Shantytowns in the City of Barcelona: Can Valero, La Perona and El Carmel Ethnohistory Research Group on Shantytowns1 CATALAN INSTITUTE of ANTHROPOLOGY

Home , El Carmel, History of Barcelona, Hospital de Sant Pau, Somorrostro

18 COMPILATION Revista d’Etnologia de Catalunya Juny 2015 Núm. 40 Shantytowns in the City of Barcelona: Can Valero, La Perona and El Carmel Ethnohistory Research Group on Shantytowns1 CATALAN INSTITUTE OF ANTHROPOLOGY

Presentation of the Study names and memories, is evidence that and in collaboration with the Institut their footprint has been undervalued in Català d’Antropologia (ICA). he social history of explaining the city’s history. the phenomenon The object of study of this research is of shantytowns in For this reason, in late 2004 a research shantytowns understood as a process Barcelona through- team of historians, anthropologists and of informal appropriation of land to out the 20th cen- geographers from the Universitat de build substandard housing (without tury represents an Barcelona was formed, and we began prior planning for the land, lacking essential legacy for understanding the the study entitled “Shantytowns in infrastructure, built with wood, mud, process of building the city. However, the City of Barcelona. Ethnohistori- brick and/or recycled materials) as a T cal Study of Three Cases: Can Valero, spontaneous response to a lack of acces- the fragmentary and scattered infor- 2 mation that exists about the phenom- La Perona and El Carmel” within the sible housing in urban areas. Starting enon and the recent disappearance of framework of the Ethnological Her- from this premise, the research team major shantytowns in the city, of their itage Inventory of Catalonia (IPEC) proposed:

Xavi Camino Vallhonrat Max Díaz Molinaro He has a PhD in Urban Anthropology from the Rovira i Virgili He has a Master in Digital Documentation from the University, Tarragona. He has focused his research on the study Pompeu Fabra University, and a BA in History from of sport in public space, and on processes of social exclusion in the University of Barcelona. His professional career the city of Barcelona. He is currently the head of the Social Sci- has focused on the study of shanty-town neighbour- ences area at ELISAVA, Barcelona School of Design and Engi- hoods in Barcelona during the 20th century, while he neering (UPF), and works in the Office for the Plan of Non-Regulated Settlements, has also studied archives and documentary processes. He works in City of Barcelona. the library system of the University of Barcelona, and occasionally collaborates with MUHBA - Museu d’Història de Barcelona (Museum of Òscar Casasayas Garbí the History of Barcelona). With a BA in History from the University of Barcelona, he has researched shanty-town conditions in the city of Barcelona in Mercè Tatjer Mir the 20th century. He is currently a social sciences teacher in She has degrees in modern and contemporary His- Barcelona’s official secondary education system. tory (1971) and PhD in Geography (1987) by the University of Barcelona. Nowadays she is Profes- sor Emeritus of Didactics of the Social Sciences in Flora Muñoz Romero this University. Expert in geography and urban his- Master in Sociology of the Territory by the ICSTE of Lisbon, tory, she has collaborated and collaborates at present with differ- she has degrees in Sociology by the Autonomous University ent groups of planning and research as well as with public, civic and of Barcelona and in History by the University of Barcelona. pedagogic institutions and in numerous programs of research of the She combines her professional activity in business and ar- cultural and industrial heritage. chitecture with the historical research of urban processes, including the building of the shanty-town areas of Barcelona in the first half of the 20th century or the history of the porter’s lodges of the city. Cristina Larrea Killinger She is Professor of Social Anthropology at the Uni- Pilar Diaz Giner versity of Barcelona. In the last years she has collaborated with the La Habana University (Cuba), the She has degrees in Anthropology by the University of Barce- Federal University of Bahia (Brazil) and the Federal lona, Technical Certificate in Social Work from the UNED and University (Brazil). She has also worked with other Postgraduate studies in Mediation by Pere Tarrés University. institutions of research in Mexico, Brazil and Colombia. Nowadays, She has been member of the team of research about shanty- she is member of the Food Observatory of the University of Bar- town areas in the city of Barcelona. Nowadays she works as celona. She is interested in the study of the relationship between Social Worker in a Center of Social Services of the Town Council of Barcelona. health, development and environment. COMPILATION 19

