LIFTING BICATEGORIES INTO DOUBLE CATEGORIES: THE GLOBULARILY GENERATED CONDITION

This is the first part of a series of papers studying the problem of existence of double categories for which horizontal bicategory and object category are given. We refer to this problem as the problem of existence of internalizations for decorated bicategories. Motivated by this we introduce the condition of a double category being globularily generated. We prove that the problem of existence of internalizations for a decorated bicategory admits a solution if and only if it admits a globularily generated solution, and we prove that the condition of a double category being globularily generated is precisely the condition of a solution to the problem of existence of internalizations for a decorated bicategory being minimal in a sense which we will make precise. The study of the condition of a double category being globularily generated will thus be pivotal in our study of the problem of existence of internalizations.