Neighbourhoods In Barcelona Research Articles

Peer governance practices: an alternative approach to the education of young people in vulnerable contexts

ABSTRACT This paper presents the experience of 6 months of work (January to June 2022) with educators and young people aged 16–18 years from a socio-educational organisation in Raval, a vulnerable neighbourhood of Barcelona. It explores how peer governance practices could help young people to acquire conflict resolution skills. It also analyses the role of adults in the application of these practices, thus furthering the understanding of peer governance as a practice that enables people to co-decide, set limits by establishing specific rules and co-manage conflicts [Kostakis, V. (2010). Peer governance and Wikipedia: Identifying and understanding the problems of Wikipedia’s governance. First Monday, 15(3)]. An action research methodology was developed for this purpose, based on the application and analysis of participatory workshops and ethnographic work. The results show how the process helps adolescents acquire conflict resolution skills in areas such as negotiation of interests, reaching consensus and distribution of roles. It also identifies how educators overestimate the need for an adult mediator. This article is part of a case study that was conducted in the framework of the Horizon 2020 project SMOOTH that explores educational commons as a catalyst for reversing social inequalities among young people in vulnerable contexts.

A Sustainable mHealth Intervention to Promote Physical Activity for Healthy Aging: A Pilot Study of the “Every Walk You Take” Citizen Science Initiative

The objective of the Every Walk You Take initiative was to co-design and test, in a pilot study, a sustainable mHealth intervention prototype (mobile app) to promote physical activity. This prototype would help to identify the barriers to and facilitators of active living in individuals older than 55 years. A prototype of the intervention was co-designed by a community of stakeholders in Barcelona who were familiar with the social and economic burden of aging in high-income societies. The app’s functionalities included recommendations for healthy routes in the city (parks, pedestrian lanes, and streets) according to environmental variables (air quality and climate) and personal preferences (route difficulty, distance, and geolocation), and ecological momentary assessments (pictures and voice notes) were collected to identify the barriers to and facilitators of performing these routes. To test the app, a pilot study was conducted over two 7-day cycles with citizen scientists recruited at the life-long learning centers of two deprived neighborhoods in Barcelona. A total of 21 citizen scientists (mean age = 67 (standard deviation = 7)), 86% of them female, collected 112 comments and 48 pictures describing their perceived barriers to and facilitators of active living. Every Walk You Take is a new, validated, and sustainable mHealth intervention that is directly involved in health promotion, as it empowers the citizens of Barcelona to play an active role in their own healthcare. This intervention has the potential to be implemented in different cities around the world to collect information on the community determinants of health and health assets.

Racism, Islamophobia and trust in schools: perceptions of diversity in schools in Barcelona

ABSTRACT This article explores how Spanish families view immigrants in an intercultural school context and how this is reflected in their trust in public schools in Barcelona. A qualitative methodology is used, based on in-depth interviews and focus groups, comparing the discourse of the parents of children who attend schools in different neighbourhoods in Barcelona, with either high levels or low levels of immigration. The data from the fieldwork indicate that the cultural and social distance perceived by the interviewees, and the different languages and religions of the immigrants in question constitute the major sources of differentiation based on racism and Islamophobia. Moreover, in my analysis, I have distinguished between two different ways that perceptions of immigration result in distrust in institutions: (i) perceptions that result in distrust within the schools and (ii) perceptions that result in distrust in higher-level institutions, such as the educational administration bodies and city-level institutions.

Short-term health effects of an urban regeneration programme in deprived neighbourhoods of Barcelona.

