« L’architecture globale », une lecture dynamique des territoires dans la globalisation

Since the end of the 20th century, architectural production, between sign and function, is a privileged resource for the public as well as private local actors looking for an image to promote their territories. The observation of an instrumentation of the « signed » and legitimized - on an international scale - architecture marks its entry into the competitive economy and the global system. The comprehension of globalization through architectural and urban design seems to find its limits if we read it as a result, but sounds relevant if we analyse it as a process. We assume the existence of « worlding » vectors (processes) which can propel the territories on the global archipelago. First amongst these vectors, architecture is one of the foundations of tglobal trajectories. More precisely, in the case of highly patrimonialized European cities such as Barcelona, Berlin and Rome, we observe the dialogic relationship between heritage and contemporary creation producing value and strengthening the « symbolic capital ». The architecture as a European worlding vector is questioned through actors’ strategies and metropolitan ambitions competing with heritage. Besides, this approach must be confronted, on one hand, with readings opposing local and global, or local sites and the global archipelago, and on the other hand, with those which analyse a syncretism of both scales.