| 1998 Spanish Best Practices selected by the International Jury > http://habitat.aq.upm.es/bpes/onu98/bp443.en.html |
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Experience selected in the 1998 Dubai Award for Best Practice, and catalogued as BEST.
(
Best Practices Database.)
País/Country: Spain
United Nations Region: Europe
Ecological region: Coastal
Activity: City/Town
Partnerships: Local Authority. Other/Regional Government. Central
Government.
Themes = Architecture and Urban Design: historic preservation;
sustainable community design. Housing. Urban Governance:
descentralization; partnership development.
Main contact:
Pere Cabrera Massanes
Barcelona City Council (Local Authority)
Pl. Caramelles 8
A.R.I. Ciutat Vella
Barcelona
Barcelona
SPAIN
08001
Tel: +34-93 442 68 68
Fax: +34-93 442 68 81
E-mail: ari@coac.es
Partner:
Climent Solé
Generalitat de Catalunya (Regional Government)
Aragó, 244-248
Barcelona
Barcelona
SPAIN
08007
Tel: +34-93 214 70 55
Fax: +34-93 487 26 78
Partner Two Support Type: Other/Financial and political support
Partner:
Marta García Nart
Ministry for Development (Central Government)
Paseo Castellana 67 desp.B-605
Ministerio de Fomento
Madrid
Madrid
SPAIN
28071
Tel: +34-91 597 75 72
Fax: +34-91 597 86 04
E-mail: mgnart@mfom.es
Partner Three Support Type: Financial Support
Nominating organization
D. Marta García Nart
Spanish National Committee
Paseo de la Castellana 67
Ministry for Development
Madrid
Madrid
SPAIN
28071
Tel: +34-91 597 75 72
Fax: +34-91 597 86 04
E-mail: mgnart@mfom.es
Barcelona City Council, having decided that it was necessary to
intervene in the historic centre of the city, also realised, to a
great extent thanks to the new policy of descentralisation which
made it more aware of social realities, that if a partial segmented
policy were implemented it would be doomed to certain failure. For
this reason, in 1986 it was decided to designate Ciutat Vella an
Area de rehabilitacio integrada (ARI), a mesure which allowed all
the administrations capable of taking action in the district to
combine their projects and efforts.
1. Situation before the initiative
Background to the year 1986
The Ciutat Vella district, created as part of the political and
administrative reforms of the 1979-82 period, though it had
pertained to the city of Barcelona since the mid 19th century,
contains such widely differing areas and neighbourhoods as El
Raval, Santa Caterina, La Ribera, La Barceloneta, La Mercè, etc. It
is, therefore, a vastly heterogeneous district, a two thousand year
old centre of population which has, over the centuries, witnessed
the passing of different cultures, styles and movements. The last
century industrial development led to the ignoring, rather than the
destruction, of the centre of this city.
The size of the city centre grew from the 12 hectares of the time
of the Roman walls to 131 hectares with the construction of the
medieval walls and, finally, to 218 hectares with the third and
last walls, rising to 386 (431 if we include the Ciudadella Park)
with the incorporatio of the seafaring quarter of La Barceloneta in
1753. This represents 4% of the entire municipal area, its 118,940
inhabitants making up 7% of the total population of the city.
Average population density is 300 inhabitants per hectare, though
with large sectors where density reaches 700 inhabitants per
hectare (average for Barcelona: 180 inhabitants per hectare).
The degradation of housing (state of conservation and level of
domestic services) is, however, at the core of the problems of this
district. To the age of buildings must be added, in the case of El
Raval, Santa Caterina and Sant Pere, the hundred year old effects
of the opening up of thoroughfares (Garcia Morato, Méndez Núñez and
Francesc Cambó) which have effectively frozen any private
initiative for improving and renovating buildings, and which was
considered under the General Metropolitan Plan (PGM).
Its degraded, but not demolished architectural heritage, led to the
creation of a "surgical model" (in contrast to the plans drawn up
from the turn of the century until 1976, in which the common
denominator was the proposal for large thoroughfares to clean up
the district) which optes for the removal of elements which cannot
be recovered, centring its action on rehabilitating dwellings which
have been able to withstand the years of degradation.
Ciutat Vella presents very problematic physical and
socio-demographic conditions, in that, the historical residential
centre is generally old with few facilities. On the other hand, the
population density is extremely high (26,000 inhabitants/km2), the
population is older and the dwellings are very old (70% are more
than a hundred years old).
In the last few years Ciutat Vella has undergone a profound
deterioration from a physical point of view as well as social,
existing as one of the most acute islands of social exclusion in
Barcelona. The delinquency problems and drug trafficking
contributed to the area being less and less frequented by the
people of the city, resulting in a decline among the commercial
establishments in the area. At the same time an exodus of the
social groups on middle income occurred, with emigration to
districts with better conditions.
Ciutat Vella had been converted into a city problem, and as such it
was taken on by the municipal administration, which acted as a
catalyst for the multiple agents which have intervened in the area
in the last few years.
Progressively a citizens consensus was arrived at, that urgent
actions, prolonged and convincing were needed.
A methodological element exists at management level which has
allowed the correct realization of the project; in summary, the
process of political descentralization and administration carried
out by the Barcelona Council in the eighties, with the structuring
of urban districts. It has been the Ciutat Vella district which has
acted as a central element in the project management, thanks to its
proximity to the immediate reality and the daily problems through
the level of communication which it has established with the
residents.
A second element, of a functional character, defines the method
used in the project. It was decided to act intensively in a short
space of time, the object being to change the evolutive tendency of
Ciutat Vella. It was believed that, owing to the level of existent
degradation, regular non-intensive action would mean that in a
short space of time the actions taken would degrade, making it
impossible to generate the change in tendency previously mentioned.
