Hate your job, love your neighborhood, see a very rustic graffiti on the stands of the Espanya Industrial park in Barcelona. Here mobile phones sing hip-hop rhymes. People talk, walk the dog, play basketball, swing the kids, drink cans of beer sitting on ping-pong tables… And the Bolivian comparsas rehearse with the discipline of a Holy Week brotherhood the traditional dances that they will show in the rúas of the Carnivals, in the festivities of the neighborhoods, here and there…
The much lesser 4.6 hectares of the Espanya Industrial park are the main meeting point for the residents of Hostafrancs, Badal and Sants. Here people of many conditions come together. Some even sneak in at night, when it’s closed. The use of this place is very intense.
Hence, the reform of this paradigmatic example of the transformation of an old 19th-century industrial complex into a park, designed by the Basque architect Luis Peña Ganchegui and inaugurated in 1985, which was recognized with a FAD award, was the most voted neighborhood proposal in the entire city in the elaboration of the participatory budgets for 2021. The first works will start in September and will last about seven months. But the ways and the terms in which the government of Mayor Ada Colau has raised this initiative are unleashing neighborhood concern. The one in Espanya Industrial is not just any park.
“People had to fight a lot for the Espanya Industrial park,” recalls Jordi Clausell, from the Hostafrancs neighborhood association, “a long time ago, because there weren’t many open public spaces around here, and when those old textile factories closed, they they wanted to build were houses. Everyone comes, even from other neighborhoods, and they all want to be dignified and tidy up. But some aspects of the project are already generating some concern. We don’t want it to end up like Països Catalans square! So hard… scorching in the summer and freezing in the winter.â€
And really that the snail – the tower located at one end, in front of the Joan Peiró square, one of the main accesses –, that spiral slope that the City Council calls helicoid, must always stink of urine? Always, day and night, winter and summer, an entrenched disgust that triggers citizen distrust of institutions. Does no one care about this stench and tents popping up everywhere?
The first works will involve an investment of 968,000 euros by the City Council (1.1 million including the drafting of previous studies and projects). Municipal sources point out that the initial budget was 850,000 euros but in the process of defining the action, which has had neighborhood participation, it was raised by 250,000 euros. These improvements will focus mainly on the children’s play areas, the sports courts and the area for dogs. The different uses will be separated with Mediterranean shrub vegetation and easy maintenance. The problem is that this phase leaves many questions in the air. It does not take into account, for example, the happy snail. Perhaps it will simply close while waiting for some other proposal…
The pond of waters at this time disturbingly green and the very crowded and characteristic stands of the place will also remain pending. They are a large part of the work, which will require an additional 4.2 million euros, according to the estimates that have been made. The same City Council sources clarify that from the outset the two phases were separated because there was no money to undertake everything at once. In any case, this second part still has no starting point and will depend on the government resulting from the May 28 elections.
“We want the City Council to set a more specific calendar –Clausell resumes– and to better detail the actions. What will the new dog area be like? If they expand it, will they come from many other neighborhoods? Will there be surveillance? The incivility of a few always affects many. In the 80s we had surveillance, and after its withdrawal the degradation accelerated. There was also a boat and duck serviceâ€. And the characteristic towers were viewpoints, he adds, “but they closed them because many people went inside. Also, what will happen to the grass? We do not need another tough square, like the one in the Catalan Countries. It seems that it will not repopulate. And under the snail could put an equipment. The paper always supports everything, but then, at the moment of truth…”
The executive project of these first works, drawn up by B2B Arquitectes, recognizes that “the configuration and design of the space does not respond to the needs and expectations of users, of very heterogeneous age groups”. This, he continues, makes many see the park as “unwelcoming and insecure, frequented by groups that generate anticivic dynamics and inappropriate use.” To correct these deficits, he proposes favoring circulation, staying, holding activities… The idea is to configure quieter spaces on the one hand, and more dynamic ones on the other, with new furniture that meets the needs of each type of user: older, youth, children…
One of the first actions will be the conversion of the pipican into a large 250-square-meter calisthenics. The attached multifunctional track will also be improved. The four ping-pong tables will be moved along with the five petanque tables. Benches will be installed around the basketball court. And the new area for dogs will be located at the opposite end, next to the stands, in a larger area than the current one, 600 square meters. It will also be delimited with a barrier of bushes. When it comes into operation, it will be the only space in the park where dogs can go without a leash.
One of the most notable changes will take place in the children’s play area, along Calle Muntadas. It will also grow – it will occupy 1,100 square meters – and will be configured in rubber islands with swings and a trampoline, among other elements, and the rest, with a salon. The current fronton area will be converted into a 850-square-meter space for relaxation where a wide variety of activities can be carried out, such as rehearsing traditional Bolivian dances.
