1.) Castell de Torre Baró
Direction: Ctra. Alta de les Roquetes, 328
How to get there: Metro L3 Roquetes, Bus 81 and 82
How to get there: Metro L3 Roquetes, Bus 81 and 82
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divendres, 8 de febrer del 2013
1.) Castell de Torre Baró
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Brief History of Barraquismo and Self constructed houses
I/ Introduction to Barraquismo
3/ Documentary TV3
In the beginning of the XXth century in Barcelona, a new
urban phenomenon appeared with the arrival of immigrants from other
Spanish regions. The city, facing a crisis of dwelling, was already
lacking a sufficient number of housing and without any specific type
of plan people started to make their housing in the already existing
neighborhood such as el Somorrostro, Pequín i el Camp de la Bota,
the littoral, Tres Pins i Can Valero, Montjuïc... These urban nuclei
became more and more popular and were the beginning of an intensive
urbanization that led to shantytowns and constructive anarchy
especially reinforced during the post-war period.
**Interview of people that arrived in Barcelona and lived in
barracas or witnessed the process of urbanization.**
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| Overview barraquismo © 2008 MUHBA www.museuhistoria.bcn.cat |
2/ Landscape of
the shantytowns
Typologies of shanties: construction methods,
materials and dimensions
The shanties of the
various nuclei belonged to diverse typologies which were adapted to
the pre-existing paths, to the lay of the land and to the internal
organization of each shantytown as a whole. On the hills of the city
there were shantytowns with a certain air of the southern
Mediterranean, while by the sea they had a more maritime appearance
and even included some stilt houses.
Shanties were erected on
land which was purchased or assigned or was public property. Some
were built of quite solid load-bearing materials: bricks and
baked-clay roof tiles, while others were more precarious, with waste
or recycled material: wood, cardboard and fibre-cement panels. The
dimensions were minimal and varied according to the services and
equipment of the home: kitchens, latrines, wash-house. The interior
space was often divided into two areas: one for living in general and
the other for sleeping, separated by curtains. With the passing of
time, the shanties and the shantytowns improved both their
constructed condition and equipment, with the incorporation of
electrical devices and home appliances.
** Photos***
THE SHANTY: A MICROCOSM
OVERLOOKING THE STREET © 2008
MUHBA
www.museuhistoria.bcn.cat
3/ Documentary TV3
Barraques- La
ciutat oblidada 1.51 min
Un reportatge de:
Alonso
Carnicer
i Sara
GrimalMuntatge:
Agustí
PochDocumentació:
Miracle
Tous
Social conditions and evolution towards improvement ?
The neighbourhoods of barracas were usually in areas that were not considered as constructable and the conditions of living were extreme. Isolated from main institutions, and neglected by the municipality people in barracas lived usually in precarious settings : overpopulation, no access to water and electricity, inexistent sewer ... the sanitarian conditions were deplorable.
In 1923, in the weekly publication Justícia Social, Emili Mira coined the term barracòpolis (shantyopolis):
“ Toilets and even water itself are all but unknown in Shantyopolis. Many people suffering from illnesses live together with the other members of their families, often sharing the same mattress. Places insufficient for a single person sometimes shelter seven, eight or even a dozen people. The people here are dressed in rags and often go nearly naked. Their faces are pale and emaciated”.
The civil war and Franco's dictatorship, left neighbourhoods of self-constructed houses under political repressions and several intents of eradication, but after the war people started to claim their rights.
To solve their problem, lacking of any help from the
city-hall, people of these neighbourhoods started activist movements
in order to improve their living conditions. The emergence of
associative groups such as Associacio
de veïns (neighbor's
association), and the solidarity of people with each other led to the
improvement of living conditions in barracas, and the appearance of
new infrastructures such as creation of schools and public transports. Nowadays, the barracas from the 50's have disappeared but it was part of an evolution : if people have not been relocated into new buildings, the habitants would buy the land, and shanty house would become a more decent self-construction. Over the years and according to the family budget, owner would build their own house and have a strong emotional attachment to their house and neighbourhood .
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Calle de las barracas de Francisco Alegre (El Hoyo), Barcelona, sobre 1974. Mariano Velasco.
