First: give a name to the obelisk in the Plaza del Cinc d'Oros. Barcelona is the only city with an obelisk dedicated to nothing and no one, orphaned, impersonal, extraterrestrial. I don't think the current mayor would mind dedicating it to Liberty, for example, but I'll question it given his phobia of what he calls "conflictive chimeras." I'm urging the issue simply because names do things (they themselves did the same with El Prat Airport). We should also address the names of General Mitre, Juan de Borbón, Isabels and Cristinas, and various Bourbon-style names, the foreign Dos de Mayo or Bailén, and the unbearable absence of a street or square for Salvador Dalí.
Before: do all the urban planning homework that hasn't been done. Instead of anticipating the growing need for housing (in a city where it was clear everyone would want to move), the Socialists decided to speculate in Diagonal Mar or in the 22@ district. Or build Colau's superblocks. The result is a middle class that can no longer afford to live in the city: "success management," they say. As a solution, they politely invite us to consider surrounding municipalities, without a decent commuter train service. And without passing this suggestion on to newcomers, or to investors. And since nothing has been done, since almost nothing has been built and they prefer to scold Airbnb to save face, for a while we will have to protect the locals. Yes, I'm afraid a certain protectionism will be necessary, if we don't want the residents to start blaming tourism or the expats of all evils. And especially if Barcelona doesn't want to be emptied of its residents. Or, in other words, denaturalized. Which is the next point.
Third: Barcelona must be a world model of balance between openness and character. Being ultra-local isn't being provincial: being provincial is denying the native, erasing identity, erecting nameless obelisks. It's not even tolerable that the current mayor labels half of its population, who are pro-independence, as "chasers of pipe dreams." Barcelona needs to naturally embrace its pride, its sense of belonging, its genuine way of doing things, and its own unique approach (and language): all the ideas put forward in recent years, such as the America's Cup or the Winter Olympics, or Formula 1 on Passeig de Gràcia, would have worked even if things had gone so badly and had gone so badly. Taste is taste, and there should be something for everyone, of course, but when Barcelona is tacky managed, events end up with tacky results. Things can be done with sensitivity and, above all, without wasting public money.
Fourth: the economy must be one of creativity and knowledge. Highly qualified jobs, but accessible to all. Yes to ongoing scientific and university projects, yes to conferences, and yes to protecting cultural production, especially our own. No to giving away our public space, no to seeking absurd co-capitalizations with Madrid that Madrid doesn't want, and no to forgetting our centuries-old Mediterranean vocation. Lead the advance of the railway corridor, spearhead a specific economic area in southern Europe, seek urban collaborations with Marseille, Paris, Rome, Naples, and Berlin, but also New York and San Francisco. Leave the fascination with the palaces of Spanish Las Vegas to Collboni and his guarantor, Daniel Sirera.
There were supposed to be four ideas, but we got down to it: two large urban parks in Plaça Catalunya and the Sagrada Família. Zero tolerance for organized crime. Helping them. Not making Montjuïc simply accessible, but brighter at night. More daring, more lively. More ordinary people, more neighborhoods, less smoke. Fewer knife-wielding politicians.