Urban regeneration programmes are interventions meant to enhance the wellbeing of residents in deprived areas, although empirical evidence reports mixed results. We evaluated the health impact of a participatory and neighbourhood-wide urban regeneration programme, Pla de Barris 2016-2020, in Barcelona. A pre-post with a comparison group study design. Using data from a cross-sectional survey performed in 2016 and 2021. The health outcomes analysed were mental health, alcohol and psychotropic drug use, perceived health status, physical activity and obesity. Depending on the investment, two intervention groups were defined: moderate- and high-intensity intervention groups. The analysis combined difference-in-difference estimation with an inverse weighting derived from a propensity score to reduce potential biases. The impact of the intervention in percentages and its confidence interval were estimated with a linear probability model with clustered adjusted errors. The intervention had a positive impact on health outcomes in women in the high-intensity intervention group: a reduction of 15.5% in the relative frequency of those experiencing poor mental health, and of 21.7% in the relative frequency of those with poor self-perceived health; and an increase of 13.7% in the relative frequency of those doing physical activity. No positive impact was observed for men, but an increase of 10.3% in the relative frequency of those using psychotropic drugs in the high-intensity intervention group. This study shows positive short-term effects of the urban regeneration programme Pla de Barris 2016-2020 on health outcomes in women in the high-intensity intervention group. These results can guide future interventions in other areas.

Intercultural relations and trust in schools: perceptions of immigrant families in the city of Barcelona

ABSTRACT Previous research in Spain has shown that immigrant families’ views regarding the education offered to their children are on the whole positive. This article adds to the current literature by exploring how immigrant families’ perceptions about their relationships with the school staff and other families affect their trust in schools. The article looks at immigrant families’ predominant perception of their relations with schools and other families, whether they perceive discrimination or positive contact, and how this affects their trust in the schools. The study is based on qualitative interviews as well as on participant observation with immigrant parents from differing origins in four neighbourhoods in Barcelona. The results show that the trust that immigrant parents place in schools varies according to three main perceptions of intercultural relations: (i) blatant and subtle discrimination, (ii) intercultural tension with the school, and (iii) intercultural tension with other immigrant parents.

Profiling wastewater characteristics in intra-urban catchments using online monitoring stations.

This study aims to investigate the differences in intra-urban catchments with different characteristics through real-time wastewater monitoring. Monitoring stations were installed in three neighbourhoods of Barcelona to measure flow, total chemical oxygen demand (COD), pH, conductivity, temperature, and bisulfide (HS-) for 1 year. Typical wastewater profiles were obtained for weekdays, weekends, and holidays in the summer and winter seasons. The results reveal differences in waking up times and evening routines, commuting behaviour during weekends and holidays, and water consumption. The pollutant profiles contribute to a better understanding of pollution generation in households and catchment activities. Flows and COD correlate well at all stations, but there are differences in conductivity and HS- at the station level. The article concludes by discussing the operational experience of the monitoring stations.

Internet-based interdisciplinary therapeutic group (Grupo Interdisciplinar Online, GIO) for perinatal anxiety and depression—a randomized pilot study during COVID-19

Early interventions may promote reductions in mothers’ anxiety-depression (AD) symptoms and improvements in their offspring. This longitudinal randomized research was conducted to assess the effects of interdisciplinary online therapeutic groups (GIO) in at-risk mothers and babies during the COVID-19 pandemic in a disadvantaged neighborhood in Barcelona (Spain). A total of 135 babies were born from March 2020 to June 2021 in a primary healthcare center of Barcelona (Spain). Pregnant woman and new mothers were screened for AD symptomatology through EPDS and STAI questionnaires. Seventy-two of them met high-risk criteria for AD and were included in the study. They were randomly assigned into the two groups of the study: 40 participants were assigned to GIO, the therapeutic group (TG), while 32 of them were assigned to the control group (CG) and received treatment as usual. The course of the mothers’ symptomatology was assessed, as well as the baby’s development at 6 months old in a blind pediatric follow-up. No differences were found in AD between both groups before the intervention. However, we obtained a significant decrease in AD symptomatology (EPDS p < .001; STAI state p = .015 and STAI trait p < .001at 6 months of life) after the intervention in the TG compared to the CG. Pediatric follow-up at 6 months demonstrated significant differences between groups in babies’ development assessment (manipulation p = .003; language p < .001; sociability p < .001). The GIO helped to ensure healthy development of the baby and reduction of the mothers’ depressive-anxiety symptomatology.