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2.) Barrio Torre Baró
The name of the neighborhood, however, comes from the old tower called Torre del Baró, built in the sixteenth century by the family Pinós along the roadside Ribes and destroyed in 1714. A second tower was built in the same place in 1797 and was demolished in 1967 when the Meridiana was built.
It is one of the most unique neighborhoods in the district. It emerged in the mid-twentieth century at a part of the Collserola mountains of different development initiatives and preojects as a garden city, which failed. The area, which originally was to be residential, became a selfconstructed neighborhood, following the housing needs of many people who immigrated from other parts of the Iberian Peninsula during the decades of the 1950s and 1960s.
It is one of the most unique neighborhoods in the district. It emerged in the mid-twentieth century at a part of the Collserola mountains of different development initiatives and preojects as a garden city, which failed. The area, which originally was to be residential, became a selfconstructed neighborhood, following the housing needs of many people who immigrated from other parts of the Iberian Peninsula during the decades of the 1950s and 1960s.
Over the years there have been numerous remodeling or renovation projects that, for various reasons, haven´t been realized eventually. The recent inclusion, together with Ciutat Meridiana, the Neighborhood Plan promoted by the Government guarantees endowments that will develop the urban activities, as well as necessary technical and social facilities. 
In February 2006 the mayor Joan Clos opened the Congost bridge, connecting neighborhoods and Vallbona Torre Baró, over the railroad tracks and the AP-7, with a wide sidewalk for pedestrians and bicycles.
These actions can be considered as part of very important work done in recent years, such as remodeling Vallbona Avenue (opened in 2000) to make it again and pedestrian road axis connecting Ciutat Meridiana and Torre Baró with the rest of Nou Barris through Trinitat Nova.
3.) Carrer Llobera
Some habitants of the neigbhourhood :
"Calle de los Gatos"
While walking along Carrer Llobera, you can see a lot of cats, that's why we named the street like this.
.jpg)
Adan and his friends in front of their house carrer Llobrera
Images Barrio Torre Baró
Some habitants of the neigbhourhood :
While walking along Carrer Llobera, you can see a lot of cats, that's why we named the street like this.
.jpg)
Adan and his friends in front of their house carrer Llobrera
Images Barrio Torre Baró
Under the following link you can read a letter written by a neighbor of Torre Baró which was published in the newspaper La Vanguardia in may of 1967. It is an emocional document that will helps us understand the evolution of this barrio.
4.) Llei de Barris
4.) On the Llei
de Barris and its impact on neighborhoods
When
walking across the streets of Roquetes and Torre Baró, we come
across many public installations that we wouldn't have seen if
visiting these barrios just five or six years ago. Now we find
elevators and new public stairs that make people's everyday life much
more comfortable, especially for the older population sector. Most of
these modern installations are the answer
to the neighbors' long struggle for the improvement of streets and
facilities. In 2004 the Catalan
government presented the Llei de Barris, a plan made for those
neighborhoods in Catalan villages and cities that feature the most
urbanization problems and deficiencies. It's aim has been to improve
peoples' quality of life through the creation of different public
spaces and rehabilitation of old ones. Let's have an overview on some
of the most important commitments the Llei de Barris has done to both
of the neighborhoods and see how they actually have been
accomplished.
1)
Improvement of the public space and creation of green spots. The main
aim of these actions is invigorating the social life and promoting
integration of all social groups. Some of the actions taken are:
re-urbanization of squares, streets and parks, often done through
buying soil and using it for public spaces. This first aspect is the
one the most money goes to and can be easily seen in Roquetes and
Torre Baró, as we can now find many squares, some of them with
installations for children. In certain areas some houses have been
demolished in order to widen the natural environment around Torre
Baró, actions that -even though being orientated towards an urban
improvement- have produced protests and critical reactions.
2)
Rehabilitation and equipment of the common elements of buildings:
restoration of building's façades, structures, accessibility.
Special attention to public elevators, especially in areas with
irregular land. Improvements in the installation of gas, water and
electricity. It is also important to mention the 375 apartments built
to host social housing.