• Creating a database inventory of the different processes by which the to how public opinion about shanty- the documentation found in the three shantytowns were configured towns was constructed and what were archives on the shantytown phe- and disappeared, the three case stud- the municipal policies on intervention nomenon in Barcelona in the 20th ies could not serve, for the moment, and the role of the church.4 century. to explain the global phenomenon of • Analyzing the shantytown phenom- shantytowns in Barcelona in the 20th During this first phase, conversations enon in the city throughout the 20th century. In this regard, we hope that with archivists, historians, social work- century. our findings serve to motivate new ers, clergy and so on put us in contact • Reconstructing the social history of studies reconstructing the uniqueness with shanty dwellers and other special- three shantytowns: La Perona, Can of other shantytowns that allow for a ists from which a network of interview- Valero and El Carmel. cross-disciplinary study to address the ees was built. At the same time, survey- • Creating an oral collection of inter- phenomenon globally. ing the different housing estates the views with shantytown inhabitants. shanty dwellers had been relocated to, The ethnographic study of a disap- visiting different neighborhood organi- Three historically and geographically peared phenomenon, as is the case zations and disseminating information well-differentiated shantytowns were here, precludes the use of one of leaflets about the research brought new chosen for the ethnographic study anthropology’s fundamental methods: interviewees into the network. of the shantytown phenomenon. La participant observation. To address Perona was chosen because it was one this shortcoming, documentary and Although the archival search was ongo- of the last shantytowns to disappear bibliographic research that helped us ing throughout the study, the second from the city in 1989 and because of to contextualize and complete the use phase was based mainly on obtaining the characteristics of the process of of oral history in reconstructing the oral information based on the lived relocating its inhabitants. Can Valero three disappeared shantytowns was experience of those who were there. was chosen because of its size; its slum indispensable. For this reason, our main tool was in- dwelling population was the largest and depth interviews (92) and, to a lesser most extensive of the city during the The first phase of the search for litera- extent, focus groups (6). Two guides period of the Franco dictatorship up to ture and compilation of primary and were produced, the one for shanty its eradication in the 1970s. Finally, El secondary documentation that was dwellers differing from the one for Carmel was interesting because a large undertaken in 26 public and private persons linked to the phenomenon, number of its inhabitants succeeded archives3 enabled us to contextualize but these were flexible and adapted to in being relocated within the same the phenomenon, learn about the the unique experience of each inter- neighborhood through local strug- existence and location of different viewee. This flexibility in the use of gle and neighborhood associations. shantytowns and understand how in-depth interviews allowed for a better We are aware that while searching the they were eradicated and how those channel of communication, charac- archives enabled us to contextualize affected were relocated in addition terized by the use of more eloquent statements and greater trust between researcher and interviewee. On more Barcelona’s Shantytowns, existing El barraquisme a Barcelona, existent des than one occasion a single interviewee from the beginning of the 20th century de principis dels segle xx fins a llur virtual was interviewed a number of times to until their virtual eradication in time for eradicació a l’època dels Jocs Olímpics delve more deeply into a specific topic the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, de Barcelona de 1992, fou un fenomen relevant to the research. Usually a single urbà que va jugar un important paper were an urban phenomenon that played person was interviewed, but in some an important role in the city’s social en el desenvolupament social i urbà de and urban development. By means of la ciutat. Mitjançant la metodologia de cases two people participated. A total Ethnohistorical research methodology la recerca etnohistòrica utilitzant arxius, of 63 interviews were conducted with using archives, field research, oral treball de camp, història oral i bases shanty dwellers and 29 with persons history and databases, researchers have de dades, els investigadors van poder been able to reconstruct the social life reconstruir la vida social en tres nuclis de barraques i analitzar-ne la importància en Keywords: Shantytowns, Public housing, in three shanty towns and analyse the Neighbourhood associations, Social la història de Barcelona. Aquest article és importance of these districts in the history exclusion, Urban segregation of Barcelona. This is a summary of the un resum de la monografia Barraquisme. Paraules clau: barraquisme, habitatge dissertation titled Barraquisme. La ciutat La ciutat (im)possible. (Generalitat de Catalunya, 2011). públic, associacions veïnals, exclusió social, (im)possible. Generalitat de Catalunya. segregació urbana Barcelona, 2011. 20 COMPILATION Revista d’Etnologia de Catalunya Juny 2015 Núm. 40 linked to the phenomenon (27 on La Brief History of the Can Valero number of topographic maps from the Perona, 31 on Can Valero and 34 on Neighborhood of Montjuïc period (Roca, 2002: 327). El Carmel). Montjuïc, a hill in Barcelona, became a prominent place in the origin of the In the 1900s, a host of small rustic Below are three summaries corre- city’s shantytowns. Its proximity to holdings used to grow fruits and veg- sponding to the reconstruction of the city center and isolation due to its etables had cropped up on the north the three shantytowns studied based orography facilitated the setting up of side of the hill. Their tenants were on the oral, documentary and biblio- a quarantine camp made up of 4,000 residents of the city and surrounding graphic sources compiled. Although shanties in 1821 during a yellow fever area who spent Sundays there and built in the future we plan to continue ana- epidemic (Carreras i Candi, 1916). small shacks to take shelter in and store lyzing the phenomenon to derive new The exploitation of Montjuïc’s quarries tools (Fabre; Huertas Clavería, 1976). findings, we will finish this paper by reached its peak from 1870 on, and providing some of the most impor- many of the stonecutters who worked The construction of the grounds for tant conclusions drawn from this first there built shacks in the vicinity to be the second Barcelona International study. near their work, as can be seen in a Exposition in 1929 required hun-

Aerial view of Montjuïc showing the extent of shanty building in the stretch between the Olympic Stadium and the castle in the late 1960s. ARXIU NACIONAL DE CATALUNYA, TAF HELICÒPTERS SA COLLECTION. COMPILATION 21

