CITIES COMPETITION, PLACE MARKETING AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTH EUROPE: THE BARCELONA CASE AS FDI DESTINATION

The aim of the article is to focus on the especially interesting area of South Europe and to present and points out the strategic development process, in one of the most representative examples of its successful implementation, which is the city of Barcelona. Barcelona, which in the last 20 years, managed to increase its competitiveness becoming one of the most attractive investment destinations on international level. The city s economic dynamism, its strategic position in the South of Europe and a clearly-consolidated international projection have turned the economic area of Barcelona into an international platform of economic activities, a driving force behind development in Southern Europe, especially oriented towards new, emergent, competitive and international sectors with an uninterrupted growth of their foreign markets.