CityMakers is working with Archdaily to publish a series of articles, conversations and interviews with the different actors of city co-production behind CityMakers Barcelona Lab 2022, an event that will take place from 14-18 November. On this occasion, Camilo Osorio, Architect and Master in Urban and Territorial Development at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia - Barcelona Tech, presents his article "Barcelona: Joy and Order. The natural and artificial endowments of an exemplary city".
When we consider writing a scientifically sound article, we often find ourselves in the position of avoiding anecdotes or simply recounting experiences that have marked us personally in some way. Conversely, and perhaps without realizing it, what leads us to offer a plausible thesis does not de facto rule out intrinsically personal experiences. For example, it is quite likely that Jane Jacobs (4 May 1916, USA) will come to the conclusion that a street is safer when there is informal surveillance ("eyes on the street"), thanks to the fact that, among others, she herself walked the streets of some cities. This shows the conclusive power of observation.
Thus, all, or almost all the experiences that allow us to better understand the world, have to their credit the knowledge of new places or new people. In the end, we are, even professionally, the places we have been and the people we have met. That is why I dare to write in the first person, to tell how I have come to the conclusion that Barcelona is what it is because two values come together there: joy and order.
It all started 10 years ago when I was living in London and Víctor Torres invited me to visit Barcelona, the city where he lived. It just so happened that that weekend the festival of La Merce was being held there, a sort of popular village festival, but, in this case, at city level. Every corner was full of joy: concerts, art exhibitions, festivals, and all kinds of cultural and leisure activities that made an already vibrant city especially attractive for all those who, like me, lived in grey and hectic cities.
That weekend, Barcelona left me with a deep concern about the qualities a city should have in order to offer a better quality of life to its inhabitants. I found that sunshine, good food, the sea, and smiles could make the everyday life of a city less of a burden; things that I missed from time to time in London. In a manner of speaking, they were, to my mind, characteristics associated more with joy or which, at least for many, evoke joy. All this would lead me to return to Barcelona frequently and later to settle there.
My search for a city where I could find relative fulfillment (or anything resembling it) made me think that joy, in its broadest sense, was but one fundamental value for a city to be a good place to live. However, it alone would never be enough to achieve such a laudable goal. If there is sun, sea, and smiles, but maddening mobility, polluted air, insufficient or poor quality public space, or decadent or non-existent facilities, there is no city for life; or not so much for the life that scratches for fullness. In any case, although I didn't know whether Barcelona was also endowed with these man-made things, I decided to move, driven only by the sun, the sea, and the smiles.
Once I moved to Barcelona, the city showed me, in effect, a man-made order. It was the order of its morphology and its streets, its public transport network, and its nearby facilities and services. All this was, in my opinion, an artificial and splendid order created so that people could live their daily lives with less stress.
Especially in the early years, I walked with great wonder through the Eixample District, Cerdá's; I used the buses and trains that took me from one place to another with extraordinary efficiency; I studied in the public libraries contemplating the landscaped block interiors; and I did my weekly shopping at a street market less than a block from home. I couldn't complain.
Later I started working in the 22nd District, and I saw how many startups and tech SMEs were settling there in a formerly industrial area, arid and empty at night. Many weekends I would "go for beers" to small neighborhood bars where the tactical versions of the superblocks were starting to be implemented. I spent hours reading in the gardens of the block interiors, many of them reclaimed to compensate for the scarcity of parks and green spaces. In summer I would lie on the beaches of La Barceloneta, Bogatell, and the Forum, all of them backyards of polluting industries before the 1992 Olympics. In short, the experience of living in Barcelona made me see how a city that promised little just three decades ago, gave way to quality of life, opportunities, comforts, and the daily course of a "normal" and dignified life; without so many fears. So, without thinking too much about it, I stayed in Barcelona until I had been there for six years.
Far to the north of the world, I found order, but no joy, and far to the south of the world I found joy, but no order. That's why I stayed in Barcelona because I had a bit of both.
If you will allow me to make a final note, and almost by way of a footnote, Barcelona, despite having all these facilities, and despite the experience of living it to the full and learning from it, still has a debt to settle: social cohesion. It is not entirely understandable that a city, which has been global and welcoming, is being tainted by the taint of fanatical and silently fracturing nationalism. When the city has a mission that unites all its inhabitants, that not only makes it joyful and orderly but also global and free of any social fracture or recalcitrant nationalism, then it will be the best city in the world.
Camilo Osorio is an Architect and holds a Master's degree in Urban and Territorial Development from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia - Barcelona Tech. He is a specialist in urban planning and urban safety. For more than 15 years he has developed architectural and urban projects around the world, especially in Colombia, Mexico, England, China, and Spain. He has also worked with local governments in the design and implementation of public policies for urban development, social housing, and neighborhood rehabilitation, and has participated as a speaker at multiple conferences.
Editor's Note: This article was published on October 17, 2022.
