In the summer of 2023, a strong storm suddenly left Barcelona in the dark and put cyclists at risk during the start of the Vuelta a España, which was taking place from the Catalan capital. At the time, the City Council explained that it could not act because the darkness was "unforeseen" and because a significant part of the system was very rigid and could only be turned on early manually. Now this situation can no longer happen again: since this summer, all the city's lights can be controlled remotely with a single switch.

The images of the Besòs river full to the brim and about to overflow a week ago have been one of the most prominent photographs left by the storm of recent days on the Catalan coast. A scene that had not been seen for decades and that not only made many in the area remember tragedies like the 1962 flood, but also put the spotlight back on the urbanization project around the Three Chimneys of Sant Adrià.

The storm this past week has tested the resilience of cities like Barcelona. Between October 3rd and 6th, the Catalan capital recorded 213 liters per square meter, a third of the rain it usually collects in a whole year. The downpours pushed the city's drainage systems to the limit and raised a key question: are large cities prepared for a new model of more aggressive storms? What are they doing and what can they do to protect themselves?

Barcelona City Council deepened its fight this Friday to eliminate tourist apartments in the city. Three days after the Council of Ministers re-approved the two housing decrees that failed in Congress a week ago, the city council's economy commission adopted them to approve an IBI (property tax) increase for the 10,600 tourist apartments in the Catalan capital. An increase that, in some cases, will mean these apartments will pay 2.5 times more in property tax.

Once again, the polls do not smile upon Junts per Barcelona with just over seven months to go until the municipal elections. But far from falling into discouragement, their mayoral candidate, Jordi Martí, presented his candidacy to society this Wednesday with a plea against resignation. "There is a game," he asserted during a speech in which he showed himself willing to turn the polls around and also the dynamic of a city that, he lamented, is not well governed.

Yet another survey, and there have been many, confirms that concern over housing continues to break records in Barcelona. This Wednesday, the City Council made public the 2026 Municipal Services Survey, the most comprehensive one conducted by the Municipal Data Office (OMD), with more than 6,000 in-person interviews. Among those surveyed, 23% identify housing as the most serious problem facing the city, the highest figure in the historical series. This data, moreover, represents an increase of 2.2 points compared to the same survey a year ago, and 15.6 points compared to just five years ago.

"We had never seen anything like it." Residents of the Font del Gos neighborhood in Barcelona were still observing with disbelief this Tuesday morning the devastation that the weekend's downpour caused in the area. From the mountain of mud under which the asphalt of Carrer Torrent de Cal Notari has disappeared, they relived what they defined as one of the most dramatic nights experienced in the area. On the night from Saturday to Sunday, firefighters had to arrive by boat to their homes to rescue six families in danger due to the rising of the torrent. Some were already waiting perched on the roof of their houses, the only place the water did not yet cover.

With the Catalan coast and pre-coastal areas still recovering from the effects of the weekend's downpour, the storm has returned to punish Barcelona and its surroundings this Monday with another extremely strong storm that took everyone by surprise and at times created truly dangerous situations. The Minister of the Interior herself, Núria Parlon, has acknowledged that the situation caught them off guard because, although a situation of atmospheric instability was forecast, an episode of this magnitude was not expected. In addition to numerous ravages, the downpours have left two people missing, whom emergency teams continue to search for.

Granollers has taken the worst of the storm this Monday. The capital of the Vallès Oriental region has accumulated 343 liters since Saturday night, and just between midnight and ten o'clock this Monday morning, the rain left more than 100 liters there. All of this has caused a critical scenario, with the Congost river at its limit, many streets flooded, and even two sinkholes on the road near the courthouse that forced the temporary evacuation of two buildings. "It was chaos; in 10 minutes everything was flooded. Two more minutes and my car would have been stuck at the roundabout," says Glòria Ruiz, owner of the Destaca dry cleaners, which is right at the roundabout that gives access to the South beltway of Granollers and which was flooded by the torrential rains.

