In the current context of globalization, knowledge economy, financial capitalism, technological dominance, and real estate expansion, cities are competing worldwide to secure their positions as socio-cultural and economic nodes from which to connect to the international flows of capital in this new economic cycle. I will demonstrate that architecture, specifically Spectacular Architecture,¹ has emerged as a visible materialization of this new phase of global capitalism serving as a symbol of a city's cultural and infrastructural capital in the international market. Spectacular Architecture has become a new urban strategy by which to assert a city's prestige and reputation in order to attract capital investments in a highly competitive context. As the study case of Bilbao shows, Spectacular Architecture plays an important role in forming urban and social identity, in renovating a city's economic vitality, and in developing the growing global service industry related to tourism. Spectacular buildings serve as symbols to identify a city as a prosperous new place to visit and consume. Through Spectacular Architecture and real estate speculation, cities transform entire neighborhoods into backdrops where an opulent lifestyle is conceived as the only possible.

I will analyze the Spectacular Architecture process, the practicing architects, the expansion of this movement as related to global capital and markets as well as provide detailed case study on the Guggenheim Museum completed in Bilbao in 1997 (see Appendix figure 1).

¹ Term coined by Juan Manuel Holgado in the present paper referring to an architectural style or movement based on striking and unconventional forms and colors that make buildings appear as an urban icon.