by Sergio Montero
Soon, thanks to the Ordinance Coexistence, in force since November 11, Granada will have public spaces grounded in a "rational and orderly" (art. 71 of the Ordinance). And I wonder: who wants what?
The terms 'rational' and 'ordered' associated with the city have never been big successes. Here we have to Brasília, the capital of Brazil, one of the best examples of rational and orderly city, and certainly one of the most boring and inhospitable world. Brasília was inaugurated in 1960 after four years of work led by the architect Oscar Niemeyer and urban planner Lucio Costa, two of the greatest representatives of modern architecture and rational middle of last century. Brasília is an urban utopia of concrete apartment blocks evenly spaced in the homes were designed as "machines for living ', and the reserved for public parks, highways and geometric. Brasília public space, based on the idea of \u200b\u200border and rationality, contributes little to the person viewing the city from the street and not from the map. After a brief visit to the Brazilian capital, the French philosopher and writer Simone de Beauvoir wrote in Brasília more than a city that resembled a real-size model, a city that never would have soul and flesh and it lacked the spontaneity and whimsical mix Street that gives life to other cities.
square city blocks of concrete and cement parks is not, of course, unique to Brasília. Nor is it something new that will bring the ordinance Coexistence of Granada. Just take a walk through the new urban developments Beiro District, near the CC Alcampo, or by new blocks of flats on the outskirts of the Northern Zaidín or to see the Granada of places spacious without trees and empty benches where there is no stopping an August afternoon. But no, the ordinance of Coexistence does not come to change the physical appearance of the new urban spaces in Granada but something more important: the social dimension of existing public space. The public space has two inseparable aspects of each other: the physical dimension - streets, plazas and street furniture - and the social dimension or, in other Thus, the use that citizens make it. That is why the quality of urban public space can not be measured only in physical terms, urban design or apparent order. The quality of public space in a city is also measured by the amount, intensity and quality of social relationships that can promote as well as its capacity to welcome and mixing behavior groups and citizens who otherwise would never meet in space private. In other words, public space is not designed for passive admiration, conservation and idolatry, but one of the most important elements are there in town to promote actively the social and cultural integration of its citizens and for the identification and construction of collective identities. Ordinance Coexistence of Granada attentive precisely against this social and inclusive public space because it regulates and punishes excessively interactions and encounters in public space and that criminalizes and punishes the most vulnerable social groups in our city - beggars and Prostitutes - instead of finding solutions to promote their integration. Thus under the guise of a supposed and citizenship, public space in Granada not only become a physical space sterile, elitist and hyper-regulated, but will help to increase social fragmentation of the city.
The ordinance prohibits and punishes, for example, the performance of mimes, musicians and street artists, leaving "in the opinion of the local police" the ability to decide if these are causing unacceptable discomfort (art. 20). This prohibition, however, only the beginning of a long list that includes, inter alia, the prohibition of "public display of drunkenness" (art. 23), putting up posters and advertisements in the street and hand out leaflets (art. 38), the spontaneous practice of games in public spaces as well as acrobatics, roller skates and skateboards (art. 46), begging (art. 50), prostitution (art. 54), spitting on the street (art. 57), drinking in the street, whether in a bottle as if it consumes a can of beer individually on the street, or in case how to drink "is demeaning to externalize as passers" (art. 71), pour water on the street as a result of watering the plants and any type of waste to shake clothing or carpet (art. 72), noise or any kind of discomfort from moving furniture or home repairs not only between the 23 and 7 am, but also between 15 and 17 hours (art. 95), any "actions that may stain or tarnish, for any method, way or public space or that are contrary to the cleanliness, aesthetics, physical integrity and economic value of public property elements installed in the road or in public spaces "(art. 104), "throw gum on the pavement or soil," "select, classify and remove any residual material deposited on public roads" and "throw cigarette butts" (art. 105). And so a total of 183 articles. In closing, the Ordinance gives the City the right to set opening and closing times for any public space or garden city (art. 83). As I said at the time the urban planner and activist Jane Jacobs one of the most influential works in contemporary planning practice, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, planning policies rationalists represent the largest urban area threat to life and the daily life of communities and urban neighborhoods. Instead, these policies produce sterile spaces, isolated and unnatural because they refuse to humans and the complexity and apparent chaos that characterizes us. Just take a look at the history and world geography to see that the most historic cities are precisely those that have emerged endogenously and not rational decisions imposed from above. The New York Greenwich Village, Jane Jacobs argued to death in front of rational planning of the then Mayor Robert Moses, is a good example and Montmartre in Paris, the Bairro Alto Lisbon or our own Albayzín. History and geography show that urban utopias based on the order and rationality have never functioned Who would rather live in Brasília have the privilege of choosing any other city in Brazil? I certainly prefer to hear the sounds of Rio de Janeiro and the music of Carnival before enjoying the silence and order in the streets of Brasília.