A group of shanties in the district of Magòria (Montjuïc) in the 1920s. ARXIU NACIONAL DE CATALUNYA, BRANGULÍ COLLECTION (PHOTOGRAPHERS). dreds of workers, many of whom, of Barcelona). A huge wall was built the west and the Passeig de Miramar coming from neighboring provinces to conceal and isolate the remaining to the east. and within Catalonia, found a city shanties on top of the hill for the same where popular housing was scarce reason. From the 1940s, newcomers to the and rental prices were beyond their shanty settlements would privately pur- means. A great number of them, fol- Valero Lecha i Plana, an innkeeper chase the parcels and small shacks from lowing widespread practice on the hill, from inland Catalonia, opened a snack the old garden owners, who because of built their homes near their workplace, bar behind the stadium in 1929, and the overcrowding of the shanties began and as such a large number of shanties over time it gave its name to the set- letting go of their holdings. Others, in appeared scattered along its north face, tlement of shanties that grew up on the gardeners’ absence, would occupy some of them concentrated in neigh- the hill after the second great wave the land. Over the 1940s and 1950s borhoods like La Cadena, La Font de la of immigration that began after the there were frequent scams in the sale Mamella, L’Animeta, La Magòria and Spanish Civil War. Montjuïc would of land on the hill, and the sales and El Polvorí, among other, more sparsely once again be a destination for those transfers never had any formal legality. concentrated areas. It was in this dec- workers who, confronted with the lack Once the land was acquired, the shack ade that Montjuïc’s shantytown grew of popular housing in the city, opted had to be built without the authorities to become the largest slum area in the for shanty dwelling in areas where liv- noticing, since a census of the shanties city, going from 1,055 shanties in 1922 ing in these constructions was already was taken beginning in the 1950s and (Pons; Martino, 1929) to approxi- a reality. new buildings or expansions were pro- mately 3,500 in 1928,5 shortly before hibited, making it necessary to build the shacks that harmed the image of Can Valero would become the name of them at night. the 1929 Barcelona International a slum area that together with Els Tres On the land we bought there was a Exposition were eradicated and their Pins comprised the two large districts summer lean-to shed that had been inhabitants relocated to four groups of on the north slope of the hill, which used for the garden. We used this Cases Barates (literally, “cheap houses” were bounded by Montjuïc Castle to structure to build the brick shanty. –affordable housing estates) provided the south, the Passeig de l’Exposició to First we made a roof from leather- by the Patronato Municipal de la Hab- the north (along which the large wall board and we gradually built the itación de Barcelona (Housing Board isolating the area ran), the cemetery to 22 COMPILATION Revista d’Etnologia de Catalunya Juny 2015 Núm. 40

brick walls from the inside to keep residents of Valero Petit and Les Ban- in Las Banderas, a smaller settlement “the fuzz” from finding out we were deres had to live next to the garbage within the broader Can Valero district, building a shack. We bought the dump that Foment d’Obres i Con- with financial support from the above materials from the Can Valero bar, struccions S.A. (FOCSA) had set up to construction company. which gave them to us on credit. fill the quarries that had ceased to oper- [...] Later we removed the external ate. The stench and risk of explosion The presence of catechists from Marian shed structure and were left with a from gases released by decomposition congregations in the settlement in the two-room shack of about 40 meters. were part of life in Can Valero.6 early 1960s would introduce variety After adding facing and whitewash- into the paternal nature of social wel- ing we had to dirty up the walls so it Can Valero’s population in 1960 was fare and gave way to the creation of a looked old. (Interview from 12 April quite stable, with an average of 15 years night school and later a youth center, 2007. Code: [EN(RR)(CV) B.A.]) residing in the neighborhood and a which created the newsletter La Voz de broad age structure of between 30 la Montaña (1967-1969). The arrival The settlement of shacks was totally and 50 years, both men and women. of a Caritas social worker in late 1967 lacking in basic urban infrastructure This shows the limited integration of opened a new space for community since the City of Barcelona had never its population, which remained in the development in the district and laid made any sort of urban planning invest- settlement over generations without the foundation for organizing a local ment. There was no sewage system or gradually moving to apartments in movement that emerged in response to running water; there was power at the the city. In spite of this, 75% of the the process of eradication started by the entrance to the enclosure, which was men were fully integrated into the city’s city council: the Asociación de Padres where the few owner families who had a work force, with jobs in construction, de Familia La Esperanza (La Esperanza meter lived. The most common system industry and at the port. Among the Family Association, 1967-1972). Resi- for obtaining electricity was hooking women, 7.6% worked outside the dents raised public interest in the relo- up to the mains and sharing the cost of home, in cleaning, trade and industry. cation through a very vigorous press consumption among neighbors, which campaign,7 which led to the residents weakened the power supply. There were One of the biggest problems was over- being able to humanize the process of only seven public taps for a population crowding, because of both the con- being relocated from Montjuïc, and that by 1957 had reached 29,958 peo- centration of shanties and the small one apartment was offered per family ple inhabiting 6,090 shanties in the size of the dwellings, on average 25 instead of per shack, as was the practice neighborhoods on the hill (Duocastella, square meters. Family space inside of the City of Barcelona, since in many 1957). Supplying water became one of the shack was 5.5 square meters per cases more than one family or the dif- the main daily occupations of some Can inhabitant and there were an average ferent generations of a family lived in a Valero families. Others who were more of 1.9 people per bed. In addition, single shanty. Likewise, work was done fortunate had wells on their land: each shanty housed 1.2 families, which to ensure that all families obtained the conditioned the subsequent relocation first payment to acquire the apartments We had two wells, one for washing process (Echenique, 1965). and to prevent the transfer of shacks and the other providing water for for apartments among the poorest resi- sale, because on the way from the The church was the only institution act- dents. The new leaders of future neigh- Font de la Mamella to Casa Valero ing on the social level in the slums. In borhood associations in the rehousing there was nowhere else to get water. Can Valero, a Carmelite priest, Father areas emerged from this first experience As such, a lot of people came to José Miguel, took charge of provid- in neighborhood organization. buy water from us. We sold it at 10 ing the neighborhood with minimal cents for a twenty-liter demijohn. welfare structures (previously nonex- The factors that sparked the eradica- The water was very good, and many istent) in the 1950s. Funding from his tion process were Franco’s statements people had to make many trips to congregation and the collaboration of on this on a visit to Montjuïc Castle in carry all the water they needed. It individuals and charitable foundations 1963, the construction of the Amuse- was a very busy shack. (Interview like the Miró Trepat construction com- ment Park of Montjuïc (opened in from 25 September 2007. Code: pany made it possible to create a small 1966) and the project to install the [EN (RR)(CV) J.B and J.H]) school and set up a dispensary, which TVE studios on the hill, which were over time would become a clinic. In urban planning interests for which There was no trash collection within the early 1960s, the Teresian nuns of the shantytown was a nuisance. The the district, despite the paradox that the Infant Jesus of Prague built a school relocation of families from 1965 to COMPILATION 23

