In a yearning for urban modernization some European cities have been promoting processes of urban intervention and forgetting the existing ways of life and of use of those spaces. Processes of participatory democracy have been reduced to simple information/auscultation not allowing any kind of response to the needs of those who live (and sometime always lived) in the spaces intervened. The case of Barcelona’s ‘Bon Pastor’ is an example of calling for a way of doing things differently…
Here is a challenge for those who like me feel that an alternative is needed:
“In the last years, Bon Pastor’s neighbourhood in Barcelona, has been living a transformation process due to the “Renovation Plan” adopted in 2003. This plan implies the complete demolition of 784 social houses (known as “Casas Baratas”) built in 1929, and the relocation of all the tenants in new apartments. The urban project has generated contrasted opinions, dividing the neighbourhood between those who support the plan, those who strongly reject it, and those who accept it due to the lack of other alternatives.
In this context, the International Alliance of Inhabitants (AIH) calls for a competition of ideas for the neighbourhood. The purpose is to offer /provide new alternatives for Bon Pastor’s transformation, and thus open up the debate on other ways to build the city and the urbanism that prevails nowadays.” (Source)
If you are interest in knowing more about this process and the above cited competition, visit http://repensarbonpastor.wordpress.com/.