East meets west: using ethnobotany in ethnic urban markets of Barcelona metropolitan area (Catalonia) as a tool for biocultural exchange

BackgroundEthnobotanical studies in metropolitan areas and urban ethnic markets have grown considerably in recent years as large cities have demonstrated to be significantly rich in biocultural diversity and in driving its evolution, as human populations migrate from one region to another. Urban spaces also represent important places of rich multicultural and multilingual interaction and exchange, where ethnobotany can act as a bridge between research and action. The purpose of this study is to present a case study on how to use ethnobotany in multicultural urban settings by studying people-plant interactions and the larger implications and applications to promote biocultural learning in these areas.MethodsWe inventoried the botanical composition of fresh and dry products sold in most food stores owned by Chinese immigrants in Fondo, a neighbourhood of Barcelona’s metropolitan area, in Santa Coloma de Gramenet municipality (Barcelonès county, Catalonia, Iberian Peninsula), pharmacologically validating the obtained list with the Chinese Pharmacopoeia. We also participated in multiple dissemination activities and materials (non-academic and academic), along with exchanges with the broader community in relation to this research.ResultsIn total, 103 plants were identified at the species level, pertaining to 88 genera and 46 botanical families. Including the infraspecific level, a total of 113 plant taxa were inventoried. One algal and six fungal species were also recorded, but not included in the analyses. Brassicaceae (12.4%) and Fabaceae (10.6%) were the most predominant families inventoried, followed by Cucurbitaceae (7.1%) and Poaceae (7.1%). Over three-quarters of all the taxa have an Asian origin (76.11%), indicating a high conservation of the use of Asian taxa. Over one-third (36.89%) of the plant parts pertain to species contained in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia, showing the relevance of medicinal plants in local stores and the preponderance of Eastern Asian food-medicine continuums. To promote ethnobotanical education programmes, over 50 dissemination activities and educational materials were produced from this study and shared with the local urban community in different fora.ConclusionsFurther research in these and similar settings can provide significant ethnographic information to better understand anthropological processes and phenomena underlying migration and transculturation that can be used in an umbrella of applications, from adequate nomenclature and labelling of foreign products in local languages to multicultural integration and social cohesion programmes along with educational activities on biocultural topics.

Gentrification and its association with health inequalities in Barcelona (2011–2017)

BackgroundPrior studies have reported conflicting findings on the impact of gentrification of neighborhood residents. While some suggest it could worsen mental health, others indicate improved self-perceived health, although this effect may vary among social groups. This study aimed to determine health inequities, according to socioeconomic position, among residents of different neighborhoods of Barcelona between 2011 and 2017, considering the intensity of the gentrification process.MethodsObservational study with two transversal cuts (2011 and 2017). Neighborhoods were categorized into three groups based on the intensity of gentrification: intensive, moderate-mild, and no gentrification processes. We fitted Poisson robust models to estimate the prevalence ratio (PR) of poor self-reported and poor mental health according to socioeconomic position (social class III vs. I). We then calculated relative differences between 2011 and 2017 through the interaction between the year and socioeconomic position (PRi). The calculations were adjusted for age and household disposable income in the neighborhood and were stratified by sex.ResultsIn neighborhoods undergoing moderate or mild gentrification during the study period, we found widening inequities in mental health between the most disadvantaged social class and the most privileged social class. Between 2011 and 2017, relative differences in poor mental health increased in moderate-low gentrification neighborhoods [women: PRi: 2.51 (1.52–4.17); men: PRi: 1.99 (1.09–3.61)], equivalent to an increase of 12.9 and 11.5 percentage points, respectively. No statistically significant differences were found in the other neighborhoods.DiscussionThe increase in mental health inequalities observed among residents of transitional neighborhoods could be explained by factors such as residential insecurity, eviction from the neighborhood, and rising housing prices.

