FROM THE XINO TO THE RAVAL

Oñati Socio-Legal Series, Vol. 1, No. 2, 2011 , 2011

Barcelona ha sufrido importantes transformaciones urbanas generalmente propulsadas con la excusa de la organización de un macro acontecimiento. Estas incisiones perpetradas en el espacio público se han justificado recientemente con el discurso de la necesidad de introducir Barcelona en el mercado de las Ciudades Globales. En estas ciudades se delega la producción de beneficios en el sector servicios en detrimento del industrial y se favorece la entrada ingente de capital inmobiliario, financiero y turístico. Nos encontramos pues con un proceso de tercerización que, a su tiempo, requiere una museización de la ciudad que la haga atractiva para los turistas e inversores inmobiliarios y financieros. Estas transformaciones – reconocidas bajo el epígrafe de Modelo Barcelona- no pretenden sólo modificar la morfología de la ciudad construyendo barrios residenciales, centros deportivos u hoteles, sino que aspiran a transformar los patrones culturales y mercantiles de sus habitantes hasta el punto, si es preciso, de sustituir los mismos vecinos por otros más a tono con estos nuevos escenarios en lo que se conoce como procesos de Gentrificación o Elitización. Dado que esta sustitución de hábitos y de habitantes no se ha producido “naturalmente” el consistorio, cediendo a diversos tipos de presiones ha instaurado un marco normativo proclive a la renovación estética y ética que se pretende. Se trata de un nuevo conjunto de normas que estrechen el abanico de formas de comportarse en el espacio público, de manera que afecte especialmente a cualquier sujeto que no responda a una especie de reglas universales de comportamiento – mimesis del saber estar de las clases medias de la ciudad. Esta reglamentación se encuentra recogida en el Proyecto de Ordenanza de medidas para fomentar y garantizar la convivencia ciudadana en la ciudad de Barcelona de noviembre de 2005, conocida popularmente como la Ordenanza cívica. Este texto problematiza el concepto de Espacio público y lo contrapone al de Multitud con la intención de poner en evidencia las correlaciones existentes entre estas transformaciones urbanas promovidas por las instituciones de gobierno y la conceptualización interesada dela noción de espació público

Oñati Socio-Legal Series

"Barcelona’s Public Space have been justified with the discourse of the need to put Barcelona into the market of the Global Cities. In these cities the production of profits is deputized at the service sector in prejudice of the industrial itself and it promotes the enormous entrance of property, financial and tourist capital. We came across a process of tertiarization which, in due time, requires a musealization of the city that makes it attractive for financial investors. These transformations - recognized under Barcelona's Model label - do not attempt only to modify the physical morphology of the city, rather, they aspire to transform their inhabitants' cultural and commodities practices to the point, if it is precise, to substitute the same neighbours for other ones further in harmony with these new scenes, in what is known as Gentrification. Assuming that this substitution of habits and of inhabitants has not taken place naturally, the Town council, negotiating various types of public and private interests has established a normative disposed frame to the aesthetic and ethical renewal. It has to do with a new set of standards that narrow the variety of ways of behaving in the Public Space. They specially affect any subject that does not respond to a sort of universal standard rules of behaviour. This regulation brought together in November 2005, is popularly known as “Ordenança cívica”. The ethnography of Robadors's street of Barcelona (Catalunya), allows problematizing Public Space concept and contrasting it to Multitude with the intention of exposing the existent correlations between these urban transformations and the interested conceptualization of public space notion."

2009

This essay proposes to approach the urban form of A lvalade and Areeiro not only from a formal perspective, but also on the view point of t he user. Both have different spatial features and e ach of them pursuits their own identity, constructed throu gh the details perceived by the inhabitants more th an by the general perception that the common visitor can h ve at first sight. It gives an insight of the rel ation between its layout as conceived and as it is percei ved, the hybrid status that outcomes of its origina l urban form, giving insights on how to apply this conditio n for future reality needs.

Culture and Local Governance, 2015

IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering

Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies, 2016

Carte Semiotiche, 2024

Alvalade urban plan was designed in the mid 1940’s by João Guilherme Faria da Costa, for the expansion of Lisbon, towards North, in a period of strong demographic growth in Portugal (CML, 1948). It was an answer to housing shortage in the city, for different social classes, sheltering some lower income families who were displaced from the smooth spaces of the old city centre, as well as the fastgrowing middle class and new inhabitants who ed to the city from the countryside, into this new suburban area where new striated spaces would be created in a modernist spatial language, based on the neighbourhood unit concept which has embedded clear semiotic concepts such as limits and thresholds, promoting identi cation and sense of belonging. By then, in the middle of the 20th century, Portugal had a young and growing population for which new and modernist housing solutions were designed, making Alvalade district, a successful modernist urban laboratory. The best proof of its success is that time passed by and half a century later, at dawn of the new millennium, Alvalade became a NORC- Naturally Occurring Retirement Community (Hunt & Gunter-Hunt, 1986): its initial population aged in place. The modernist habitat is now inhabited by older people who are no longer the stylish MOD inhabitants envisioned by modernist architects in the 50’s, but rather the aged retirees, dependent on the social welfare system, whose daily lives are soothed by the overall quality of urban space and generous public facilities network. That is one of the main points of this article: an urban area with plenty of public facilities makes it easier to age in place and therefore avoid institutionalization with its associated costs, thus becoming a valuable asset in terms of welfare policies. Besides, all the public investment in creating the network of facilities is already done, thereby keeping in place the older generations also means making sure they will use these facilities and keep them economically viable, in the frame of an ageing society. Taking into consideration the World Health Organization concepts of active ageing and age-friendly cities, we propose to address a new way of designing the new normal: spaces designed for everybody, but having the most fragile citizens in mind, so that when time comes for citizens to experience special needs, the existing spaces and facilities will naturally provide the required solution without extra costs. Alvalade district is undergoing a double pressure at present: it is one of the most aged areas in Lisbon, which requires urgent responses to help its residents to age in place by introducing new solutions and, on the other hand, Alvalade is one of the most sought-after residential areas by newcomers due to its central location and excellent provision of public facilities. This means that the excellent modernist spaces of Alvalade are undergoing a refurbishing pressure both for older residents and for newcomers under 21st century standards of living. It deserves to be a case study of high-quality in city living, just like it was at its inception days.