The Espai Nur it stays as it is. Spot. The neighbors have had a hard time conquering this small green oasis of Eixample Esquerra how to change it now. They like it the way it is and they want it to stay that way. It’s a little green lung created, nurtured and maintained in a communal and altruistic way. Self managed. A botanical garden and zoo formed from the contributions of the residents of the area: “A 96-year-old man brought us a plant from his deceased daughter, which in turn had belonged to his wife, also deceased, so that we could take care of it and he comes every day to see it; another neighbor donated peppers from Peru because they remind him of his country and he waters them whenever he can, and so on until he reaches 4,000 copies & rdquor ;, he assures Mireille Maladry, one of the promoters of the project. 4,000? “I have not counted them, but if there are not 4,000 there are 3,550. There are many & rdquor ;.
meeting point
Well that, a real garden. And what is more: “a meeting point& rdquor ;, in which plants are cared for the same as souls: “a community help network has been informally woven & rdquor ;, says Maladry. Examples of this are Wednesdays, the day when a psychologist gives talks to the elderly to help them with their daily concerns or doubts, and the support that is never denied to the homeless who come to the nearby parish that offers meals at noon. There’s also music, communication between neighbors and many children playing (or watering and caring for the plants) after the school day. “It is a space made by and for the neighbors” Maladry sentence.
survival in danger
But nothing is eternal and the Espai Nur is not guaranteed continuity. In fact, his survival was in danger with the transformation of Consell de Cent into a green axis and the start this summer of the construction of the ‘superilla’. for now, they have just reached an agreement with the council, owner of the land, and have Guaranteed for at least one more yearof permanence: “The agreement is renewable, but if the city council needs the space, You can recover it by giving us three months’ notice. In other words, any day he can kick us out & rdquor ;, Maladry laments. The disagreement began with the intention of the council to recover the community garden project (voted by the same neighbors in a participation process before the existence of the current garden) taking advantage of the works of the ‘superilla’.
Community gardens
But the neighbors had changed their minds: they didn’t want to change their orchard. “We believe that urban gardens do not work because each one takes care of his own, don’t let my tomatoes touch me!, and they are not a meeting place. But the city council insisted that the money was reserved and would do it yes or yes & rdquor ;, says Maladry. “When they saw that we would not let ourselves be defeated and that we were beginning to mobilize, they backed down & rdquor ;, explains the promoter. In favor of the consistory it must be said that the councilor of the Eixample, Pau Gonzàlez, always showed his intention to reach an agreement. In fact, he withdrew the project from the community orchards and offered to keep the garden, but with a previous condition: a ‘tabula rasa’ had to be made to clean up the soil. “They wanted to destroy everything, enter with a ‘bulldozer’ and remove everything that had been done. They would rebuild it the same way but without our plants” Maladry laments.
guaranteed access
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Losing what was contributed by the community was unthinkable, so it was decided not to accept and defend what existed. Either the survival of current plants was guaranteed or nothing was touched. for the town hall “An opportunity to consolidate the space has been lost, now it is a precarious transfer, and decontaminate it & rdquor ;, claim from the district, but the priority was “to reach an agreement and since it has not been achieved, it has been decided not to carry out the intervention & rdquor ;, maintain the same sources. It should be clarified that contamination by heavy metals is very low and does not affect health, especially in the case of Espai Nur, in which all the plants are in flower beds or pots, but the city council has a policy of “cleaning up the soil with problems before urbanizing them & rdquor ;.
Thus, for the time being, the Espai Nur continues and has guaranteed access while the works are in progress, since the council will treat it like any community of neighbors entrance.
Little story of a corner
The history of this triangle embedded in the corner formed by the streets of Calabria and the Consell de Cent (mountain side and Besòs) is long. It has been classified as a green area for years, but until 2017 it was occupied by the venue L’Eterna, which offered lunchtime menus and evening entertainment. With its closure, the site was occupied by prefabricated modules that temporarily housed the Viladomat Institute. In 2019, the school made way for a unaccompanied minor center baptized as Nur (light, in Arabic) that worked until September 2019, at which time the space was occupied by neighbors, hand in hand with the Jardins d’Emma association, the same one that is in charge of the orchards of Germanetes, in Viladomat street. The occupation was not easy but they had, among others, the help of the Fundació Fils and the festive day they organized from which the fantastic mural, Do the Right Thing (Do what you must) that decorates one of the walls. The rest has been the consolidation of a highly valued botanical and neighborhood meeting space in the neighbourhood.