Activisim of El Carmel

The inhabitants of El Carmel were ones of the most sentimentally attached  to their neighbourhood and therefore struggled with intensity towards better living conditions. The solidarity between the people and the constant claims led to a general improvement, socially and politically towards the population.

 

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  ° 1968 : The Social center of el Carmel is created by a group of barraquista
  
  It has worked tirelessly to rescue the neighbourhood of institutional neglection and improve the living conditions
  
   

• In 1974 the Assocaion de Veïns del Carmel organized an exhibition called El carmel ignorat!, to claim the attention of municipality that was ignoring the conditions in which people were living. The exhibition showed the reality of an uninhabitable barrios, and deplorable social conditions. 

  
  
  

Public transports

El Carmel stayed for a long time without any public transport, but in July 1927 it was the Inauguration of the bus line Gracia-el Carmel (The buses were a Belgium brand Minerva, specialized in fabrication of vehicles from WWI.) 

 With the civil war, el Carmel again stayed with no transport and the bus line was suppressed that left the neighbourhood during 25 years with no communication.
  Nowadays there are several buses and metro than lead you there. In July 2010 was inaugurated the subway extension with the commissioning of two new stations, El Carmel and The Coll / The Teixonera.

Self Constructions and strong solidarity

People working on the construction of El Carmel  : 
Social claims and first bricks

During the re-accomodation, the actions of the associacion de Veïns del Carmel started the process of eradication del barraquismo. After 50 years of privation and 20 years of struggle, people finally receive a more decent housing. The Polygon Canyelles was part of the new resettlement, and in 1977, only 123 families accepted to change house. People were claiming better conditions but some of them did not wish to be living somewhere else than on their land.

 Urbanization development of the neighbourhood

  

 Here is an example of the urbanization process in the barrio, where we can see the instalations of mecanical stairs. In the 90's the city hall has addressed the structural deficits, pipelines, utilities, lighting, asphalted, transport and land accessibility difficulties with the installation of numerous elevators and escalators. Among the work carried out included the opening of the Rambla del Carmel, one of the main roads of the district. and the widening of the street Llobregós-which involved the expropriation of another 500 families and the disappearance of the only local cinema.