The Off Topic Topic

[Josquius]

Surely there's got to be something more at work to stop the cities sprawling outwards?
Tight controls on converting farmland to residential?

[The Larch]

Surely there's got to be something more at work to stop the cities sprawling outwards?
Tight controls on converting farmland to residential?

In Barcelona's case the limit to expand was already reached years ago, as it's basically contiguous with the cities that surround it and there's basically no room left for further expansion.

[Josquius]

Surely there's got to be something more at work to stop the cities sprawling outwards?
Tight controls on converting farmland to residential?

In Barcelona's case the limit to expand was already reached years ago, as it's basically contiguous with the cities that surround it and there's basically no room left for further expansion.

Surely thats just a technicality?
The question becomes why then are these places that are officially different towns but in practice to the man on the ground or in space are part of Barcelona not expanding ever outwards? Whats keeping them contained?
Or alternatively whats keeping people within the borders of official Barcelona rather than moving to the fringes of the urban area?

[The Larch]

Surely there's got to be something more at work to stop the cities sprawling outwards?
Tight controls on converting farmland to residential?

In Barcelona's case the limit to expand was already reached years ago, as it's basically contiguous with the cities that surround it and there's basically no room left for further expansion.

Surely thats just a technicality?
The question becomes why then are these places that are officially different towns but in practice to the man on the ground or in space are part of Barcelona not expanding ever outwards? Whats keeping them contained?

It is not really a technicality, the whole Barcelona metropolitan area is a contiguous fully urbanized zone, in which the different cities that form it are often separated just by streets, with one side of the street being one city and the other side a different one.

I'm trying to look for a map that illustrates it but can't really find a good one...let's try with these:



This is the administrative map of the Barcelona metro area, you can see the city there and the slew of smaller cities and towns that surround it.



This is a map of the whole Barcelona metro area. Barcelona itself is only the very center of it. It is blocked to the sides by neighbouring cities, mainly Hospitalet & El Prat (where the airport is located) to the west, in the Llobregat area, and Sant Adrià & Santa Coloma to the east, in the Besòs area, and to the north by the cities of St. Cugat, Cerdanyola & Montcada, in the Collserola mountains area, which is also a nature reserve.

Or alternatively whats keeping people within the borders of official Barcelona rather than moving to the fringes of the urban area?

Nothing? People constantly move further and further away from Barcelona itself because prices in the city are really high and housing is more affordable outside of it. Cel himself has done so. The surrounding cities is also where I assume that most newcomers to the city actually go to live.

I mean, when Espanyol, Barcelona's 2nd football team, sold its old grounds in the city and built a new stadium, it had to go two cities over from Barcelona itself, and now plays outside of the city proper.


Cel can further enlighten us, as he's the local, but basically that's Barcelona's situation. The city itself is capped from further growth and it's the surrounding cities the ones where new growth takes place. I assume that some of the cities closer to Barcelona itself might be capped out as well by now.

[grumbler]

Amazing. Its pointed out that your complaint is daft and another would be more valid so you decide to switch and pretend my critique is in fact yours.

Amazing!     You claim that my critique of scapegoating is "daft," then adopt my position and claim that I stole my position from you!

[Josquius]

Ah Grumbler. 
Even for you this is nuts.

[grumbler]

Ah Grumbler. 
Even for you this is nuts.

Ah, the ad hom argument... the last refuge of the intellectually bankrupt.

[Josquius]

Not an ad hom argument, a statement of fact. You're being ridiculous.
This is why I don't engage with you on anything of substance, but usually you don't go quite so far as to try and swap sides in the second reply.

[Habbaku]

Not an ad hom argument, a statement of fact. You're being ridiculous.
This is why I don't engage with you on anything of substance, but usually you don't go quite so far as to try and swap sides in the second reply.

Dude, why are you taking the bait? The pig loves rolling in shit. Stop rolling with him.

[celedhring]

This is a map of the whole Barcelona metro area. Barcelona itself is only the very center of it. It is blocked to the sides by neighbouring cities, mainly Hospitalet & El Prat (where the airport is located) to the west, in the Llobregat area, and Sant Adrià & Santa Coloma to the east, in the Besòs area, and to the north by the cities of St. Cugat, Cerdanyola & Montcada, in the Collserola mountains area, which is also a nature reserve.

---

Cel can further enlighten us, as he's the local, but basically that's Barcelona's situation. The city itself is capped from further growth and it's the surrounding cities the ones where new growth takes place. I assume that some of the cities closer to Barcelona itself might be capped out as well by now.

