The last two surveys presented by the Barcelona City Council confirm that insecurity is, by far and for many years, the number one problem in the city, according to the perception of its inhabitants. This is confirmed by both the municipal barometer carried out just after the May 28 elections and the macro-survey of municipal services. The fine print of this survey also confirms that in more than 60% of Barcelona's neighborhoods, citizen insecurity is the problem that most worries residents.
The services survey divides the city for statistical purposes into 39 large neighborhoods, instead of the 73 neighborhoods that make up the municipality administratively. When asked what they consider to be the most serious problem in the immediate environment of their place of residence, in 24 of those 39 territories the answer is the same: lack of security. One more piece of information to be taken into account by the municipal and regional officials in this area who will meet today, for the first time under the presidency of Mayor Jaume Collboni, at the local security board.
The City Council survey indicates to what extent the lack of security on the streets, objective or subjective, is perceived as the main problem in the neighbourhood. This feeling is especially strong in the Ciutat Vella district and specifically in the neighborhoods of Sant Pere, Santa Caterina i la Ribera, where no less than 58.5% of those interviewed cite this as the most pressing problem, or in the Barceloneta, where it appears cited in first place by 42.6% of residents.
The above are extreme cases, but the truth is that, judging by the results of this survey – the most complete of all those commissioned by the City Council – very different territories share the same opinion, from Poble Sec to Pedralbes. In the neighborhood with the highest income, 35.4% of its residents consider that there is no more serious problem in their streets –and in their homes– than the lack of security.
If a problem can compete with that of insecurity, it is the lack of cleanliness in public space, a competition, this time, reserved for the local administration and its administrators. In 12 of those 39 neighborhoods, this is, in the opinion of their neighbors, the most worrying problem. In addition, dirt is mentioned in another 13 cases as the second problem in the neighborhood and in six as the third.
In this map of the evils of Barcelona in 2023, almost completely stained by insecurity and dirt, some neighborhoods, very few, can be seen that break the norm. At the Sagrada Família, what bothers residents the most is the overcrowding of tourists, cited as the worst by 22.3% of those surveyed. In l'Antiga Esquerra de l'Eixample, an area with high traffic density and, for some time now, with an excessive offer of bars, terraces, tourist apartments and nightlife venues, the biggest concern is noise. And in the Dreta de l'Eixample, where some of the actions of the green axes and the tram connection works are concentrated, it is not surprising that the main problem in the neighborhood is, according to its residents, the works.
