Vallcarca is one of the neighborhoods that most talk about housing problems, gentrification and neighborhood resistance in Barcelona. Why?

When the Barcelona Metropolitan Territorial Plan was presented in 1976, the cross was placed over the neighborhood. Almost 30 years later, in 2002, the expropriations began and in 2008 the demolition of the buildings began. The neighborhood assembly then began the work of redefining the plan, with the objective of paralyzing and adapting the urban plan. We started thinking about the neighborhood we wanted. We worry, we fear gentrification: among other things, we are struggling to control the price of rents.

You mentioned gentrification, a word that talks about many days. How would you define it?

Gentrification is a process that changes the social fabric of a neighborhood. The neighborhood degrades and the people there stop being at ease in the neighborhood. The process involves a new social sector: they can be young people, students, artists or okupas. The neighborhood's appearance is getting better and there's a significant change: everybody wants to live there, and because there's no room for everyone, the higher-class people become the lower-class people.

Gentrification is often linked to tourism. Does the situation in Vallcarca have a tourist influence?

Yes and no. It is true that the street that leads us to Park Güell is full of shops for tourists, and I am sure the rental of premises is not cheap. But the closure of shops in the old part of the neighborhood has not been caused by tourism, but by urban plans, the city council, and the construction company Nunez and Navarro. They are the ones who have broken the neighborhood, the ones who have torn down the carpenters, bakeries, etc. They existed. It's urban planning that condemns neighborhoods.

In 2008, several buildings in the neighborhood collapsed. Is it by this Assenblea de Vallcarca for which it emerged?

There were many early groups in the neighborhood, each with their way of working: okupas, Athaeum people, members of Black Heura, anarchists, association l’Antic Forn... The 15M movement began organizing an assembly in the neighborhood in 2011, becoming the center of coordination. After the participation days of 2014, the city legitimized us and then several issues were raised: the neighborhood we wanted, the need to change the urban plan or the desire to expel the constructor Núnez i Navarro from the neighborhood.

In addition to the Assemblea de Vallcarca, he also works in the architects' cooperative Voltes. What is the role of the architect in these types of processes?

There's a technical aspect that's totally unknown to the neighborhood: conveying that wisdom is an interesting part of our work. Now in Vallcarca everyone knows what typology, volume, square meters is... people who have done a “master of urbanism” to protect themselves. The neighborhood movement is stronger when an architect intervenes, as it uses the same language as the city council.

He says that an urban plan can condemn the neighborhood. However, both architecture and urbanism can help a neighborhood, right?

We have a meeting between architects and the neighborhood. Valcarca has worked differently because of the way it has approached the problem. I meet every day, we reflect, we will all decide what we need. After this work, I receive the specific request, the plans to be made. It's a collaboration between all of us. The architect doesn't give solutions, helps those who are looking for a solution.

In several cities in Euskal Herria there have also been many neighborhoods that have begun to denounce their situation. What recommendations would you give them after living through the Vallcarca process?

First of all, I would say to you that you are willing to organize and do a lot of work. There are a lot of people in the neighborhoods and you have to organize each other. In our case, the meeting point was the Assenblea de Vallcarca: we went almost door to door, explaining the situation to the neighbors and inviting them to attend the assemblies. Once the neighborhood was mobilized, we made a demonstration, and we've also pushed through the media, giving way to all the conversations that we've been able to. We also contacted the City Hall.

In working with the institutions it is important to bring forward clear proposals, before the meeting the possibilities and documents must be worked out well. After all, that's the only secret: working and bringing the neighborhood together.