1972 was to subsidized housing estates streets and put in water. We already who lived in the shacks in the promoted by the Obra Sindical del had electricity before that. (Inter- Barceloneta, so he went there. He Hogar through the Unidades Veci- view from 9 October 2007. Code: was there one week and decided nales de Absorción (Neighborhood [EN(RR)(PE)A.F.L. and J.G.T.]) he didn’t want to spend winter on Absorption Units, UVAS)8 (Pomar, the beach, and then they learned Cinco Rosas and Sant Cosme) and, for The shacks were built on public land that there was a place called La the last 375 families, to the La Mina and land affected by the rail service Verneda where they were selling housing estate (Domenech; Juncosa, (RENFE) alongside the edges of the gardens. Between the three friends 1973). The owner families, as the heirs tracks. It seems that the land was kept they bought a large plot of land and to Casa Valero, came to agreements open in anticipation of expansion. divided it into three parts. Each of about the expropriations and gradually However, this did not prevent some them paid three hundred pesetas disappeared from the neighborhood. RENFE workers from appropriating because the RENFE workers had the land for their own use and turning these gardens. (Interview from 15 Brief History of the La Perona it into gardens and some newly arrived October 2007. Code: [EN(RR)(PE) Neighborhood families from using it to build their J.-B.S.-M.-R.]) According to the archival documenta- homes. Given this phenomenon, the tion consulted,9 there is evidence of a idea spread that it was a good place to From the late 1940s through the 1950s new shantytown in District X, on Ronda build a house and many RENFE work- the number of shanties in La Perona de Sant Martí de Provençals, beginning ers, knowing this, took advantage of increased as the district became a place around 1945. Despite variance in its ter- the demand for land to sell the gardens of refuge for immigrants from differ- ritorial expansion on account of popu- to whoever wanted to settle there. This ent regions of Spain, especially Anda- lation changes, we can see that during was the case for J.’s father, who learned lucía. One of the people interviewed the period of maximum expansion it of the sale of plots of land in La Verneda explained that his family sold the bar occupied the stretch of Ronda de Sant after only one week in Barcelona and they had in their town (Granada) to Martí between the district of La Verneda moved there. come to Barcelona because “it was the and the train tracks and from the Pont immigration era and we all came to d’Espronceda to the Riera d’Horta. My father came in 1947 because Barcelona because we thought it was my mother told him life was dif- the land of milk and honey.” (Interview In 1947, the wife of the president of ficult in the town and to go to Bar- from 15 October 2007. Code: [EN(RR) Argentina, María Eva Duarte de Perón, celona. My dad had some friends (PE) J.-B.S.-M.-R.]) travelled to Barcelona and visited the shantytown area of Ronda de Sant Martí. As a result of this visit, the idea spread among the shanty dwellers that Eva Peron, La Perona, wanted to build homes for the poor on this land, and for this reason the district adopted the name La Perona.

La Perona was a very rich lady who really looked after the poor. This woman gave money to the neighborhood so that we poor people living there would have water and electricity and to fix the streets because they were made of mud. But what she gave and what it ended up used for, well, it was all lost and none of it happened. Later there were more trustworthy Aerial view of the district of La Perona in the 1980s, of the stretch between the Pont d’Espronceda and the Pont del Treball. In the lower right you can see the group of shacks people who wanted to fix things up that made up the school for adults. Patronat Municipal de l’Habitatge, Barcelona. and that was when they fixed the AUTHOR: MARIANO VELASCO. 24 COMPILATION Revista d’Etnologia de Catalunya Juny 2015 Núm. 40