The loss of the integrative function of social and public space is in Granada accompanied by another kind of interpretation of public space, an interpretation based on the criminalization of vulnerable individuals and minorities who do not share the attitudes and values \u200b\u200bof the majority. In this regard, the Ordinance of Coexistence has elements similar to previous laws to democracy such as Law of Vagrants and Crooks during the Franco regime that persecuted and criminalized homeless people, homosexuals and other individuals deemed "anti-social."
The good news is that the spirit of citizen participation in Grenada has emerged in the capital and reaction to the entry into force of the Ordinance, whether through demonstrations in urban space and on the Internet. New facebook groups, web pages , posts in different blogs , documentaries, articles in The Country , Ideal , Granada Today and other media have shown that citizenship is Granada alive and claiming their right to participate in the construction of public space and the laws that govern it. In facebook, for example, on 17 December, the group created against Ordinance Coexistence already had 7,000 members. On the other hand should not forget that the establishment of certain rules, formal or informal, is essential for living in any space, whether public or private. However, the prohibitions and penalties provided in the Ordinance of Coexistence go further and threaten the very social dimension of public space.
Domenico Siena As noted in a recent article has appeared simultaneously in the Andalucian blog Viva City and the Urban Ecosystem blog, "the public space is no longer an area of \u200b\u200bopportunity for the community, their managers seem to consider it only as a space problem and only act to empty it and prevent any problems, limiting all types of spontaneous activity of citizens. " These ideas predict with accuracy almost dramatic changes taking place in public space Granada in recent years.
In short, what is the 'rationality' and 'order' is being pushed to the Grenadian public spaces? Streets and parks "square empty and silent? Maybe we should then pull down the irrational Albayzín and the center of Granada and build in its place gray blocks of apartments, residential homes and parks identical sterilized. The question is, again, who want those spaces and what's so original? Who wants a sterile Granada, rational and empty seats and quiet that only dirty wax on Easter? As recalled hundreds of citizens of Granada in the Plaza del Carmen on 27 November: no people, places die. No seats and spontaneity, the city also dies. Sergio Montero
The loss of the integrative function of social and public space is in Granada accompanied by another kind of interpretation of public space, an interpretation based on the criminalization of vulnerable individuals and minorities who do not share the attitudes and values \u200b\u200bof the majority. In this regard, the Ordinance of Coexistence has elements similar to previous laws to democracy such as Law of Vagrants and Crooks during the Franco regime that persecuted and criminalized homeless people, homosexuals and other individuals deemed "anti-social."
The good news is that the spirit of citizen participation in Grenada has emerged in the capital and reaction to the entry into force of the Ordinance, whether through demonstrations in urban space and on the Internet. New facebook groups, web pages , posts in different blogs , documentaries, articles in The Country , Ideal , Granada Today and other media have shown that citizenship is Granada alive and claiming their right to participate in the construction of public space and the laws that govern it. In facebook, for example, on 17 December, the group created against Ordinance Coexistence already had 7,000 members. On the other hand should not forget that the establishment of certain rules, formal or informal, is essential for living in any space, whether public or private. However, the prohibitions and penalties provided in the Ordinance of Coexistence go further and threaten the very social dimension of public space.
Domenico Siena As noted in a recent article has appeared simultaneously in the Andalucian blog Viva City and the Urban Ecosystem blog, "the public space is no longer an area of \u200b\u200bopportunity for the community, their managers seem to consider it only as a space problem and only act to empty it and prevent any problems, limiting all types of spontaneous activity of citizens. " These ideas predict with accuracy almost dramatic changes taking place in public space Granada in recent years.
In short, what is the 'rationality' and 'order' is being pushed to the Grenadian public spaces? Streets and parks "square empty and silent? Maybe we should then pull down the irrational Albayzín and the center of Granada and build in its place gray blocks of apartments, residential homes and parks identical sterilized. The question is, again, who want those spaces and what's so original? Who wants a sterile Granada, rational and empty seats and quiet that only dirty wax on Easter? As recalled hundreds of citizens of Granada in the Plaza del Carmen on 27 November: no people, places die. No seats and spontaneity, the city also dies. Sergio Montero
Granada is a researcher in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of California, Berkeley. And it supports the Platform for the Grand Central Park Millennium Renfe
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