Neil Fraser
October 8, 2004
I SEEM to recall somewhere reading a description of Barcelona as the "Paris of the Mediterranean". I'm sure it was meant as a compliment but Barcelona is a city that does not need to stand on the laurels of any other. It stands on its own merits as one of the great cities of the world. Aristotle is reputed to have said that "A city is composed of different classes of men; people who are the same cannot make a city" this is a city within that definition for it is a city of quite staggering urban diversity.
A 2 500 - year history - often bloody has left a wealth of heritage in its history, culture and the arts all of which permeates the city. There are some 20 major permanent museums that celebrate everything from the history of the city and the region, to its art, archeology, religiosity and ethnology but also to perfume, eroticism and a unique mediaeval maritime collection. Then there are the specific galleries housing the works of Picasso, Miro, Dali, Antoni Tapies and Gaudi.
However, all great cities are themselves museums and the urban design and the architecture of Barcelona place it in a very special class. Its wide, treed pavements, people avenues and scores of public squares ranging from pocket handkerchief size to large, imposing spaces provide the opportunity for all people to meet, mix, mingle and enjoy the freedom the city provides. And it is this constant throng of people that fill the city's public spaces for nearly all of 24 hours a day/7 days a week, that makes this European city so different from the American model. Want to experience the quintessential 24/7 city? Look no further, Barcelona is it.
Working hours generally from 09h00 to 14h00 and then 16h00 to 20h00 ensure that dining starts late, many of the better restaurants only open from 21h00. What can be more civilized than sitting in the sidewalk bars or pavement cafes before dinner drinking a glass of wine or ice-cold beer whilst sampling the many varieties of tapas on offer? It also gives one an opportunity to watch the stream of people passing by which raises the following observations.
No one seems to have heard of skin cancer, tanned bodies are much in vogue whilst a very high percentage of people appear to be smokers and they smoke but everywhere women are noticeably in the majority when it comes to smoking. Exposed tummies are definitely in, often, but not always, adorned with an amazing array of belly-button rings. Size is not an issue - that is size of bellies - fat or flat they are exposed to the sun. Three months or eight-and-a-half months pregnant makes no difference - the fatter the tum the larger the tummy jewelry. Many, many pregnant women, many, many babies in pushchairs - maybe it was a cold winter! Underwear as outerwear or anyway visible edges and straps of underwear are definitely in.
Tattoos are also in sometimes neat, single and relatively small on the ankle, the shoulder, the bosom, tummy, the small of the back very in and irrespective of age. Whole bodies tattooed, both male and female usually accompanied by shaven heads (male) or dreadlocks (female). Saw a number of ladies that won't see sixty again, some even seventy, who were covered in tattoos. Fleetingly considered having my head shaved and my arms tattooed plus a lip stud but decided that I would probably terrify the dogs when I got home.
Police highly in evidence, walking in pairs, in cars and on motorbikes, street cleaners also highly visible all giving one a clear impression of a managed environment. Yet, on the other hand, graffiti is also everywhere and little attempt seems to be made to clean it off. The public transport system is excellent with an efficient underground train network effectively covering most of the city but there are also many buses and, in some areas, light rail has been reintroduced.
I believe that the metro area has a population of just over 4 million, about 25% more than ourselves but the streets throng with tourists, the city attracts 25 million a year - as a country we are somewhere about the 2 milllion mark! Great food market, no hawkers or combi-taxis decidedly a European city!
Vancouver is the host city for the International Downtown Associations 50th Annual Conference. Whilst Barcelona can trace its origins back 2 500 years, Vancouver is the same age as Johannesburg, a baby by international standards. Like Cape Town, Vancouver is set in the most beautiful natural surroundings. Whilst Barcelona bowled me over with its 24 hour energy, culture and decidedly European lifestyle, Vancouver has clearly become what all North American cities aspire to. So, whilst what struck me most in Barcelona was the sheer number and variety of people on the streets, what dominates my thoughts in Vancouver are the buildings and public spaces.
The Mayor, Larry Campbell, recalls that 30 to 40 years ago the city was nothing more than a brownfields site, industry had largely deserted the city and it was littered with abandoned industrial buildings. Its three economic sectors, forestry, fishing and mining had largely gone. The city then took a conscious decision to become lifestyle oriented and, because of its natural beauty, tourism focused. It adopted a "living first strategy" and employed a number of visionary planners. "Urban design matters", says the City Manager Judy Rogers, "because urban design is an economic issue if the public realm is hostile, people won't want to live close together and that doesn't fit with our policy of compactness."
Zoned agricultural areas surrounding the city can't be used for residential so development is inward focused. The City Manager says that compact development forces one to improve the areas where you live and that this doesn't happen where sprawl is allowed. 550 000 people in 47 sq kms (the city not the metro). Putting people first, not cars (they voted against any freeway system going through the city 30 years ago) has resulted in the number of city residents growing off a low base to 40 000 by 1986, double that by 2004 and projected to grow to 120 000 by 2021. A superb public transport system has resulted in the number of cars coming into the city actually decreasing from 1986 whilst residential population has doubled. Office vacancy is almost zero.
This is a city that really celebrates diversity. It has the third largest Chinese population outside of China and 51% of all residents have English as their second language. There are 23 diverse neighbourhoods that make up the whole but each is quite self contained with health services, leisure, education etc, all within each neighbourhood and always in walking distance for the residents. In addition the city council ensures that each community has dedicated integrated council neighbourhood service teams.
Amenities are paid for by developers who pay a community amenity fee or development cost levy on each development of $6 per sq ft (say R60,00 a sq metre) but if they want any relaxations then they have to contribute to a wide range of other needs. Let me give you an example. A 60 storey 227 unit up-market residential development has just been announced. The Development Cost Levy to pay the city for infrastructure is $4,0 million. Then, as the developer wants to increase his 40 storey height to 60 storeys, he must provide the following additional requirements as a quid pro quo:
- $4,4 million towards the restoration of an adjacent heritage building
- $1,0 million for social housing
- $4,7 million for a public sculpture garden
- $2,4 million as an endowment fund for the upkeep of the sculpture garden AND
- 57,000 trees (yes, fifty seven thousand) to be planted to offset carbon dioxide emissions.
All in all the "civic package" comes to $17 million.
There are dozens of buildings currently under construction in the city, mostly residential, almost all high rise. I'm not a fan of mountains of glass curtain wall but maybe that's because I don't see it as appropriate to ourselves. Here in North America it seems more at home, if you know what I mean, it's almost as if you expect the buildings to be largely glass clad edifices. For my taste, the high rise building designs are pretty monotonous. But what does make a huge difference is that they are all set in landscaped public space which is a requirement of council.
Apart from literally hundreds of these different, well groomed spaces around the high rises, the city boasts a 1 000 acre park, over 200 small parks and 30 kms of waterfront walkways/bikeways. The city policy is that waterfront is public space as are streets and this is undoubtedly one of the most walkable North American cities I have visited pavements are wide with excellent surfaces, heavily treed with really tastefully designed street furniture, impressively clean AND there are no hawkers.
Yes, there are problems but the Council seems to me to be quite unique in the way it is addressing them enlightened urban management but that is a story for another day.
