Changes are difficult, and that's why we often resist them. Because even when something doesn't thrill us, we think that what will replace it will please us even less. Sometimes we apply the "known crazy" beyond people and leave the "wise to be known" for others. We don't want to know anything about it because we don't want to change anything. This happens a lot with urban changes, and since this country has been historically destroyed by making a mess of the landscape, both on the coast and inland, many of us tend to view proposed changes with suspicion. And if we are more or less fair people, we recognize the successes, which, apart from aesthetics, also have to do with how they personally affect us in our daily lives. Because, ultimately, and despite tourism, a city must be designed for its citizens to live in.
One day, when I went down to Las Ramblas in Barcelona, I came across the famous works on this avenue, cursed especially by taxi drivers and local merchants (no one ever loves works, poor things). Despite knowing that they were being done and having heard about them (the pros and cons), I had no idea that one of the things being perpetrated in one of the city's emblems was the destruction of its characteristic pavement, those waves that accompany the walk to the sea. That ground that, when it rained, shone photographically and was dangerously slippery. A change I hadn't seen coming and which, as a Barcelonian, seemed very sad to me. Perhaps because, over the years, I have gone down to the center less and I would like to find it each time as when we were young and the pavement didn't interest us but we walked on it as if it were ours forever.
When years ago the paving stones of Diagonal were changed and those with plane tree leaves were put in, there was already controversy, because women wearing heels tripped on them, the elderly did not walk safely on them either, and when it rained, even though they were supposed to be safer, they also slipped. I found this out for myself, because, besides putting my feet on them, I also landed my backside on them. And they are not comfortable to sit on. I say this in case anyone is tempted. Therefore, taking advantage of the fact that time has reduced the paving stones of Diagonal to an urbanistic anecdote that we only remember for the falls we have suffered on them and that, despite the discomfort of walking on them, aesthetically I personally do not dislike them, it is a good time to talk about another floor in the city. And even more so now that we have been told that they will inaugurate the new Rambla in February of next year, with a great citizen party linked to the memory of the promenade but having lost a good part of its commercial and paving emblems. By the way, the new one has no charm. It won't shine even in the rain. But beauty is not a trend.
they have told us they will inaugurate the new Rambla in February of next year, with a great citizen party linked to the memory of the promenade but having lost a good part of its commercial and paving emblems. By the way, the new one has no charm. It won't shine even in the rain. But beauty is not a trend.
La Rambla is an emblem of Barcelona, or it was, because without the wave paving and with many multinational shops that you find in any city in the world, it has lost its essence years ago. Or perhaps it is us who are getting older and embracing nostalgia instead of functionality and change. Be that as it may, objectively, there was a time when the tiles, the buildings, and the lights were more beautiful, even though the city was darker. The waves of a sea we couldn't see began in Plaça Catalunya. Now we see the sea, but we will reach it by treading on a bland ground and we will continue to ask ourselves if it is no longer possible to maintain the essence of the cities we live in, or if essence is precisely made by changes.
