The Placemaking Round-Up
A biweekly newsletter with public space news, resources, and opportunities.
The Biweekly Bazaar
A curated dispatch on all things public markets plus the latest announcements from the Market Cities Program.
A biweekly newsletter with public space news, resources, and opportunities.
A curated dispatch on all things public markets plus the latest announcements from the Market Cities Program.
By Fred Kent and Kathy Madden
Barcelona is absolutely a world class city. From its architecture to its boulevards to its parks, it is a vast, diverse, center of culture and entertainment. It literally pulsates with energy. It is enticing. And it seems to play mostly to its citizenry, rather than to the tourist. We love it because of its great public spaces, and yet we also have great concerns...
On our trip there this April, we found the new Parc Del Diagonal to be truly awful -- a first impression that was reinforced again and again by details that really denied effective human use of this very large space. We found that much of Barcelona's newer architecture and public spaces are severely compromised by a narrow focus on their "design" value -- not their community value.
Unfortunately, this is not a trend unique to Barcelona. "Architecture" as an abstraction - and as an attraction - is gaining attention in many cities. This, we hope, is a passing fad. At the same time, we find that interest in Project for Public Spaces' efforts in placemaking has never been stronger, or better understood. We hope these efforts will create a new demand that design, whatever style it espouses, can start with the priority of creating and supporting a place. We believe this idea could be a revolution in design - one that would create a new and valuable challenge to design professions, while also continuing to gain support from the citizenry.
Apart from this "design craze," we found other qualities in Barcelona that were equally disturbing (and equally ubiquitous in other cities), and which diminish the value of pedestrian life. These are a lack of amenities, and the domination of traffic and excessive vehicle speed on many streets. Coupled with the aggressive motorcycle/scooter culture, it sadly casts a kind repression on positive human activity in the wonderful streets that make up Barcelona.
Most of these failings are easily reversed, but to do so requires a less discipline-driven and more subtle attitude toward supporting city life in a great city. Barcelona, more than most cities, could achieve this quite wonderfully.
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