Most shantytown residents were thus The drama for most of these people However, the situation of economic cri- newcomers for whom renting an began when a municipal pickaxe sis led to greater social competition that apartment was out of reach and who was taken to the El Somorrostro wound up translating into greater ine- worked in factories, in the construc- neighborhood in the Barceloneta. quality and criminality, which, added to tion industry, in domestic service or Within twenty-four hours the area the growing number of gypsies arriving by setting up a small shop or workshop had been demolished, and a few in the neighborhood generated several 10 there in the shantytown. This is why days later a contingent of sailors episodes of social conflict. we often understand the building of from our squadron disembarked shantytowns as a transitional situation there to participate in the Navy According to data collected in social in anticipation of obtaining a better Week shows. (Pons, 1967). worker P. López’ study (1990) of La home. In most cases, however, this situ- Perona district, in the early 1970s 69% of inhabitants were gypsies of various ation was prolonged, and when people The 1970s was a period of economic origins,11 and in the late 1970s this began having children the social back- crisis that struck the poorest among increased to 95% of inhabitants. One ground of the neighborhood changed Barcelona’s population forcefully. The gypsy who was already living in La so that by the mid-1960s we can see effects of this were seen in the most underprivileged districts, and in the Perona in the early period recalled that that most inhabitants had been born in when most of the non-gypsy families the neighborhood (San Roman, 1986). case of La Perona, it coincided with the move of a large number of gypsy left the neighborhood began to dete- riorate and to be discriminated against. Over time these hopes would become families from other areas of the city, whom for social and urban planning Defending himself against accusations reality for many shanty dwellers who made against the gypsies, he said: moved to other districts by their own reasons the administration had decided to relocate to the neighborhood (San The gypsies paid for the stolen cars means, to new blocks built by the Obra Roman, 1986). Overcrowding and in the neighborhood. If there was Sindical del Hogar and a number of growth in the number of shanties rose a car stolen and you were a gypsy cooperatives and companies such as to 653 in 1971 according to A. Rispa and walked in front of it, you paid Construcciones Españolas (Carrasco; (1993). In view of this situation, the for the theft of the car. (Interview Garriga, 2000: 84). By 1966 it is esti- city’s intervention consisted in extend- from 12 November 2007. Code: mated that there were approximately ing water services to the neighborhood [EN(RR)(PE)C.H.]) 200 shanties and 3,000 shanty dwell- and paving some areas while simulta- ers in La Perona (Rispa, 1993). For its neously relocating some shanty dwell- In 1981 the First Catalan Conference part, the parish church of Sant Martí ing families to apartments in La Mina took care of the most underprivileged, on Barcelona’s Gypsy Population was and Pomar from 1968 to 1974. Fol- held, and T. San Román, together with providing them with food and clothing lowing these interventions there was a as it had for decades. the research team he coordinated, pre- significant drop in the production of sented the Report on the Population of subsidized housing until this activity the La Perona District.12 From this The period from 1966 to 1967 was was taken up again in 1981 (Patronat a turning point in the history of La moment on, the Patronat Munici- Municipal de l’Habitatge, 2003). pal de l’Habitatge, which had been Perona. The shacks abandoned by fam- in charge of care services and control ilies who moved to apartments were At the same time, in the early 1970s, of shanty building since 1979, began reoccupied by other families with fewer with the new social intervention model to develop a relocation plan within resources, most of whom were gypsies. adopted by Caritas based on commu- the framework of the Plan to Eradi- Motivation for greater transformation nity development, social worker Sis- cate Slums with three strategies: first, began with a demonstration of naval ter Pilar López settled in the district. apartments from the secondary market exercises attended by Franco, which Community works were begun with would be allocated; second, two new led to the urgent and forced eviction of her involvement, like the creation of a single-family housing areas would be some shantytowns like El Somorrostro, kindergarten, school and dispensary. built; and third, the needs of those Can Tunis and Montjuïc. Some of the Later, in the late 1970s, other educa- shanty dwellers who wished to return evicted shanty dwellers were moved to tional projects promoted by the city to their place of origin by their own unoccupied shacks in the districts of La council were added, such as the estab- means would be met. At the same time, Perona, El Camp de la Bota and Sant lishment of a school for adults and professional integration projects would Roc in Badalona. children’s and youth centers. be developed to adapt shanty dwellers COMPILATION 25 to the new social conditions. The sec- second great wave of immigration to military installations for shelter. The ond proposal planned was impossible Catalonia. At first glance, the shacks area around the bomb shelters gradu- because of protest from the residents in El Carmel were not part of a unified ally filled with shacks despite a number of the La Pedrosa housing estate and group. There were five different groups of expulsion attempts by the police. A the district of La Verneda. Because of and some small pockets of homes in resident of Los Cañones described the these protests the administration chose certain streets of El Carmel where one eviction that took place around 1955: to abandon the second proposal and sometimes found a fragile boundary At midnight it was pouring rain. opted to relocate shanty dwellers to between shanty and self-build home. They knocked on doors, especially apartments on the secondary market The five groups were Francesc Alegre, at the bomb shelters, because there El Santo and to offer compensation to families Ramon Casellas ( ), Marià were these two facing the sea and that chose to return to their cities of Labèrnia (Los Cañones), the shanties then more above them. The police origin. In February 1985 104 apart- of Hospital de Sant Pau and the shanties came, Mr. “Scarface,” whose name ments had been allocated, 35 gypsy of Carrer de Marsans i Rof and Carrer I don’t know, but his face was families had received assistance for de Font-Rúbia. From an administrative scarred. A wonderful person: may finding an apartment, and 90 fami- point of view, the shanties were part of he never have been born. They put lies had accepted money in exchange the district of Can Baró, but as those us in their truck and took us to one for leaving their shanties (Carrasco; who were there explain, their immedi- of those pavilions on Montjuïc. Garriga, 200: 83-102). The abuse of ate ties were to El Carmel. (Interview from 9 May 2007. Code: this last option meant that many of [EN(RR)(CA)M.G.M.]) these families found themselves on the We studied the first three groups street again without resources, seeking –Francesc Alegre, Ramon Casellas and new empty spaces to move into. The Marià Labèrnia– as a matter of unity in The Francesc Alegre and Raimon La Perona neighborhood disappeared terms of the local struggle and because Casellas areas grew up around 1946- once and for all in 1989, when the last of geographical location (Turó de la 1947. All three shantytowns were shanty, occupied by the Company of Rovira). From interviews we know fully established in the early 1950s, the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vin- that the first shantytown began atop and their population came mainly cent de Paul, was demolished. Turó de la Rovira in the air-raid shelters from Andalucía and Extremadura. found at the end of Carrer de Marià According to reports published by Brief History of the El Carmel Labèrnia. The first families arrived the Servicio de Erradicación del Bar- Neighborhood around 1944 and used the abandoned raquismo (Shantytown Eradication El Carmel is part of Horta-Guinardó, the 7th municipal district of Barcelona, and it is characterized by steep slopes resulting from a rugged geographical location. The neighborhood was formed in the early 20th century when the first houses with gardens were built and the first roads began to connect the area with the city. The area’s social composition and the use of its space would change over the century from the waves of immigration; in general terms, the neighborhood would cease to be a recreational area for the city’s more or less well-off classes and would become characterized by the concen- tration of a population of humble origins in a confined space lacking basic services in certain areas. Detail of the shacks of Los Cañones, so called because the anti-aircraft guns used during the Spanish Civil War were located in this space. In the background the shanties of The existence of shanties is recorded Francesc Alegre can be seen under the highest apartment building. in the early 1940s, coinciding with the PATRONAT MUNICIPAL DE L’HABITATGE, BARCELONA. 26 COMPILATION Revista d’Etnologia de Catalunya Juny 2015 Núm. 40

