For many years, the residents of the Raval neighborhood have been waiting for the City Council to undertake the long-awaited renovation of Plaza dels Àngels once and for all. And a few weeks ago Mayor Collboni's government took advantage of the latest advances in the expansion of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Barcelona (Macba) and the construction of the new ambulatory on the other side of the square to release a few virtual images of how it could be remodeled. one of the most international images of this city. In reality, the municipal proposals are nothing more than a probe balloon. But they unleashed an intense citizen debate. What role should Plaza dels Àngels play? Today it is a meeting point for skaters, break dancers, graffiti artists, globetrotters, tourists, a few Barcelonans who want to act like scoundrels and the occasional neighbor from the surrounding area. Here sometimes, a traveling DJ even appears with his dishes in a supermarket cart. And quite a few are delighted with this cosmopolitan and alternative ecosystem that supports a lot of very unique shops and bars that make the Raval a very special place. They say that without them the neighborhood would be nothing more than the biggest drain in Barcelona. Many others, however, also many, are already tired of living in this kind of urban playground where everyone comes to have a good time and do what they don't do in their neighborhoods. These neighbors want the kids to be able to enjoy public space. In reality, the debate around the future of Plaza dels Àngels goes much further, it is about the role that the entire Raval plays in the city.
European champion, seventh in the world, video game character, Olympic judge and judge from a town in Alacant. Like so many professionals, he ended up in Barcelona in 2002, to record his spots in new places, because he got tired of Los Angeles, because Barcelona became the new mecca of all this, “a paradise of freedom and kindness... And to this square four neighbors came. She was very insecure. The thieves came with boards, to disguise themselves, to rob us, and we collected the rubbish, because you can't skate with rubbish, and we told the graffiti artists not to mess up. But the administrations did not know how to manage tourist overcrowding. The square was filled with people coming to drink. Like in Paris, London, Philadelphia... But there they tried to reach agreements. Here they blamed us for everything. I don't want them to touch the square. When they open those green areas they will be filled with drunks. It doesn't matter a little to me. I'm not going much. "You can't skate between broken bottles."
He says that this square is still one of the most prominent skateable urban corners on the planet, that it is part of Barcelona's heritage, that administrations should not use skateboarders as scapegoats every time they encounter problems in public spaces. “They would have to find a way to fit the practice of this sport in this square. The other day there were a lot of people pricking themselves in a fountain next door. It will happen everywhere as soon as they throw us out. Parents don't bring their children because of the people who spend the day drinking, not because of the skaters. The City Council would have to enforce its own rules. In 2017, a participatory process was held to improve coexistence, and it was found that most of the complaints referred to what was happening in the adjacent streets. “So schedules and restrictions were established, but the City Council never worried about their compliance.”
“Pasqual Maragall sees that if Barcelona wants a place in the era of globalization it has to leave industry behind and promote tourism,” explains this anthropologist who has studied the evolution of this square for decades. And also that the opening of hard plazas is the most economical way to expand the city and meet neighborhood demands. Barcelona thus becomes the best city for skating. And administrations use skateboarding and graffiti to promote Barcelona.” Meanwhile, skaters' references on the other side of the pond, such as the San Francisco pier, are becoming saturated. Coexistence problems and restrictions arrive. “The skate industry is looking for new markets. This square, which was scary and was barely visited by some Pakistanis, becomes a promotional location. The big stars come to record their videos, and the fans come to emulate them. This overcrowding offers us another reflection of Barcelona. Many skaters get fed up and look for other places. The plaza became a market for brands, where they skated in search of sponsors.”
Calvanelli and her husband already had a skate shop in Milan. “And 15 years ago we saw that where we had to be was in Barcelona. So we moved and set up Rufus, on Ferlandina Street, next to Plaza dels Ángels.” So, he continues, there were hardly any shops of this type in the area. “And not only skate shops appeared around us, but also vinyl record stores, vintage clothing stores... There are many places in the neighborhood where they could open green spaces, even in the square itself, on the other side, for example, where they will build the ambulatory. There is no need to spoil this part of Barcelona's history. If they kick out the skaters we will have to leave, and if we leave who will open another fruit shop? another mobile store? We give personality to the neighborhood. El Raval is a very complicated neighborhood, with many problems. If they throw out the people who make it special, only drug addicts, alcoholics, homeless people will come, and the Raval will be nothing more than another dodgy neighborhood in the city.”
Those who spend the day in the square stock up on drinks and food in the numerous businesses on Joaquín Costa Street. And Martínez spent 8,000 euros on triple-glazed windows that mitigate the noise, but not so much the vibrations from the passage of skateboards during the day and at night. “Years ago the City Council banned skating here at night. But he doesn't enforce his rule. I put white noise on to sleep. Before I put on a fan, which does the same thing. A skate generates spikes of 80 decibels. The World Health Organization recommends not exceeding 45”. White noise takes the brain's attention and thus hides other larger noises. “And skateboarding generated a commercial fabric incompatible with neighborhood needs. How many takeaways and grocery stores full of beer cans do we need? We want a green square that cools the Raval and stops climate change. The current dynamics expel us from the square, the street, the neighborhood...
The activist says that the reform of the square is a double-edged sword, “because with the excuse that the expansion of Macba cannot wait, they are going to sneak in a remodeling of the square that makes us lose public space, which feeds the paper of the Raval neighborhood as a recreational ghetto, do we have to be the games room of Barcelona? Little by little the neighborhood is built based on the needs of a floating population that comes to have a good time. The neighbors, on the other hand, do not need so many takeaway food shops and we do need some haberdashery stores, that we have to go do our shopping on Villarroel Street.” Seen this way, skateboarders, whether they like it or not, are the most attractive spearhead of this population. “And if the square and the neighborhood are a puzzle, where do we neighbors fit in? “We need spaces where children can play without tripping over broken glass, where older people can walk without anyone skating next to them at full speed.”
We have to find a balance, says the manager of the merchants' association. “The square needs green spaces. But if you open them as they are, you invite the bottle. And changing skates for bottles is a very serious mistake. The City Council must regulate the uses of public space. We don't want graffiti artists either. This square gives us an international brand that puts us on the map. We may lose many very unique businesses, and they will certainly not be replaced by local businesses. “A very special commercial ecosystem that makes Raval a different neighborhood is being put in danger.” Yes, many also think that what happens in the Raval makes headlines because many people come here to have a good time, and that if this floating population disappears the neighborhood will gradually fall into oblivion. And then the only role it would fulfill will be that of Barcelona's drain.
This neighborhood association says that “the City Council tries to make us believe that the expansion of Macba will adapt to the reform of Plaza dels Àngels, but the truth is that the remodeling is being designed based on the expansion. We have nothing against Macba, but the Raval is a very dense neighborhood, with few open spaces, with very small apartments... And we don't need more international showcases, but rather public spaces open to everyone. We cannot afford a loss of 1,000 m2 of public space. The alleged compensation from the City Council is very doubtful. A terrace open to the public in the museum? Reclassifications in other areas of the neighborhood that already function as green areas? We have already filed an administrative dispute that has yet to be resolved, and we are considering filing another. We want a square where children can play and older people can walk. And to do this we have to stop so many exclusive uses that expel neighbors. “Skaters can’t monopolize the place.”