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| Biblioteca Zona Nord |
4)
Other aspects that have been improved: sustainable development of the
neighborhoods (installation of recycling spaces, promotion of
alternative energy in public spaces, bicycle-lanes, etc),
encouragement of commercial activities and occupation, creation of
cultural itineraries, integration of new-comers, suppression of
architectonical barriers (construction of stares, ramps, elevators,
escalators, etc) in order to avoid isolation from the rest of the
city. This last point is made evident through the stares, escalators
and elevators we are seeing throughout the whole neighborhood.
Another of the main goals of the Llei de Barris has been to create a
better connection between Torre Baró and Ciutat Meridiana,
accomplished trough the construction of a road around the already
existing carrer Sant Feliu de Codines, an action that was also
accompanied by the expropriation of thirteen households.
The areas of Torre
Baró and Ciutat Meridiana (a neigborhood behind Torre Baró that is also worth visiting) started
to be transformed in 2006 and 43% of the desired improvements were
done in the two first years. Roquetes, a neighborhood very close to
Torre Baró and also mainly created through self-build houses in the
60s, figures in the official book of la Llei de Barris as an "low
regulated urban area" (área de urbanización poco regulada) and
has received nearly 11 millions of euros since 2007, when the third
convocation was started. But not everything has been positive during
this process, as part of the population of Torre Baró resisted to
accept the governments plans, since they also included a certain
amount of expropriations. Created mainly out of self-constructed
buildings, often without the proper licenses or on non-constructable
soil, Torre Baró is one of those neighborhoods that has still had
till very recently many self-built houses, some of them being the
ones affected by the expropriations (23 neighbors have been directly
affected). Despite of these conflicts, the quality of the area has
increased immensely in the past years.
More
info on
http://territori.scot.cat/cat/notices/2009/09/millora_urbana_de_torre_barO_barcelona_2007_269.php
http://territori.scot.cat/cat/notices/2009/09/millora_urbana_de_torre_barO_barcelona_2007_269.php
Llei de Barris II
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Scans:
La llei de barris, una aposta col·lectiva per la cohesió social (direcció de Oriol Nel·lo), Barcelona, Generalitat de Catalunya. Departament de Política Territorial i Obres Públiques, 2009.
5) Resettlements
The origins of the “Servicio de Control y Repressión del Barraquismo”, which was later renamed in “”Servicio de Control y Erridicación del Barraquismo” lies in the year 1972. Although there were already earlier resettlements, in the times before WWII, from this point on, the monitoring of the “barracas” was institutionalized. However, the success and the contact with the people of the informal settlements remained low.
Later the administration considered the buildings of project houses ("poligons"), as for example, La Mina to relocate the people from Camp de la Bota, which was a Roma settlement close to the sea, as well people from Montjuic and Valero Gran. Due to the small success, especially in the case of Camp de la Bota, the administration increased the pressure continuously until those settlements disappeared. However, afterwards still the problem of integration remained. Later, the focus changed, including as well a shift to the improvement of the existing structures within the settlements. This change reached its most obvious point with the arrival of the democracy in 1979.
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| Camp de la Bota |
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| Poligon of La Mina |
http://urbanismouz.blogspot.com.es/
6) Parc Central de Nou Barris - An Example for the New Urban Planning
Beginning in the 1960s and 1970s, a process of urbanism shaped the character of the city, especially the suburbs situated outside the Rondas, which encircle the city centre of Barcelona. Not only do the Rondas serve infrastructural purposes, but they, as well, draw a clear boarder between the areas which belong to the vibrant city centre and those which do not. In doing so they function in some how as a kind of modern city walls.
With the constructions of new housing complexes in the periphery of Barcelona the administration intended to provide new living space. This was dedicated to the growing number of people coming to the city as well as to those of the resettlements.
The Neighbourhood of Nou Barris, through which we are walking during our itenerary, not only includes areas with clear traces of Barraquismo like Torre Baró and Carmel, but, as well, the manifestation of this era of urban planning. Examples could be Ciutat Meridiana, which is situated behind the mountain of Torre Baró - we could see it clearly from the castle. It is a huge complex of high buildings, which was built in the 1970s to provide housing for over 11000 inhabitants. The plan included as well all the infrastructure, which was necessary like schools, parks and sports facilities.
