Public Housing
Social Movement and Public Housing
At the end of 1960s, social movements in Barcelona grew rapidly along with urbanization and the rise of democracy. It began with the theory of "social consumption," where citizens, universities, as well as union activists joined forces to fight for their fair share of public goods and services. One of the main contributors to the rise of social movements in Barcelona was the end of the Spanish Civil War in 1939. This triggered the era of anti-dictatorship movement spread across the country. [1] After the end of a long dictatorship under Francisco Franco in 1974, citizens took advantages of the rise of democracy and pushed for urban renewal of the city in respect to social needs. [2]
Public housing was one of the main concerns of the social movements. Due to the rapid population growth along with the continuous industrialization processes between the 1960s and 1970s, there was a lack of public facilities in many areas such public housing and open space. Low-income families usually resided in packed Proligonos structures, which were poorly built and poorly maintained multi-family housing projects. [2] These projects were usually situated in the inaccessible locations such as between motor ways and industrial wastelands, as well as behind abandoned factory buildings. One of the examples of the Proligonos was the Barrio Marginal, which was located at the peripheries of the city. These Proligonos projects housed low income families at a population density of over seventy apartments per acre of land. The neighborhoods usually have high rates of crimes, drug dealing, prostitution, and poverty. [3] Although people lived in extremely unsanitary conditions, those projects became the ultimate answer to housing shortages for the city. [1]
Those extreme conditions led to social organizations joining efforts to struggle for "..a set of traffic lights, to have some running water in the houses, to have drains, asphalt, to put an end to the dust and dirt in the streets." The main common theme of the social movements in the period of 1960s and 1970s was the demand for government attention in developing more public facilities and public spaces. Citizens showed strong reactions against any attempts of devoting land for private goods rather than public services. This rise of democratic period was considered as the cultural awakening of the 1970s, where social movements begin to push for the idea that urban planning should be in the interest of the public. The principle characteristic of social demands in the urban planning process was reclaiming land for public uses such as the opening up of squares of degraded old centers, creation of city parks and walkways, as well as public housing projects. [1]
In response to the social demands, the Eixample Ordiance district opened up the inner courtyard spaces that were built as complementary spaces for housing blocks according to Cerda's Plan. Although these courtyards spaces were not intended to be built on originally, however, many of them were transformed into public parks by planting trees and setting up benches. Since the Eixample district was built to have an equal division of space between pedestrians and vehicles, other pedestrian spaces were also transformed into open public spaces such as parks and patios with gardens and play area as accessible open public spaces for the citizens. [1]
At the end of 1960s, social movements in Barcelona grew rapidly along with urbanization and the rise of democracy. It began with the theory of "social consumption," where citizens, universities, as well as union activists joined forces to fight for their fair share of public goods and services. One of the main contributors to the rise of social movements in Barcelona was the end of the Spanish Civil War in 1939. This triggered the era of anti-dictatorship movement spread across the country. [1] After the end of a long dictatorship under Francisco Franco in 1974, citizens took advantages of the rise of democracy and pushed for urban renewal of the city in respect to social needs. [2]
Public housing was one of the main concerns of the social movements. Due to the rapid population growth along with the continuous industrialization processes between the 1960s and 1970s, there was a lack of public facilities in many areas such public housing and open space. Low-income families usually resided in packed Proligonos structures, which were poorly built and poorly maintained multi-family housing projects. [2] These projects were usually situated in the inaccessible locations such as between motor ways and industrial wastelands, as well as behind abandoned factory buildings. One of the examples of the Proligonos was the Barrio Marginal, which was located at the peripheries of the city. These Proligonos projects housed low income families at a population density of over seventy apartments per acre of land. The neighborhoods usually have high rates of crimes, drug dealing, prostitution, and poverty. [3] Although people lived in extremely unsanitary conditions, those projects became the ultimate answer to housing shortages for the city. [1]
Those extreme conditions led to social organizations joining efforts to struggle for "..a set of traffic lights, to have some running water in the houses, to have drains, asphalt, to put an end to the dust and dirt in the streets." The main common theme of the social movements in the period of 1960s and 1970s was the demand for government attention in developing more public facilities and public spaces. Citizens showed strong reactions against any attempts of devoting land for private goods rather than public services. This rise of democratic period was considered as the cultural awakening of the 1970s, where social movements begin to push for the idea that urban planning should be in the interest of the public. The principle characteristic of social demands in the urban planning process was reclaiming land for public uses such as the opening up of squares of degraded old centers, creation of city parks and walkways, as well as public housing projects. [1]
In response to the social demands, the Eixample Ordiance district opened up the inner courtyard spaces that were built as complementary spaces for housing blocks according to Cerda's Plan. Although these courtyards spaces were not intended to be built on originally, however, many of them were transformed into public parks by planting trees and setting up benches. Since the Eixample district was built to have an equal division of space between pedestrians and vehicles, other pedestrian spaces were also transformed into open public spaces such as parks and patios with gardens and play area as accessible open public spaces for the citizens. [1]
References
[1] Marshall, T. (2004). Introduction and Urban Dynamics, Public Policies, and Governance. In Transforming Barcelona: The renewal of a European metropolis (pp. 4-43). London: Routledge.
[2] Nelson, P. (n.d.). Barcelona, Spain. Retrieved February 16, 2015, from http://depts.washington.edu/open2100/Resources/1_OpenSpaceSystems/Open_Space_Systems/BarcelonaCaseStudy.pdf
[3] Walker, A., & Porraz, B. Understanding Slums: Case Studies for the Global Report on Human Settlements 2003. The Case of Barcelona, Spain. Retrieved March 6, 2015, from http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dpu-projects/Global_Report/pdfs/Barcelona.pdf
Media
[1] Proligonos of Barcelona. [Web Photo]. Retrieved from http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dpu-projects/Global_Reports/pdfs/Barcelona.pdf
[2] Eixample Ordiance District.[Web Photo]. Retrieved from http://densityatlas.org/casestudies/profile.php?id=139