A new critical mapping tool documents how activist groups across Barcelona are fighting for affordable housing, equitable access to green space, and the preservation of cultural heritage in the face of green gentrification.
Local community perspectives are often overlooked in progressive cities like Barcelona celebrated for their bold urban sustainability visions. Our storymap series sheds light on 13 cases of environmental injustice and how residents are pushing for the changes they need in their neighborhood.
From the redevelopment of its waterfront for the 1992 Olympic games to the recent Superblocks plan, Barcelona is known for its environmental urban innovation. It has received praise for its efforts to create car-free neighborhoods and public green space, protect local biodiversity, and promote local businesses as part of its strategic response to the climate emergency. These initiatives, however, may not always reflect or include the voices of residents, often marginalizing entire neighborhoods or beautifying others to the point of displacing longtime residents as a result of gentrification.
In neighborhoods such as the 22@ in Poblenou, green revitalization processes have been criticized for driving up rental prices that benefit major real estate companies while harming vulnerable communities. Mass tourism in the former fishing port of La Barceloneta has driven up housing prices and living costs. Local demands for a reduction in car traffic in the heavily polluted Eixample, and public health concerns exacerbated by COVID-19 led to street pacification initiatives which may not be enough to reduce the significant risks to children. The formerly squatted garden of La Vanguardia situated on public land was ultimately bulldozed to make way for a hotel lawn, ridding the neighborhood of a valuable community space.
These are just some examples of cases featured on our online StoryMaps collection on ArcGIS, a critical mapping tool that seeks to uncover the dominant social dynamics and power relations that continuously (re)shape the reality of the city. The grassroots efforts documented here are embedded in Catalunya’s notable history of community mobilization that arose during the anarchist movement in its resistance to fascism during the Spanish Civil War. Nearly 100 years later, Barcelona is a considerably progressive city. Still, despite the municipality’s effort to build a more inclusive and green Barcelona, the legacy of environmental injustice takes time to undo.
BCNUEJ lab members have worked closely with activist groups and community initiatives to shed light on the complex dynamics surrounding urban environmental justice struggles in Barcelona that often remain invisible to the general public. Our map currently exhibits only a small fraction of the tensions around issues of accessibility and equitable use of (green) urban space in Barcelona and of the impacts of greening on housing, health, and wellbeing.
Our methodology and map series challenges the notion of a single knowledge base and aims to give voice to historically marginalized groups so that it can serve as a tool for community empowerment, advocacy and social resistance in public debates regarding local urban environmental justice in the city. Armed with this knowledge, city-makers must integrate anti-gentrification and anti-displacement measures into green development if we are to strive for a more environmentally just city.
Explore the full StoryMap collection here.
Download our Policy and Planning Toolkit (2021) for a guide to addressing urban green justice issues in other regional contexts.