Service) of the City of Barcelona, in Historians Lluís Bou and Eva Gimeno, one hand, many inhabitants tried to 1956 the existence of around 570 referring to the shanties in El Carmel in reproduce part of their life in their inhabited shacks was recognized, for the late 1960s, believed that: “Beyond place of origin –the physiognomy of just under 3,000 inhabitants (Fabre; the grim reality of the numbers (even the neighborhood was an example– Huertas Clavería, 1976). if they did not balance) and for many and on the other hand they were new, years, shantytowns formed part of the unrecognized citizens who worked in A great number of the first settlers landscape of El Carmel, which helped factories, in the construction industry, arrived in Barcelona with the idea of promote the urban legend that iden- cleaning private homes or by setting starting a new life; while most had fled tified it as an inhospitable and dan- up a small shop or workshop there in poverty, their prospects in Barcelona gerous neighborhood –where it was the shantytown. Their children, in the would not be much more hopeful. hard enough for taxis to make the drive best of cases, went to nearby schools Despite the uncertainty represented by up– adjectives accepted outright by if the family income permitted; if living in a shack with the idea that their a large part of Barcelona’s citizenry not, they entered the labor market stay there was temporary, the district that lived on the fringes and bowed prematurely. took on a life of its own as explained their head before the existing social by one resident: reality in El Carmel. Gone were the Above we described the isolation suf- descriptions of the past of the neigh- fered by the El Carmel neighborhood, Well, it was a town. You come borhood as ‘picturesque and pleasant.’ both from a geographic perspective from one town and then you find Inhospitable, probably it was, given the and from the lack of investment in another town, set up in a differ- limited accessibility; but with regard to infrastructure on the part of the City ent way, [...] disorganized, with dangerous, that should be called into of Barcelona. In 1969 a group of an uphill climb, that doesn’t have question since it was more dangerous residents that included some shanty water; well, OK, the town we were for those who were forced to live under dwellers decided to create the Centro in didn’t have water either. [...] But very harsh conditions (without water, Social del Carmelo (Social Center of El that’s what you found, a load of electricity, a sewage system, garbage Carmel). In 1972 it would disappear shacks, the side of the hill full of collection and so on) in shacks located to make way for the creation of the little white houses, with leather- in steep places where children could Asociación de Vecinos del Carmelo board, a bunch of stones stuck on get hurt easily” (Bou; Gimeno, 2007). (El Carmel Residents’ Association). the roofs. Everyone was an immi- A protest movement for improve- grant. (Interview from 24 May The social reality of the shantytowns ments to the neighborhood originated 2007. Code: [EN(RR)(CA) F.G.S.]) was heterogeneous and peculiar. On from this association: potable running water, the creation of schools and day care centers, a health care center, urban planning improvements, public transportation and more. In the case in question, the shantytown commit- tee of the association would work to provide the shanty areas with basic infrastructure and to promote the construction of subsidized housing in the same neighborhood. One prominent member described it thus: I would say that the El Carmel Resi- dents’ Association was an example to follow for many associations. It carried a specific weight because there were a lot of people who gave their all in exchange for nothing, who spent many hours alongside us, and then we proposed doing Scene of daily life in the district of La Perona. things and achieved them. Why? Arxiu Nacional de Catalunya, Solidaridad Nacional collection. COMPILATION 27