That's the gist of it, really. Barcelona can't grow anymore, and many of the immediately surrounding cities (L'Hospitalet, Santa Coloma) suffer from the same issue - lots of density, restrictions on apartment building to avoid overcrowding. The last big homebuilding project in Barcelona - the Besós river bed area in the mid-2000s, was approved as a low-density neighborhood.

Then there's the fact that in Llobregat/Collserola you're running into protected natural areas so there's little room to expand the urban grid. As a result, the Barcelona metro area hasn't really grown since the mid-2000s, and its places further away like Maresme, Vallès, etc... the ones that have been gaining population. My parents moved to a small Maresme town in the early 2000s, which has trebled its population since 1990.

[grumbler]

Not an ad hom argument, a statement of fact. You're being ridiculous.
This is why I don't engage with you on anything of substance, but usually you don't go quite so far as to try and swap sides in the second reply.

Dude, why are you taking the bait? The pig loves rolling in shit. Stop rolling with him.

    What the fucking fuck, dude?  Why the fuck are you throwing your two cents in on the side of they guy making the ad hom arguments by making your own ad hom arguments?

Shit like yours is why the forum is dying.  Mindless attacks on other posters just makes the whole place more poisonous.

[crazy canuck]

Just saw a great sign in a washroom at a university, it reads:

Trans

Noun

A person who needs to pee


It then goes on to describe how people should be respectful

[Jacob]

Bank of America says Hasbro is fucking up D&D and Magic: the Gathering:

Hasbro 'continues to destroy customer goodwill' and the stock could crash 29% as it dilutes the value of Magic: The Gathering, Bank of America says

Hasbro continues to dilute the brand value of its popular Magic: The Gathering card game, according to a Tuesday note from Bank of America, which said that the company faces a steep decline in its share price if it continues to "destroy customer goodwill."

The bank reiterated its "Underperform" rating for Hasbro and its $42 price target, which represents potential downside of 29% from current levels. In November, BofA warned that Hasbro was "killing its golden goose" by over-monetizing Magic: The Gathering.

According to BofA, Hasbro continues to over-monetize the brands within its Wizards segment, which includes Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons.

"Within its Wizards segment, Hasbro continues to destroy customer goodwill by trying to over-monetize its brands," Bank of America said. The bank said that while it preannounced negative earnings, the stock is still not de-risked "given a host of outstanding issues."

Mainly, Hasbro is attempting to squeeze out as much profit as possible from its Wizards products in the short-term without any thought as to the long-term durability of its brands. And the over monetization is irking customers, according to BofA.

"We remain especially cautious on Hasbro's Wizards segment given its over-monetization of Magic. Wizards recently tried a similar tactic with D&D-proposing changes to its licensing agreement which led to substantial pushback from the community including calls to boycott the D&D movie," BofA explained.

Hasbro wanted to change its 20-year-old open game license for Dungeons & Dragons in a bid to boost revenue ahead of an upcoming movie release based on the game.

The specific changes would have required independent publishers and content creators to report financial data directly to Hasbro and pay significant fees if they generated a certain threshold of revenue.

Hasbro has since dropped its proposed changes to Dungeons & Dragons after receiving a strong amount of backlash from customers, with nearly 70,000 D&D fans signing a petition protesting the proposed licensing change.

The snafu by Hasbro validates BofA's view that management at the toy company remains willing to risk customer loyalty for short-term profit.

"We've spoken with several players, collectors, distributors and local games stores and have become aware of growing frustration. The primary concern is that Hasbro has been overproducing Magic cards which has propped up Hasbro's recent [earnings] results but is destroying the long-term value of the brand," Bank of America analyst Jason Haas wrote in November.

The oversupply of Magic cards means "card prices are falling, game stores are losing money, collectors are liquidating, and large retailers are cutting orders," Bank of America explained.

The bank names "weak fan engagement with Hasbro's brands" and "fading appetite for Magic releases" as key downside risks for the stock.

https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/hasbro-dilutes-magic-the-gathering-brand-stock-price-bank-america-2023-2

[The Larch]

The Golden Goose is not laying enough golden eggs anymore for Hasbro's tastes, it seems...

[Barrister]

How the fuck does one "over-monetize" Magic: The Gathering?

That game is all about monetizing.  It's like saying someone is trying to over-monetize a casino...