Urban planning (at least what we have now) has its limitations, and urbanity can only go so far if we let cities cook like pre-made hamburgers, drawing cities like someone preparing fast food to be devoured in a few minutes. That's why it's good to stop and take a mental step back. Two weeks with my little nephews have forced me to have no plans other than walking slowly, playing ball in the sand, and caring for all kinds of animals (and then drawing them). I've slowed down drastically and now I don't know how I can do so many things in winter, or if it makes much sense, frankly.
Professor Emeritus Anne Power, a sociologist at the LSE, always poked me when I told her that the suburban London model of cottages with gardens is completely unsustainable. Individual preferences weigh heavily in urban genesis, and cities are fundamentally organized around ideals of domestic comfort, which can differ significantly from one's own or imagined comfort. This is what good teachers should do: turn dogmas on their heads, make you think. The aspiration to live in contact with nature and the shortcomings of living in a dense, large city like Barcelona translate into a massive flight of cars on weekends to mountain or coastal towns. And, in a way, the 400,000 vehicles that drive the city's roads every weekend prove her right: urban promiscuity and the contrast between large cities and small heritage towns motivate much of the holiday mobility. Ildefons Cerdà's famous phrase, "Ruralize the urban, urbanize the rural," is well-known, but successive increases in building capacity in the heart of the Eixample have ruined the dreamed-of balance. Now, that connection between the urban and rural worlds is being restored with the possibility of taking the car every weekend and during vacations. Anne Power would say that it's not up to us urban planners to judge this; what we need to do is understand it and, if necessary, compensate for it. The diversity of towns and cities makes countries more resilient. Diversity also works in urban areas, but it needs to go both ways.
I read many stories about summers and childhood in this very newspaper, and everyone has fond memories linked to their towns; no one evokes subway tunnels or hours in the supermarket. Towns have an easy-to-read urban structure, and therefore, it's easy to feel comfortable. You know when a street is inhabited because there are flowerpots. They are household objects, but the house gives them to the town, for everyone to enjoy. In the suburban villas, there are gardens planted side by side. But in villages, densely packed due to the confinement of walls, the flowerpots must be brought out into the streets, and they are always slightly different. People have them from grandparents, parents, from trips... Some flowerpots hang on balconies, between bars and windows. Others hang on either side of door frames. Others are placed to cover a crack or a drainpipe. Many match the color of the woodwork, indicating that, although they appear to have been placed spontaneously, someone has dedicated a long time to them.
The pots become a prelude to the houses: you can tell from the street that there's someone meticulously taking care of the plants and the street. The mania is contagious, and when someone starts, the rest of the houses are encouraged to fill the doorsteps with pottery. If things get lively, you can put out the folding chairs, and perhaps a small table for a pre- or post-dinner vermouth. The pots are a good indicator that the houses are lived in and not just showcases for seasonal rentals. In cities, attempts have been made to reproduce this type of situation artificially, often without success.
These August days, a piano could be heard early in the morning on Ballesteries Street in Girona's Old Quarter. At the only time of day when the temperature was decent, it was a delight to stroll through narrow streets that any urban planner would now prohibit. Conversely, peregrine falcons are moving from the countryside to the big city to inhabit the highest roofs and feed on pigeons. They, too, are diversifying, seeking higher ground to escape the noise and monitor their prey.
Urban planning is a complex subject, because there are many heads and hats. If, in addition, one could take the train without it becoming an unpredictable adventure, this country would have a solid landscape diversity, unique in an increasingly homogeneous world.