Well, because when we went to talk Alegre shantytown. In 1984 the keys when the shantytowns became true to the administration, we didn’t go were given out to 161 apartments in neighborhoods within the urban area alone. We were people who had the Raimon Casellas housing estate, and not cracks or lawless cities as they informed ourselves about what it a historical milestone since they had had been called in some cases. They was that had to be done, and what succeeded in being relocated within the were, in short, spaces with social life, it was that had to be said, so we same neighborhood. Finally, in 1990 closely bound and related to the rest weren’t lost –we had architects, we the last 87 families from the Francesc of the city. People who worked in had master builders, we had doc- Alegre shantytown moved into the Can the city lived there, and they organ- tors, we had nurses, we had every- Carreras housing estate.13 This entire ized to improved living conditions thing. When we went to talk to the process was successful thanks to pres- in their neighborhoods. They were, health care system, we had people sure from the neighborhood move- however, neighborhoods that grew who knew what the health care sys- ment and the subsequent collaboration up spontaneously outside of urban tem was. When we went to talk to between the residents’ association, the planning and which, in principle, the urban planning department, Patronat Municipal de l’Habitatge and except for some cases, were never we had people who knew what the City of Barcelona. recognized as part of this city –and the urban planning department perhaps this is why they disappeared. was. (Interview from 8 November Conclusions This negation was made patent with 2006. Transcription code: [TR(CA) The reconstruction of the three shan- the lack of municipal action regard- P.G.D.01]) tytowns from bibliographic and doc- ing infrastructure and services, a total umentary research and oral sources neglect until the 1970s when the new allowed us to confirm that the configu- political mood sought to provide the Shortly before the death of dictator ration of shantytowns always responds remaining districts with minimal liv- Francisco Franco, most of the shanty- to a vital necessity for the more disad- ing conditions. Only the social action towns had running water and electric- vantaged social classes facing the prob- of the church, from the initial charity ity, and a garbage collection service had lems of work and housing in urban to the community development of also been created. The next step was contexts. Indeed, the increase in slums the 1960s, mitigated the marginali- to find an optimal space for building in Barcelona was brought about by zation to which these areas had been subsidized housing, but once again waves of immigration, but the main condemned by the city. negotiations were tedious. This led the cause of the shantytowns was deter- association to exert strong pressure on mined by a lack of rational housing Eradicating the shantytowns was nearly the city council, and a meeting was policy. always more an impulse responding arranged with mayor Josep Maria de to urban planning needs and projects Porcioles i Colomer, who promised to Shantytowns were and are established that appeared than a policy focused explore the possibility of relocating res- above all in the empty spaces within on resolving a social problem. Most idents within the neighborhood and to the urban fabric, on small plots of slum inhabitants were relocated to start the paperwork for those residents land awaiting their turn to be trans- planned estates, often outside city who wished to obtain an apartment in formed, in the vacant lots and aban- limits, and their names (La Perona, El the Canyelles housing estate (Camal- doned spaces of interurban areas and Somorrostro, Can Valero, El Camp longa; Custòdia; Fonollà, 1985). very often at the limits and boundaries de la Bota) were replaced with other between two cities. All of them, in one names proposed by institutions (Parc With plans in place to eradicate the way or another, are like boundaries to de Sant Martí, Platja de la Barcelon- shacks and resettle residents, the the structured city. eta, Avinguda de l’Estadi, Fòrum de choice was to either obtain economic les Cultures). compensation and personally under- In the first two decades of the 20th take finding an apartment or to take century, settlements grew and became On the other hand, the life stories col- advantage of the plans for relocation to established along the waterfront and lected show us a wide diversity in ways public housing. Most shanty dwellers on Montjuïc, where shanty building of experiencing and understanding life went for the second option. Briefly and had been a practice tied to work as in in the shantytowns. For many people, following the chronological order of the case of stonecutters and fisher- shanty dwelling was a choice forced on rehousing, in 1977 123 families were men. The postwar immigration gave them by a lack of resources; for others, relocated to the Canyelles housing the phenomenon new dimensions, it was a temporary way of saving to be estate, most of them from the Francesc placing it at its peak in the 1950s able to obtain an apartment; still others 28 COMPILATION Revista d’Etnologia de Catalunya Juny 2015 Núm. 40 sought to build a neighborhood from these differences are made more evi- By way of conclusion we would add the shanties and fought for its recogni- dent when periods of greater poverty that shantytowns are not the only tion. All of this diversity also helps us to generate greater social competition and response in the face of a social prob- see that within the shantytowns, as in inequality is exacerbated, as occurred lem like the lack of affordable hous- the rest of the city, there is a structure in the 1970s and 1980s and led to the ing. The disappearance of shantytowns wherein different social and cultural shantytowns’ exclusion from the rest does not always represent a solution to categories can be distinguished. And of the city. the problem. n

