Barcelona - Budapest, two cities, two cultures.

Carlos Rufas Giribets presentation PDF for Eszter Babarcy - Hlzati s mdiakommunikci MOME 2013

1. Starting the project.

I had to do some work on the street Kiraly, and after many interviews with people who live there, they told me that for a family, the most important place is an area located at the corner with Kazinczy utca and i wanted to see what would happen in my homecity, Barcelona. Finding this point, I wanted to remember what i saw in Barcelona about play areas, public spaces in the most iconic and touristic streets.

The green area

;)

Kiraly utca

2. The importance of the green and play areas.

The game is innate in humans, is a part of growing up and socializing and play areas apear spontaneously. Where are childrens, are games, with park or not, but if there is a park is more easy to play. Parks and play areas, large or small, break the uniformity of the city, break the aesthetics uniformity and is a visual break the rhythm of the city, breaks with the grey color and mark a different rhythm from shopping areas and blocks of buildings.

Two areas in the middle of the city designed for be used as a play ground.

2. The importance of the green and play areas.

This area, Saint Felip Ner square, are a church, were a common place for execution in civil war and still are the bullet holes. Now is a commom playground and even are a primary school.

St Just square were a typical place to meet and improvisated playground in the neighbourhood but now is a place for tourist.

2. The importance of the green and play areas. The parks are green lungs for the city, the playgrounds, meeting places for both children and adults. Children like and need to run, and now people not to live in the field as before, and live in cities. With rules and locked in flats, people need a place to develop his natural phisycal activities. One of the big diferences between Hungary and Spain are houses and flats. In spain live in a Panelhz is the most usuall, and live in a house with garden and place to run and play, is very very rare and only for posh people. Also, sometimes one park can define an area, for example for the people who live near Gellert hill, or near par Gell in Barcelona, creating a new identity based in the green area.

Secheny bridge from Gellert hill.

Park Gell in Barcelona, designed by Gaud.

3. Barcelona

Precisely in Barcelona and in the last decades after the Olympics games, Barcelona started a project for reconstruct the city, recover sea side for citizen use, yeasr before was close for public uses, spending lot of money in public places and sculptures. They designed a city thinking in a good life for citizens. In Spain life in street is very important, most of the population live in flats and the life in street and the public spaces are so important. The original city were a small part of the actual city surrounded by other small villages and in the XIX century the city design a plan for the city expansion called The Eixample the project that created the actual and modern Barcelona.

3. Barcelona, aerial view.

3. Barcelona, aerial view and outlined the older city (in red) and the Eixample (in orange)

3. Barcelona, aerial view and outlined the older city (in red) and the Eixample (in orange)

4. The Eixample, designed for live. There were several projects for create the new Barcelona in the XIX century, and finally win this. Designed by Ildefons Cerd, he not decide to make a radial city, usuall in many european cities like Budapest he uses a strict grid pattern crossed by wide avenues, and square blocks with chamfered corners. He tought that radial design generate inequalities in access to services and create social stratification by distance with the city center. Here there is not, because the services are not distributed around a center because is dispersed and well distributed throught the grid. In a radial design, more near are the center better, more far, worst, but not in that system. Social classes shared the same space in a different way, which was not dependent on living downtown or not, workers and rich people live in same place, the only diferences were the flats, the first floor for richs, and more high you live more poor you are because in a era with no elevators, first floors were for rich and last floors were for poor people who have to use all steps. He also design that every block will have a inside park for families, and play areas and the streets had a unusuall width, but designed very width for future and bigger transports.

Two examples of radial cities, Paris and Moscow.

4. The Eixample, designed for live.

Perfect example of typical Eixample bulding where the firs floor looks more glam and rich than the others. More steps you have to use more, cheap were the flats.

4. The Eixample, designed for live.

Distribution of the block and the green areas in eixample buildings. Now most if the interior parks are parkings or people build small house for bussines.

4. The Eixample, designed for live, aerial view of the Eixample, with older city in the left of the picture.

5. Live between shops and tourist.

But now we are going to go to the same center, and 3 of the most touristic streets of carcelona.

5. Live between shops and tourist.

Paseig de gracia.

Las ramblas.

Via Laietana.

