As the old city of barcelona,ciutat vella has been protected well and found himsalf new functions and positions in the city. As to beijing, I'm afraid the old city is somewhat disappearing.
Beijing and Barcelona are different from the layout of the city caused by different cultural backgounds. In ancient beijing, government buildings, public facilities and folk residencials are supposed to be in the certain parts of the city. They are seprarated apart from each other and bear different appearances indicating their different status.
When it comes to modern times, the government buildings such as the Forbidden City are taken good care of, but the folk residencials known as Hutongs are gradually removed to make space for new construction. That's why I said the old city is somewhat disappearing.
At the same time, many new buildings that have a similiar appearance to the old ones have been constructed in the city as a form of retro. They are not even close to the old ones in the quality of design and constuction. I think this really miss the point.
In this case, I think Beijing should learn from Barcelona in the way of giving the old buildings new features. For example, the old house of Piccaso has been transformed into a museum, with no damage and more protection. And this also shows attitudes of the two cities, Beijing should love and treasure his old look and revitalize it with modern urban planning.