Thirdly, resulting from the plan for intensive action, is was
proposed to combine the urban renovation with economic promotion
and social welfare. It was proposed to favour all the processes
that would improve the quality of life, confronting with priority
the underprivileged and poor areas.
Finally, a fourth element for defining the project is the
participation given to the residents' associations in the decisive
organizations of the project.
Rehabilitation of the Old City Centre: the Ciutat Vella - Barcelona
1988-1998
Ciutat Vella is the historical centre of the City of Barcelona
(1,643,542 inhabitants). Nowadays Ciutat Vella constitutes one of
the ten districts into which the city is divided. An area of over
3 Km2 (386 ha.) and over 100,000 inhabitants.
The process of rehabilitation carried out in Ciutat Vella
constitutes a large operation, with an integral quality, in which
multiple agents intervene and various thematic sections are acted
upon. The operation has been a pioneering one in Spain due to the
management form adopted and the decisive way in which the
realization of the project has been carried out.
2. Objectives, strategies and mobilization of resources
The integrating action in Ciutat Vella proposed in the programme
the following priorities and general objectives:
3. Process
Organizational structure
The stimulating institution for the project has been the City
Council of Barcelona. The municipal decentralization in districts
realized in Barcelona in the eighties has favoured the achievement
of the action as it has allowed the Ciutat Vella District to act as
an impulse and coordinator of the operation.
To carry out the infrastructural content of the operation, the
pertinent urban plans were approved and Ciutat Vella was named as
"Area de Rehabilitación Integral" (ARI): Area for Integral
Rehabilitation.
To adopt decisions on the application of urban reforms the Managing
Commission ARI was constituted. This Commission functions as a
decision-making and coordination entity, political-administrative,
of the various public institutions which collaborate in
co-responsability in the project together with the Neighbour
Community Associations.
To manage an important part of the urban content of the project the
company Promoció Ciutat Vella SA. (PROCIVESA) was created by the
Barcelona Council. In the company other public, financial and
service entities participate on a regional and national scale.
Barcelona City Council ceded the benefit of the expropriations to
PROCIVESA (managed of land, for any public use).
The project also depends on the participation of the Generalitat of
Catalonia (regional government) which, amongst others, has taken on
an important building campaign through Instituto Catalan del Suelo
INCASOL. The land expropriate by PROCIVESA is ceded to INCASOL for
construction of housing.
Due to the project size, many public and private agents have
intervened in its realization and have taken on actions for
improvement in various aspects of Ciutat Vella.
Amongst the organizational structures formed in the project the
creation of the Security and prevention Council for Ciutat Vella is
outstanding. It is a council with a non-police character, which
coordinates various actions in the area.
Area for integral rehabilitation (ARI)
The ambitious regeneration plan for the entire municipal district
presented here is known by the initials PAI (Plan for Integral
Action) and was created when Barcelona City Council decided to
harmonise the various plans for inner city transformation approved
since the entry into effect of the 1976 General Metropolitan Plan.
The Special Plans for Interior Reform (PERI) were joined together
in a single document entitled the ARI (Area of Integrated
Rehabilitation).
The PAI is a model of intervention wich entails the coordination of
all administrations with powers in such varied areas as:
Co-operation agreements between the Ministry of Fomento, the
Generalitat of Catalonia and Barcelona City Council (12.9.94) form
the framework for specific aid for the rehabilitation of private
housing in the ARI of Ciutat Vella.
Apart from the facilities corresponding to the project of
rehabilitacion in Ciutat Vella, other actions have been taken on
that will provoke, without doubt, a positive impact as a whole, due
to the incluence in the area of inhabitants from all over the city:
Cultural Center (Casa de la Caritat), Museum of Modern Art (MACBA),
Universities (UPF, URL, UB)....
4. Results Achieved
Impact
Continuity, future plans and results
As a whole, the realization of the project is positively valued,
even though these types of complex, large scale operation, like
Ciutat Vella, have to aspire mainly to changing the existent
negative tendencies and to stimulating an effect of diffusion of
the improvements achieved. At the moment it appears that the
objective has been practically obtained, because as described
beforehand, the reality of Ciutat Vella has started to change.
Some results of the projects are already visible. It can be
confirmed that in Ciutat Vella the degradation tendency has been
modified and that today the area has a quality of life definitely
superior of years ago.
Amongst the elements of improvement are:
Without doubt, one of the most innovative elements applied to
Ciutat Vella is the adopted urban outlook, which can be qualified
as genuine.
The actions as a whole have respected the character of the area,
the permanence of the inhabitants and made preparations for
expansion and reconstruction, which, although not always visible,
are fundamental for the improvement of living conditions in the
district.
The level of cooperation of a large number of public, social and
economic agents which has been achieved in the process is also
fundamental. This fact is attributable to the collective acceptance
(on a city and regional level) that Ciutat Vella was an acute
problem and that action was required to overcome it.
The method of action, which has depended on the District and the
company Procivesa as essential aids, also specific, as already
mentioned: to cause an intensive impact in order to avoid loss or
rapid degradation of the improvements introduced.
This model is clearly transferable to other cities with similar
problems of degradation and density in the historical centre. On a
Spanish level, the project Ciutat Vella as a pioneer, has been used
as an example to be followed in many cities. The project has also
been widely publicized on a European level.
5. The experience in numbers
Financial Profile
1993/1997 Total Operating Budget: 59.323,5 Millions of Pts.
| 1998 Spanish Best Practices selected by the International Jury > http://habitat.aq.upm.es/bpes/onu98/bp443.en.html |