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Joan Clos (born June 29 , 1949 ) is the current Mayor Of Barcelona , Spain . He has been in office since 1997 . In 1999 he was elected to a four-year term, and was then re-elected in the municipal elections of May 25 , 2003 . The Mayor's popularity has waned considerably since 2003. This can be ascribed to a series of major errors and PR disasters: the 2004 Universal Forum Of Cultures ; the collapse of apartment blocks in Barcelona's Carmel district following inadequate Town Hall supervision of a subway project; and planned routing of a high-speed rail link. In the Carmel district case, the regional government was actually in charge of the tunnelling project. However, the Town Hall was represented on the Monitoring Commission and held a watching brief given that the building work was in a built-up area of the city. Despite opposition protests in the Catalan parliament, the minutes of key Commission meetings have not been forthcoming. In this connexion, it should be noted that the Carmel district was thrown up in the 1960s and 70s without any real planning or compliance with building standards. As in many other areas settled by Spanish immigrants at that time, the Carmel District was largely ignored by the authorities. The wave of popular protest that followed the building collapses in the Carmel district reflected both decades of pent-up resentment and the perception (backed by expert opinion) that the tunnelling work had been badly planned and executed. The debacle augurs ill for Mayor Clos' plans to route a high-speed train ( AVE ) line under the city centre, just a few feet beneath the skimpy foundations of Barcelona 's 19th century urban core. The scheme will affect some 50,000 Barcelona residents' (and their homes) - a fact that is likely to further diminish Clos' already slender chances of re-election. An alternative coastal route skirting built-up areas was drawn up by Spain's Ministry of Works in 2000 but is currently rejected by Barcelona Town Hall. Two opposition parties, Convergència I Unió (CiU) and Partido Popular (PP) have called for consideration of alternative routes, the CiU favouring the Vallès one, and the PP the coastal one. Meanwhile, property values in the city centre swath affected by the Town Hall's present plans have plunged by 10%. DEBATE CONCERNING MAYOR CLOS' TOWN PLANNING POLICIES The above issues are part of a wider debate on the town planning policies adopted by Mayor Clos' administration. The proliferation of high-rise "prestige" projects in Barcelona's traditional low-rise Mediterranean cityscape has drawn public crticism from a number of leading local architects, including Oriol Bohigas . One such case is the Agbar Tower (Torre Agbar), owned by the local water company. Another is the complex that has sprung up around the site of the 2004 Universal Forum Of Cultures - slated by Greenpeace and other environmental groups as a speculative venture irrelevant to the city's needs. Other opponents of Mayor Clos' vision of Barcelona point to what they consider to be insensitive area clearance schemes in the city's medaevil center and the wholesale levelling of 19th century factories in the ''Poble Nou'' district.
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