Language choice and identity in the linguistic landscape of Barcelona

ABSTRACT The present research examines the linguistic landscape (LL) of two demographically distinct neighborhoods in Barcelona: Vila de Gràcia and El Barri Gòtic. The aim of this study is to analyze how language choice among Catalan, Castilian, and English indexes collective and individual aspects of identity in written messages on public walls. All transgressive artifacts in both communities were documented, and the language(s) and theme of each message were systematically coded. A qualitative content analysis complemented this quantitative coding scheme. While the Catalan-dominant Vila de Gràcia had a significantly higher representation of Catalan in its LL, the thematic repertoire of Catalan artifacts between the two neighborhoods was largely similar. Castilian and English artifacts showed thematic representation patterns that were distinct from Catalan, but parallel to each other. Language-theme relationships in the data indicate that Catalan is more prevalent in messages pertaining to society or community, whereas Castilian and English are preferred for intimate themes of a sentimental or rebellious nature. The LL data shed light on the evolution of language ideologies in the tense socio-political climate of Barcelona in the years following Catalonia's controversial 2017 independence referendum.

Rehabilitating a mass housing neighborhood in Barcelona, a successful transformation?

Mass housing neighborhoods emerged in the second half of the twentieth century as an important part of the affordable social housing stock in Southern Europe, but now these are suffering from social problems and physical degradation. This article, which focuses on a case study of an archetypical transformation of a housing estate in Barcelona (Canyelles), aims at identifying the conditions needed to reduce social inequalities in this type of neighborhood and implement urban rehabilitation programs. The mixed methodology applied consisted of a combination of semi-structured interviews with the main actors involved, a focus group with the neighborhood council, and a multivariate statistical analysis of intra-urban fine-scale social indicators. Based on these methods, the urban transformation projects and their social consequences, which can be observed in the evolution of the social composition of the neighborhood, are analyzed. A significant improvement in the quality of life of the neighbors is seen as a result of the housing rehabilitation and renovation of public spaces programs. Ultimately, these changes are contributing to increasing social integration, as well as initiating a gentrification process.

The narrow margin of urban protest art: A comparative study of the role of street art in two neighborhoods of Barcelona and Madrid

ABSTRACT There is broad consensus regarding the fact that street art is a form of social, political and cultural protest and critique. However, rather than one single form, street art consists of a wide range of complex and contradictory styles featuring a diversity of interests, derivations and conflicts with underlying factors of both a structural and contextual nature. Taking as examples the cases of Pinacoteca a Cel Obert and Pinta Malasaña, in Barcelona and Madrid respectively, this article explores the production of urban art and notes how, as part of plans to revitalize neighborhoods, it assumes different versions in harmony with the characteristics and circumstances of the surrounding areas. Using a qualitative methodology, it explores the conception, development and results of both projects, revealing the heterogeneity of explanatory factors, the complexity of their implementation, and the role, which is not exempt from conflict and rivalry, of street artists in the urban space.

Forms and patterns of mixticity in compact cities. Mixed-use synergies in the Sagrada Familia neighbourhood of Barcelona

ABSTRACT This article explores empirical and objective approaches to combinations of non-residential activities in contemporary urban settings. The research measures the mix of uses in compact cities through the analysis of an urban fragment of Barcelona with high population density that is strolled around daily by thousands of tourists and intensified by a unique combination of daily services, commercial uses and productive activities. The resulting cartography offers a parametric interpretation at the scale of plots, blocks and streets, and establishes some tools to better understand the spatial relations of urban functional mix and proximity.

Defining and assessing artistic co-creation: the TRACTION proposal

This article presents research developed within the framework of the European project TRACTION, which aims to co-create operas in three different environments incorporating technological elements and with the ultimate objective of generating a social transformation. Through 19 interviews carried out in three different countries (Spain, Ireland, Portugal), a map of indicators that can be used to evaluate artistic co-creation is proposed. The value of the proposal is that the indicators are validated through a focus group with representatives from three diverse co-creation processes—in the Raval neighborhood in Barcelona, in different areas of Ireland, in a prison in Leiria—and serve as a general framework for very diverse environments. Likewise, the work contributes to the debate on the concept of co-creation through a thematic analysis of the definitions provided by the different interviewees. Central topics in the thematic analysis of the definitions are: collaboration, participant profile and role, goal and value, origin and development, and ethical and social aspects.

