Nuria FONT-CASASECA, Departament de Geografia. Universitat de Barcelona, Spain
Data location is becoming a crucial element in the development of digital platforms and databases. While location can be understood in absolute and fixed terms, defining the longitude/latitude coordinates of every point or user, social media platforms are also using other urban spatial boundaries to organize their data. This paper explores how some neighborhood platforms such as Nextdoor o Tienes Sal, which allow neighbors to create private online communities, are redefining and renaming the official limits of neighborhoods in Barcelona (Spain) and the role these digital platforms can play in rebranding some parts of the city. Although official neighborhoods in Barcelona are clearly defined and their names have a strong acceptance between the population, these platforms are establishing new neighborhood boundaries and names, apparently in a collaborative way and different from the official delimitations. Critical toponymic studies are starting to study how place names are actively involved in place-making practices. In relation with neighborhood toponyms, as they seem to refer to unique places with clear identities, names act as referential elements with connotative meanings. New neighborhood names, as collected by digital platforms, reveal the acceptance and identification with new urban developments in Barcelona, both public initiatives or processes related to retail gentrification. However, some questions about the resulting toponyms these platforms use can be considered from a critical perspective. As each point in the city is assigned to one and only neighborhood, how are these platforms approaching discrepancies in conflictive spatial identities? Which landmarks and public spaces are being used to rename these new urban spaces? How are contemporary Geoweb services redefining our urban spatial identities and referents? Which old toponyms and urban spatial identities are disappearing digitally, erased by the apparent objectivity of the mapping process?
Mots clés : neighborhoods|digital|toponyms|Barcelona
A103743NF