As a part of our Social Housing Revival collection, we spotlight town of Barcelona, which is shrugging off the legacy of fascism by quickly rising its social housing provide.
In June 2015, veteran housing activist Ada Colau turned Barcelona's first feminine mayor. She rose to prominence by clashing with police whereas protesting a surge in evictions following the 2008 monetary disaster.
Colau was elected on an bold manifesto that targeted closely on restoring housing as a fundamental proper for residents, quite than an funding asset, within the Catalan metropolis.
On the time, Barcelona had simply 7,500 public housing items – a hangover from Francisco Franco's 4 a long time of fascist rule in Spain through the 20th century, when personal housing was prioritized.
Colau's 10-year Proper to Housing Plan proposed strict measures to double this to 15,000 by 2025. As of December 2023, there have been over 12,300 social housing within the metropolis.
“There could also be individuals who don't agree with our metropolis mannequin,” Colau mentioned in an interview with Spanish newspaper elDiario.es final yr, shortly earlier than her unsuccessful re-election bid.
“What nobody disputes with us is that we didn’t come to heat the seat, however to implement a special, fairer, democratic and feminist metropolis mannequin,” she mentioned. “[In Spain] we’re leaders in social funding and public housing.”
Colau's measures included shopping for personal residential blocks and turning them into council homes, confiscating vacant flats and forcing builders to put aside 30% of recent blocks over 600 sq. meters for social housing.
Regardless of being ousted as mayor final yr by socialist Jaume Collboni, his time in workplace helped kick-start severe efforts to lastly modernize town's social housing sector.
In January 2024, Collboni signed an settlement for the Catalan Land Institute (INCASOL) to construct no less than 1,700 social housing items over 5 years on 27 government-owned plots of land.
Barcelona missed social housing 'till the final decade'
The change was immediately supported by Lacol – an area cooperative of architects that prioritizes social and environmental justice in its work.
“The issue of the dearth of public housing in Barcelona could be very severe,” Lacol instructed Dezeen.
“Till the final decade, the issue was not tackled with any ambition,” mentioned a spokesman for the collective. “Within the legislatures of Ada Colau, courageous steps had been taken and plenty of power was put into enhancing the scenario of public housing”.
Lacol believes that town's greatest structure is now rising from this sector.
“In recent times, very attention-grabbing initiatives have been carried out”, added Lacol.
“The structure made in Catalonia is of an excellent commonplace. It’s designed with the priority of offering a great person expertise and we imagine that exactly the very best initiatives are made within the area of social housing.”
Among the many most up-to-date social housing initiatives within the metropolis are 85 Social Housing in Cornellà by Peris +Toral Arquitectes (pictured above) and 1737 Social Housing by H Arquitectes.
Elsewhere, MIAS Architects accomplished 72 social housing items at Marina Del Prat Vermell and Emiliano Lopez Monica Rivera Architects created 0304SAN Social Housing for Younger Folks.
Co-op housing 'confirmed enormous potential'
Nonetheless, for Lacol, probably the most attention-grabbing types of sub-market housing that’s changing into extra widespread is co-housing – in any other case generally known as housing cooperatives.
In Barcelona, shared housing often occupies publicly owned land or deserted websites, which town council arms over to group land trusts.
The trusts then hire and promote the housing to tenants at discounted costs for lengthy intervals, operating the constructing by constructing alongside them.
Lacol members are amongst these serving to to ship the sort of housing in Barcelona, with the group's most notable instance being La Borda.
Accomplished in 2018, La Borda is among the tallest cross-laminated timber buildings in Spain. It consists of 28 houses with shared dwelling areas organized round a central courtyard, developed in collaboration with residents – a typical strategy to co-living within the metropolis.
Following its success, Lacol developed the La Balma condo block, which incorporates 20 houses, in addition to a roof backyard and group areas on the bottom ground.
“These buildings have made seen that it’s attainable to construct extra sustainably and that it’s essential to introduce extra of a social angle into public housing,” mentioned Lacol.
One other studio at present exploring Barcelona's cooperative housing mannequin is Peris+Toral Arquitectes, which is creating a venture for town's aged.
“I discover Barcelona's strategy to social housing notably compelling,” studio co-founder José Toral instructed Dezeen.
“The cooperative mannequin, for instance, has proven immense potential by encouraging direct engagement with end-users, thereby increasing the attain and impression of initiatives,” he continued.
“We’re within the means of creating a cooperative housing venture for the aged. The participatory course of allowed us to create a housing mannequin that may in any other case have been inconceivable.”
Previous to this scheme, Peris+Toral Arquitectes created the 85 social housing venture in Cornellà on the location of a former cinema.
Whereas offering vital social housing for town, the venture brought on a stir by changing into the biggest timber-framed residential constructing in Spain.
Rising up in environmentally acutely aware social houses
The usage of wooden is a typical function of a number of latest social housing initiatives in Barcelona, reflecting a want to be environmentally in addition to socially accountable.
“For us, social housing must be exemplary,” mentioned Toral. “It mustn’t solely deal with a social emergency, but in addition pave the best way for brand spanking new dwelling and constructing practices,” he continued.
This strategy has additionally seen a number of social housing developments within the metropolis function terraces and prioritize passive constructing design methods to assist join residents to the outside whereas creating snug dwelling environments within the scorching summers of Spain.
For instance, Social Housing 1737 by H Arquitectes gives rooms round a central monastery-like atrium, guaranteeing that each liveable room has publicity to pure mild and air flow.
“This sort of expertise isn’t solely higher when it comes to environmental accountability, it’s also extra extraordinary as a result of it connects us with nature,” mentioned H Arquitectes co-founder Xavier Ros Majó.
Elsewhere, the 72-unit social housing venture at Marina Del Prat Vermell by MIAS Architects is designed in order that “all dwellings have no less than one outside terrace,” in keeping with the studio's founder, Josep Miàs.
“The purpose was to create houses with optimum dwelling circumstances, together with ample direct mild and daylight, outside areas as an extension of the dwelling area,” he mentioned.
At La Borda and La Balma, Lacol used passive design measures as a method to decrease power demand and, in flip, residents' power payments.
“We needed to create areas which might be power poverty shelters, that transcend the power financial system set by the rules and obtain consolation with the minimal attainable consumption, which in the long run interprets into essential financial savings for the inhabitants” , the group defined.
“The answer is to not take into account simply town of Barcelona”
Nonetheless, there may be nonetheless an extended method to go. Social housing now accounts for two% of Catalonia's whole housing inventory – nicely beneath the EU common of 15%.
In the meantime, the controversy continues about the very best measures to alleviate housing affordability issues.
For Lacol, the answer is for the native administration to proceed prioritizing the development of recent public housing and cooperative housing.
On the identical time, the group is looking for measures within the personal market, equivalent to stricter hire management.
Nonetheless, for Mias, the strategy ought to be for the federal government to concentrate on constructing extra homes in Barcelona's suburbs whereas establishing higher transport hyperlinks.
“The answer is to not solely take into account town of Barcelona, but in addition the metropolitan space, so it's not simply housing, however good public transport,” he defined.
“Then there might be no excuse for lack of land, as a result of folks will be capable to reside within the metropolitan space inside an affordable distance and time.”
The principle picture, of 85 social housing in Cornellà de Peris +Toral Arquitectes, is by José Hevia.
Revival of social housing
This text is a part of Dezeen's Social Housing Revival collection exploring the brand new wave of high quality social housing being constructed world wide and the query of whether or not a return to social housing at scale might help deal with affordability and homelessness in our massive cities.