Another new constructed area is La Guineueta, where the administration started in 1956 to build the first blocs. In 1964 the first poligons followed. The intention of the creation of this area was the generation of new housing space, especially, for young families with children, dedicated to growing number of people from Catalonia, Andalusia, Castile and Galicia. Passing the area around the Ronda de Dalt on our way to Carmel, we can easily recognize the results of this process of urban planning, which was not restricted to the 1960s and 1970s but steadily continued.
A very interesting example is the Parc Central de Nou Barris, which is situated in La Guineueta. It represents, as well, the other aspect of he urban planning beside the housing itself: the creation of open space. The park itself is relatively new. Its first phase was implemented in 1999 and the third was finished in 2007.
Now it is the second largest park in Barcelona covering an area of 17,7 hectare including several types of infrastructure like the library of Nou Barris and the police office of the Guardia Civil. It won the International Urban Landscape Award 2007 for sustainability and innovation for its concept. The three phases of its plan aimed to create an open space for people's daily use with a huge part of green area, to provide important facilities and integrate the surrounding buildings.
Significant for the whole project are the aims connected to sustainability and preservation: the creation of a green corridor, the function as water accumulator and, furthermore, the integration and preservation of traditional and antique buildings in the whole complex.
This we can see clearly in the part, which is a stop of our itinerary. Here the combination of old, the aqueducts, with new elements is very obvious. At the same time, it is to serve as an open space for the people, for cultural and social activity. For example, it was used as a venue of the Barcelona Blues Festival.However, when we have a look at this part nowadays, focusing on the use in everyday life, we recognize that, despite all the afford of construction it is, as well, a representative for an urban planning, which does not really fit the peoples needs. The park seems empty and kind of abandoned, which proves that its actual usage is not really fulfilling the intended purpose.
That might be caused by the lack of legibility concerning the people (for more information see Oriol's text), the inability to identify with the housing space, which was actually designed for them, but without them. Ironically, this is the clear contrast compared to the people's identification with buildings and neighbourhoods they constructed themselves, like in the case of self-constucted housing.
7.) The "Casas Barates": Spain's social housing
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| Inauguration of "Cases Barates" in 1933 |
7.) Cases barates
After
having crossed the park in Nou Barris, we arrive at an open space
where we find one example of the phenomenon of the "cases
barates" (cheap houses). The ones we are looking at are now
known as Can Peguera (even though their original name was Ramon Albó)
and were built in 1929 through
the Instituto
Municipal de la Vivienda
(today Patronat Municipal de l'Habitatge).
These type of houses were
designed for the urban working-class population that was suffering a
huge increase between the last third of the XIXth century and the
first third of the XXth century. After a part of the illegal
settlements in Montjuïc had been destroyed during the construction
process of the Exposició Universal, these 650 small houses with a
single floor were one of the architectonical answers to the increase
of urban population in Barcelona, partly due to inmigration from the
rest of Catalonia and the south of Spain. Can Peguera is the only
sample of "cases barates" that is left in the city, as in
the last years two of the four examples (Eduard Aunós in Zona Franca
and Baró de Viver in Sant Andreu) have been demolished and the one
in Bon Pastor is now being dismantled. Having this in mind, viewing
this area is an exceptional opportunity due to its rareness.
The
"cases barates" were houses -both properties or rents-
promoted by the government and built with official helps and loans
with low interests. Houses were usually built in groups in low
urbanized areas and on cheap soils and should offer workers the
possibility of a healthy and comfortable life that would have a
positive influence on their work life. The first project took place
in 1911, with the first law of the Casas Baratas and was repeated ten
years later during the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera, who also made
the law extensive to the middle-classes. Houses were administrated
either on a cooperative regime or through association with public
institutions. Many of them have disappeared through years, not seldom
because of urbanistic speculation. The ones who survived, like Can
Peguera, are still in good condition and stand out in between high
modern buildings.
It is difficult not to think about the humanity of these familiar houses with small front patios, especially after viewing urban areas like Ciudad Meridiana, built during the 50s and 60s and which Oriol Bohigas heavily criticizes in his text Elogi a la barraca.
To know more check out the following page (even though it speaks mainly about the casas baratas in Bon Pastor):
http://laciutathoritzontal.org/
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