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
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