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bou, Ll. M.; Gimeno, E. (2007) El Carme- Duocastella, R. (comp.) (1957) Los Suburbi- Pons, Agustí (1967) “50 familias expulsadas lo ignorado: Historia de un barrio imposible. os. Semana del Suburbio. Barcelona. de sus barracones... para ser alojadas en bar- Ajuntament de Barcelona: Agència de promoció racas”. El Noticiero Universal, 19 de desembre. del Carmel i entorns, cop. Col·lecció Construir Doménech, R.; Juncosa, R. (1973) “Una Barcelona. experiencia de trabajo social comunitario en Pons, F.; Martino, J.M. (1929) Los Aduares un barrio de barracas de Muntjuïc”. Revista de de Barcelona. Editorial La Ibèrica: Barcelona. Camallonga, J.; Moreno, M. C.; Fonollà, Treball Social, núm. 51, juliol. F. (1985) “El Carmel estrena habitatges”. Ha- Rispa Roca, Agustí (1993) (inèdit-mecanos- bitatge, núm. 1, gener. Patronat Municipal de Echenique, M. (inèdit) (1965) El barraquismo crit). Breve historia del barraquismo en Barce- l’Habitatge, Barcelona. en Montjuïc. Tesi doctoral. Escola Superior d’Ar- lona y su evolución desde 1980 hasta su total quitectura, Barcelona. erradicación. A l’Arxiu Municipal del Districte Carrasco, S.; Garriga, C. (2000) Els gitanos de Sant Martí. de Barcelona. Una aproximació sociològica. Fabré, J.; Huertas Claveria, J.M. (1976) Tots Àrea de Serveis Socials. Diputació de Barce- els Barris de Barcelona. Edicions 62: Barce- Roca i Blanch, E. (2002) Montjuïc, la munta- lona. lona. nya de la ciutat. FOCSA: Barcelona.

Carreras Candi, F. (1916) Geografia General Lòpez, Pilar (1990) (inèdit-mecanoscrit) 15 San Román, T. (compilació) (1986) Entre la de Catalunya, La ciutat de Barcelona. Barce- años en La Perona: 1974-1989. Una experi- marginación y el racismo. Reflexiones sobre la lona. encia de Trabajo Social con gitanos. A l’Arxiu vida de los gitanos. Alianza Editorial: Madrid. Municipal del Districte de Sant Martí.

NOTES

1 Coordinators: Mercè Tatjer and Cristina Larrea. 4 The documentary research enabled us to cre- 10 A tracking of the neighborhood conflicts can Researchers: Xavi Camino, Flora Muñoz, Oscar ate a database inventory with more than 300 be found at the Arxiu Municipal del Districte de Casasayas, Max Díaz, Pili Díaz, Eva Cerveto. entries. Sant Martí in the folder of press clippings La Perona: eradicació de les barraques i lluites 2 This final report was presented to the Eth- 5 For the 1928 estimate: “Comunicación sobre veïnals (1979-1991). nological Heritage Inventory of Catalonia in el acta de construcción de las Casas Baratas December 2007. Its annexes contain a listing de Eduardo Aunós.” Patronato Municipal de la 11 Spanish (both newcomers and several-genera- of interviews conducted (document), digital Habitación. Barcelona, June 1928, p. 17. tion-established) and Hungarian origin. (López, interviews (DVD), summaries of digital inter- 1990) 6 “La única luz que ilumina las barracas son las views (document), unrecorded interviews llamas del vertedero.” Telexprés (27 February 12 May be consulted at the Arxiu Municipal del (document), the interview guide for shanty 1967). Districte de Sant Martí. dwellers (DVD/document), the interview guide for people involved (DVD/document), the list of 7 To follow the neighborhood association’s press 13 “Memòria del Patronat Municipal de interviewees (DVD/document), the ACCESS campaign and the negotiations with the City of l’Habitatge.” No signature. Arxiu del PMH. documentary database (DVD), the IPEC regis- Barcelona and the Ministry of Housing, consult For the subject at hand, you can consult ter of voice recordings (DVD), the IPEC register the Diario de Barcelona, the Noticiero Univer- the reports for 1979-1990, in particular the of photographic recordings (DVD), collections sal and the Correo Catalan from 1967 to 1968, sections “L’eradicació del barraquisme” and of photographs (DVD) and the transcriptions as well as the 22 issues of La Voz de la Montaña “L’adjudicació de vivendes.” (DVD/document). at the Arxiu de Cáritas. 3 Among the archives consulted, mention should 8 Unidades Vecinales de Absorción Social, a pro- Article originally published in be made of a few for how important the docu- ject by the Obra Sindical del Hogar (OSH) to mentation we were able to obtain from them relocate shantytowns. Catalan in Revista d’Etnologia was: Arxiu Històric de la Ciutat de Barcelona, de Catalunya (no. 33. year 2008) 9 Much of the information relevant to the La Arxiu Municipal Administratiu de Barcelona under the title El barraquisme a and Secció Prearxivatge, Arxiu Nacional de Perona shantytown can be found at the Arxiu Catalunya, Patronat Municipal de l’Habitatge, Municipal del Districte de Sant Martí, the Arxiu la ciutat de Barcelona. Arxiu Municipal del Districte de Sant Martí, Arxiu Històric del Poble Nou, the Arxiu Municipal Can Valero, La Perona i el

Administratiu de Barcelona and the Arxiu del  Municipal de Sants-Montjuïc, Arxiu Municipal Carmel. del Districte d’Horta-Guinardó and Arxiu de Patronat Municipal de l’Habitatge. Cáritas.