5. Live between shops and tourist.

This three street i colorized are considered the most and touristic street of barcelona. In that street are the main monuments, building and shops and live there can be sometimes complicated. After some interviews, people said that live there is fascinating and stimulating, but noisy, and not confortable for live with kids

In the case of Passeig the gracia, the main problem is that there are NOT containers becasue is nos prety for the touristic shops and tourist and people have to walk lot of block for take out the trash. And they have no containers inside the buldings.

But the most common problem are the total absence of benchs, the city removed this bench in that aereas for stimulate the bussines of pubs and cafes, and no shops for locals. The people have to live dialy with thousand of tourist in one of the most expensive area.

5. Live between shops and tourist.

But how they are adapted? There are lot of inmigrants and foreigners that opened bussines just for them, for example like this Islamic butcher shop, that were open for the necessities of the islamic inmigrants and now are used also for locals becuse there are not shops for buy daily products. This is just and example but there are lot of small shops for people from Pakistan, India or south america, used also for locals.

And there are two small squares with a small playground for kids where tourist usually respect and do not broke nothing. There are some kind of fragile equilibrium.

5. Live between shops and tourist. All this create a particualr area, that is so old, but expensive, with lot of shops to shopping but not for buy daily things. Were is so fascinating for walk, visit but not so confortable for live. Were the cityhall prefer to spend money in clean the building that give money to public services. Were there are no so much places to sit, live and play but where you can find a shop, pub, disco or bar everywhere.

The indentity of that area are a place so stimulating and conflictive bewteen family life and tourist bussines.

5. Live between shops and tourist.

This is a map of the Barcelona center, where you can see a blue streets. That blue street are the official Shopping line of Barcelona. http://www.barcelonashoppingline.com/en/home.html

5. Live between shops and tourist.

In that map, i painted where are the Barcelona shoping line (in grey), the streets i been and the most near parks (in green)

As you can see, that places are not the best place for live, and a strong life of shopping and consumerism and the main economical activity. Families that live there, have problems to make a normal life, because even the most simply task like, go to park with kids, buy vegetables or take out the trash are complicated because of the toal absence of that services, that sometimes requires to walk a lot just for find a supermarket, a bench or a park.

Also is a pollution problems, because Barcelona is one of the most polluted city, just behind London, Paris and Madrid with a levels of CO2 over the healty recomendations, and under the 17 squared meter of green areas per habitant that the World Health Organization sugest, having only 6,57 squared meter per habitant.

6. What about Kiraly utca?

Now, we back to Kiraly utca to make the conclusions.

6. What about Kiraly utca?

This is the budapest map.

6. What about Kiraly utca?

And this is the Budapest map with the parks and playgrounds in green, Kiraly utca in purple and the two shipping streets in red.

There is always green areas near touristic and shopping streets. Neightbours of the VI and VII distrci are proud of his parks, specially about Klauzl tr.

7. Conclusions Kiraly utca found a good equilibrium between tourist, night life, historical monuments, and traditional life and shops. The object of study, the playground, are a essential part of Kiraly utca for keep the equilibrium between the new changes with family and daily life. With families living there the traditional shops can keep open for long time and gives more diversity in the Kiraly utca shops, not only a touristic and night life experience. Also is a importan place for socialize kids and families in a place that are starting to be designed for tourism, and help to keep Kiraly utca as a place for have a life and keep the street as a part of the hungarian identity. Create a green and relaxed place in front of the routine of buildings. Works as a diferent option between to walk, see and buy, you can also sit and relax. In Barcelona in that streets is hard to find traditional bussines. Is hard to find basic services like supermarkets, pharmacies, containers or benchs. Bussines and services or focus in tourist not in locals or families. Is a hard place for play and socialize, there not so many schools or parks. Also the pollutin with a dangerous levels of CO2 and car pollution, and having less green areas than the WHO suggest. Barcelona is a big shop window for tourist divided into areas for tourist and areas for live.

7. End and links. Thanks for watch and read this, hope you enjoy and in a few day. Here you have some usefull links about Barcelona: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passeig_de_Gr%C3%A0cia,_Barcelona http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barcelona http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eixample http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Rambla,_Barcelona