From top-down urban planning to culturally sensitive planning? Urban renewal and artistic activism in a neo-bohemian district in Barcelona

ABSTRACT

The city of Barcelona in general and its historic center in particular have undergone a sea change from an industrial city to a global tourism and service center. Some authors argue that urban renewal schemes are ruining the heritage of cities. However, Barcelona showcases a kind of urban renewal which is culture-led yet conserves the city’s unique identity. This paper shows that in Barcelona’s case, the relationship between urban branding and urban renewal is dialectical and disputed rather than top-down and by dictate. Thus, in the case of the Raval district, the urban and cultural planning led by local government and cultural institutions is part of a concerted effort to turn a blighted area plagued by social problems into a new global cultural district. The renewal scheme brings the district’s activists and artists into the picture to come up with an inclusive, bottom-up approach to planning.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Following the 1986 nomination of Barcelona as the city to host the 1992 Summer Olympic Games, the city council played a major role in Public Art Planning. Among many works sited round the city during this period were: Pez [Fish] (1992), by Frank Gehry; The Cat (bought by the city council of Barcelona in 1987, finally located on the Rambla del Raval in 2003), by Fernando Botero; The Head of Barcelona (1991–1992), sculpture by Roy Lichtenstein and made by the sculptor Diego Delgado Rajado; Cambio (Utsurohi) [Change] (1990), by Aiko Miyawaki; The Wounded Star (1992), by Rebecca Horn; Cerillas [Matches] (1992), by Claes Oldenburg, among many others.

2. The urban space of the Raval, formerly known as Barrio Chino (Chinatown), was a working-class neighborhood, renowned or notorious (according to ones tastes) as a hotbed of the Anarchist Movement and loose-living Bohemian artists in the early 20th century (Aisa & Vidal, 2005). However, this mixed working-class and Bohemian tradition sat ill with the Fascist dictatorship that came to power at the end of The Spanish Civil War (1936–1939). During the 1940s, ruthless repression under the Franco regime led to the district being reduced to little more than a den of drug trafficking and street prostitution. The economic boom of the 1960s made little impact because those who then had the means to do so left the district in droves. That is why between 1960 and the beginning of urban renewal in 1986, the Raval lost no less than 40% of its population, which fell from 80,000 to 50,000. Those staying in the district were the oldest and poorest residents, stuck there because they lacked the wherewithal to escape the poverty trap. The late 1970s seemed to hold out brighter prospects for Spain as the country took the path to democracy after four decades of dictatorship. Yet while the nation seemed bound for the broad sunny uplands, the Raval sank even deeper into the pit. The district was plagued by urban blight, crime, prostitution, grinding poverty, ill-health, and low education standards – a situation that lasted into the 1990s. When urban renewal began, the Raval had already lost much of its social fabric and memories of better times. The Raval’s resurrection would only begin once urban renewal schemes got underway and the cultural district was built.

3. Josep Subirós (1947–2016) was the key advisor to Pasqual Maragall, Barcelona’s socialist mayor (1982–1997). Subirós was one of the most important theorists and managers of the cultural policy strategy enshrined in the Barcelona Model. Professor of Philosophy at the University of Barcelona from 1973 to 1983, he had left-wing views and strongly opposed the Franco regime. He was appointed Special Cultural Commissioner by Mayor Maragall, holding the post from 1984 to 1997. Subirós was the architect of the Cultural Olympiad in Barcelona’s 1992 Summer Olympic Games and fathered the Center de Cultura Casa de la Caritat project [the repurposing of the old charity hospice] where he laid the institutional foundations for the future Raval cultural cluster, comprising MACBA, CCCB and the University of Barcelona’s Humanities Faculty (Subirós, 1998, Subirats, Rius-Ulldemolins, 2008).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities [RTI2018-096299-B-I00].