The public animal in Barcelona: urban form, the natural world and socio-spatial transgression in the comic “Un cocodril a l’Eixample” (1987) by Pere Joan and Emilio Manzano

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article analyzes the comic “Un cocodril a l’Eixample” (1987) by Pere Joan and Emilio Manzano within the urban context and modern history of Barcelona. Two specific sites are instrumental to this reading: Ildefons Cerdà's nineteenth-century design of the Eixample district and the development of the Parc de la Ciutadella. In its story, formal presentation and iconic signification, the comic draws upon and further contributes to the striking presence of animals within Barcelona's cityscape and its urban imaginary. As with the historical examples of a mammoth statue and a taxidermy whale, the movement of Pere Joan and Emilio Manzano's crocodile through the comic's representation of Barcelona draws attention to persisting contradictions surrounding public space, knowledge of the natural world and Catalan urban identity. This study employs an urban cultural studies perspective rooted in the work of Lefebvrian theorist Manuel Delgado Ruiz. Its sections analyze the relation of form and content in the four-page comic, address the urban history of the Parc and the Eixample to underscore the geographical coordinates of the comic and investigate the legacy of exotic animal histories within the urban context of Barcelona.