20th biennial I.A.P.S. - International Association People-environment Studies "Urban diversities, biosphere and well-being: Designing and managing our common environment" Rome, 2008 Long abstract The transformations of a city through its cognitive maps: Barcelona’s case Castrechini, A.; Pol, E.; Valera, S.; Vidal, T. and Di Masso, A. Universitat de Barcelona The city is an object of complex representation which implies a built notion about a place full of meanings as well as a group of graphic and cartographic images which we use in our way-findings. This paper presents the results of a study of cognitive representation of Barcelona. The process of urban regeneration of the city, initiated in the context of the Olympic Games of 1992, has been rapid, and accompanied by a greatly increased international reputation of the city as a tourist destination. This transformation has shaped the urban structure of the city changing the social dynamics of its residents, what nowadays is well-known as the ‘Barcelona model’. This paper aims to analyze these urban transformations focusing on the cognitive maps of its dwellers. The central theoretical background is Kevin Lynch’s book “The image of the city” (1960). This renowned author introduced the term ‘imageability’ to explain the quality of an urban setting which gives an observer a strong and vivid image. This image contains very distinct parts allowing to its residents instantly recognize it. Five fundamental elements of people’s mental image of urban environments were identified by Lynch (1960): paths, edges, districts, nodes and landmarks. Several studies on cognitive maps of cities confirm the existence of these categories (Appleyard, 1969; Francescato and Mebane, 1973; Aragonés and Arredondo, 1985). Thus, the study’s frame is the context of environmental cognition research. The sample included 210 university students from 1988 to 2007. Subjects were asked to sketch the map of Barcelona including all the elements of the city that come to their minds. The map should reflect the image that the students have of the city. The analysis consisted of quantitative data: number and variety of elements, typology of spatial structure, common distortions, represented and not-represented places, special features, etc. Results show how some of the transformations of the city form part of the image that people have of the city and, thus, how they are reflected on the maps. One of the most important results is about the borders of the city. At the end of eighties, sketch maps do not have borders elements even though the city has clear natural borders: It is located on the Mediterranean coast, between the mouths of the rivers Llobregat and Besòs, and is limited to the west by the Sierra de Collserola ridge. Since 1992 Barcelona is belted by two Rondes, Ronda de Dalt (on the mountain side) and Ronda del Litoral (alongside the coast), two partially covered fast highways with