During the two years of the pandemic, the Barcelona’s town hall coined an expression that made a fortune. the of the tactical urbanism: Interventions in the urban space of immediate application, through light actions such as painting or elements of urban furniture. Quickly executed operations, either to solve urgent needs during the pandemic (such as expanding outdoor terraces without taking away space from pedestrians), taking advantage of the public health crisis as a favorable context in public opinion for the withdrawal of space to the private vehicle or avoid heavy investments at times with other budget priorities. But the city needs not only tactical skirmishes, but draft operations, which are reactivated. With the reform of the airport wasted, due to the inability to find a consensus solution, and the Hermitage operation shelved, initiatives such as the reform of La Rambla or, now, that of Via Laietana, which will begin in a few days, or the del 22@, which already has a final project that the city council will take to the plenary session and to the Barcelona Urban Planning Commission for approval.
The first supposes the consolidation of the type of actions of traffic restriction Until now, they have been provisional. There is no doubt that the roaring road that channels traffic between the port and the Eixample through Ciutat Vella will become a friendlier space (and also more attractive for trade, despite reluctance). Another thing is its impact on the reduction of road traffic: the same doubt weighs on this project as on many other actions in the city. The possibility (and there is data that indicates this) that hindering access to an area only serves to congest alternative routes without reducing in global terms neither circulation nor pollution. And in this case, the traffic towards the coastal area can lead to the collapse of the streets that flank a more pedestrianized Ciutat Vella.
Greater scope has the reformulation of the district 22@. An enormous area that, according to the urban regulations prior to its approval in the year 2000, could only house an industry that had already fled the city became available for a mix of uses (technology companies, housing, facilities and public spaces). A smarter model than the simple residential operation that was Vila Olímpica a few years before. Over the years, only two thirds of that space have been developed and it has been shown that the instruments to apply the renovation of these areas did not work in places seen as inhospitable or with too fragmented property. The council now raises the creation of green axes and the roof extension available for new home, agrees to integrate traditional urban fabric, heritage buildings and new economy activities on a smaller scale than large real estate operations intended to house large technology companies. An example of concerted urban planning that seeks that 22@ is more of a neighborhood and that, at the same time, that activates the attractiveness of the zones until now neglected by the investors.
The pulses between the municipal government and the opposition delayed the necessary adjustments to 22@, already raised in the previous mandate. There are only two more steps left for you to join the projects that return to get Barcelona goingand not to the list of missed opportunities.