating centers in neighbourhood that hyave lost their sense of place"

PPS  notes that market activity provide "multiple, economic, social, health and environmental benefits that are essential for creating vibrant extraordinary places for people to live, work, and play" While our thinking about learning cities for the future needs a careful assessment of the role of technology, promoting people aspects should include features of place making such as the role of public markets and community gardens.