Youth Empowerment Through Arts Education: A Case Study of a Non‐Formal Education Arts Centre in Barcelona

This article discusses how non‐formal arts education attenuates socioeconomic and cultural barriers in a vulnerable context. Although cultural capital has usually been conceived as dependent on high socioeconomic status, we explore the inclusiveness of a project of non‐formal education and how it enhances the capacity of youth to achieve empowerment and self‐confidence through the arts. We analyse the case study of a non‐formal arts educational organisation located in a deprived neighbourhood of Barcelona (Spain) and identify several key factors associated with successful social inclusion and its limitations. We find that the pedagogical processes involved create both learning opportunities and social and interpersonal skills useful for the present and future lives of the young participants. Methodologically, the case study combines non‐participant observation of the different activities of the organisation and semi‐structured qualitative interviews with young people and educators. The article concludes with some recommendations for considering artistic non‐formal education as a tool in any social inclusion agenda.

Visitors and Residents in El Raval Neighborhood of Barcelona. New Opportunities for Creative Tourism?

This article analyzes the relationship between creative tourism and intercultural interaction. The research took place in Barcelona, a city that has become, during the last three decades (1990-2020), a renowned international urban destination. El Raval, a central and multicultural neighbourhood, is the most serious example of a neighbourhood in the city that has experienced rapid tourism growth and pressure. Given the city&amp;rsquo;s wholesale adoption of the co-creation of place, some of the criteria of creative tourism experiences have been used to determine a baseline of engagement attitudes and behaviours of residents and visitors in El Raval neighbourhood. A special emphasis has been given to the role of social media, and how it might affect the relationship between residents and visitors from a creative tourism point of view. The authors created a specific survey which was distributed online to residents and visitors. The results of this study show different perceptions between residents and visitors. On one hand, residents are less willing to engage in the creative tourism enterprise than are visitors. On the other hand, residents underestimate the interest of visitors in connecting with them, while visitors overestimate the interest of residents in connecting with them, suggesting that communication is something that can be improved. Those results make evident the need to use and develop social media tools to connect residents and visitors, and promote cross-cultural interactions and creative tourism.

Housing and health: a collaborative project for evidence-based policy-making

Abstract Issue The potential to improve health and equity through better housing is well established. However, housing policies (mainly focused on energy efficiency) have not fully integrated health. Description Within the Urban Environment and Health Project of the Diputació de Barcelona, their Housing and Public Health Offices and the Barcelona Institute for Global Health undertook the first phase (May-December 2020) of a collaborative project on housing and health. Focused on the physical dwelling, a map of health risk factors (linked to thermal comfort, environmental and spatial quality), a literature review of each factor, and a list of local health-promoting housing programs were elaborated. Issues addressed included: (a) most relevant home factors affecting health; (b) evidence of poor housing conditions impacting physical, mental, and social health of residents; (c) housing improvements with documented positive health benefits. The second phase (March-December 2021) uses the same methods to address two new housing dimensions: residential environment and community. Results Recent research on housing and health explores the potential accumulative/synergistic effects of combined exposures, as additional poor housing parameters (e.g. low indoor air quality, lack of natural light, pest problems, material damage) correlate with poorer health status and higher use of medical resources. Through this collaborative project, increased awareness among local officers has led to preliminary context-specific criteria and parameters to promote healthy homes beyond compliance with current building codes, especially aimed at increasing maintenance and renovation standards in older neighborhoods of Barcelona. Lessons Collaboration between stakeholders allows for rich and innovative perspectives and encourages multisectoral actions. Context-specific health costs/benefits analyses are needed to facilitate development and implementation of housing policies with health at its core. Key messages Housing policies should have a holistic approach of health risks, redounding in housing policies improvement. Collaborative projects between academic institutions and local governments encourage pivotal evidence-based housing policy-making.

Harnessing Conflict: Antagonism and Spatiotemporal Design Practices

This paper explores the capacities of design to interrogate the socio-spatial context in order to foreground conflict, dissent and dispute as creative practices to fuel urban transformation.&#x0D; In today’s urban habitat, spaces and actions do not mesh seamlessly. The city is characterised by a disjunction between the physicality of the urban fabric as a materialisation of ideologies and the relationality of contested supremacies and entropic dynamics that inhabit it. Consequently, the practices of contemporary transformative city-making need to be reinvented through temporality and impermanence, accounting for disorder and embracing instability. In that sense, antagonism is a key element to harness in critical design practices aimed at promoting urban diversity. In this paper we study how incorporating antagonism in design practices can trigger processes of urban reformulation by constituting liminal spaces of opportunity where democratisation emerges as a spatiotemporal practice.&#x0D; Two related case studies carried out in 2020 in the Raval neighbourhood of Barcelona (Subjective Cartographies: A Mirror of Diversity and Infrastructures for Public Space Interaction), are presented to explore how design can support dissidence and plurality, whether through identification and visualisation or by catalysing them as situated practices of active citizenship.&#x0D; In both case studies, design fosters de-hierarchisation and trans-linearity in the city, reclaiming the right to direct action in collective urban spaces. In this sense, this paper explores how design contributes to activating multiple processes of emancipated citizenship, harnessing conflict and constructive dissent as situated spatiotemporal practices to promote diversity. Facilitating the proliferation of counter-hegemonic notions of cosmopolitics, territory, domesticity and publicness, the design practices revisited in this paper operate between politics, space and affect in order to promote intersubjective relations in public spaces, using the material, temporal and affective dimensions of design to co-create diverse and resilient urban habitats.

Dialogic Literary Gatherings: Opening Up Spaces of Meaning Creation and Social Transformation for Roma People

Dialogic Literary Gatherings (DLGs) were created in La Verneda-Sant Martí Adult School, located in one of the poorest working-class neighborhoods in Barcelona (Spain) at the time, in 1978, by a group of non-academic women referred to as the “other women” (Puigvert, 2001). They were created with the aim of tearing down elitist walls which impeded low Socioeconomic Status, migrant, Roma, people with no academic studies or belonging to other excluded groups in society from reading universal classics of literature (Flecha, 2000). None of the participants in the first DLGs had university studies, and yet, they were able to read, understand, enjoy and debate works of authors such as Kafka, Lorca, Dostoyevsky, or Joyce. Moreover, as the scientific research conducted over these years has shown, DLGs have promoted great benefits among these populations, from fostering access to higher education, to increasing their self-esteem, or to becoming transformative agents in front of injustices. DLGs are based on dialogic learning, which is comprised of seven principles. This paper focuses on two of these principles: creation of meaning and transformation. Through reviewing empirical works about DLGs in Spain with adult participants, I argue that the dialogic interactions in which DLGs are grounded and the use of universal classic literature promote participants’ creation of meaning and transformations in their own lives and social contexts.

Health Effects of Housing Insecurity and Unaffordability in the General Population in Barcelona, Spain

While the negative effects of housing insecurity and unaffordability on health are well known, most of the studies in Spain have focused on very specific social groups so their findings cannot be extrapolated to the general population. The aim of this study is to assess the effects of housing stress and risk of displacement due to economic reasons, and their combined effect, on the mental and physical health of the general population from a middle-income neighborhood of Barcelona. We conducted a cross-sectional study using a household health survey which included respondents from a representative sample of 1202 non-institutionalized residents (> 18 years old) of the Horta neighborhood. We carried out a descriptive analysis, estimated the prevalence of poor mental and self-rated health (stratifying by the independent variables) and fitted robust Poisson regression models to estimate the effects of housing stress (HS) and the risk of forced displacement (RD) on self-rated health and mental health (GHQ-12). All analyses were stratified by sex. We found a higher likelihood of poor general and mental health among people affected by HS and/or RD compared to those not affected by HS and/or RD. A graded effect of HS and RD emerged mainly on mental health, even after adjusting by socioeconomic variables and housing tenure. The serious problem of housing insecurity and unaffordability in Spain is a widespread public health issue. Evidence-based public policies to improve well-being and health of people under this threat are urgently needed.