Until recently, the main impact that rain had on the Barcelona metro network was the eternal leaks at the Diagonal station on line 3 and the wood shavings used to dry them. In recent weeks, however, the downpours that have fallen on the Catalan capital have caused havoc in underground mobility. The heavy storms on September 16 and 29 dumped more than 100 liters in less than an hour in some parts of the city and forced the closure of stations on practically all metro lines, which left a good part of the city without service. A scenario that has forced TMB and the City Council to start working on measures to deal with storms that will become increasingly frequent.

The new traffic regulation from the Directorate-General for Traffic (DGT) came into effect this Thursday amidst controversy. To the point that cities like Barcelona have initially defied one of its most controversial new features: making the coexistence of flashing yellow traffic lights for vehicles and green lights for pedestrians incompatible. A system present in no less than 1,550 intersections in the Catalan capital, where the flashing yellow allows vehicles to advance if at that moment they do not have to yield to any pedestrian crossing the street.

One of the great mysteries that has yet to be solved is what the Sagrada Família will finally look like, and we will still have to wait. At the end of June, the temple's Construction Board presented the board of trustees with the three artistic proposals from Miquel Barceló, Cristina Iglesias, and Javier Marín for the Glory façade, but for now, the debate remains wide open. To the point that, as ARA has learned, the president of the Construction Board, Esteve Camps, has sent a letter to the three artists informing them that the temple needs "more time" to make a decision.

The announcement on June 4th by the mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, that licenses for shared bicycles will not be renewed and that from January 1st they will no longer be able to circulate in the Catalan capital took everyone by surprise. Including the operators that offer this service called bicisharing, who have since started a race to try to reverse the decision. Although they assume the city council will not change its mind and that by the end of the year they will have to store the bicycles in warehouses, they are confident they can turn things around after the municipal elections and obtain a pardon to operate in the city again.

Luxury hotels in the city of Barcelona dodged a double tax increase this Friday. The disagreement between PSC and Barcelona en Comú made it impossible to approve two measures that sought to increase the contribution that these establishments and their clients make to the city. The City Council plenary session rejected the part of the fiscal ordinances that, among other things, aimed to increase the IBI (property tax) paid by luxury hotels to 1.3%. A rejection that the 'comuns' justified in part by the municipal government's refusal to increase the tourist surcharge for five-star hotels to 8 euros immediately.

La Mercè began this Wednesday with a marriage proposal, and continued this Thursday with various calls to renew vows. If at the Palau de la Virreina it was one of the Eagle bearers who took advantage of the start of the festival to ask their partner to marry them, at the City Hall the traditional procession of authorities culminated in the no less traditional starting gun for the pre-campaign of the municipal elections in May. Because the Virgin of Mercy may have been able to end the locust plague that the city was suffering in her day, but it does not seem she can do anything against the avalanche of electoral slogans that awaits the people of Barcelona.

Barcelona kicked off the 2026 La Mercè festival this Wednesday with an opening speech that championed local commerce as one of the city's great distinguishing features. It was delivered by Toni and Meritxell Falgueras, father and daughter and representatives of a dynasty of shopkeepers who have been serving the neighbors of the Sants neighborhood for over 131 years from the counter of the Celler Gelida. Both delivered an agile speech in which they called for people to continue shopping at local businesses. "Not so much crying when they close, but doing more to ensure they don't," they emphasized.

A mixed bag this Tuesday for Jaume Collboni's government. The city council's Economy Commission endorsed this Tuesday a progressive increase in the tourist surcharge for cruise ship passengers in transit –those who spend less than twelve hours in the city– until this type of tourist pays thirty euros to visit the city. The municipal government, on the other hand, has not managed to gather a sufficient majority around the increase in IBI (property tax) for luxury hotels. Both files will now face a definitive debate this Friday in the plenary session.

The Construction Board of the Sagrada Família stumbled this Tuesday over the staircase that is to crown the Glory façade. In a surprising plot twist, the board's director general, Xavier Martínez, had opened the door for the first time to being able to build the staircase by demolishing only one building: the Núñez i Navarro property on Mallorca street. Hours later, however, the temple itself corrected the message and underscored that while that property is the key piece to being able to build the staircase, its construction will also "entail impacts on other buildings in the vicinity".

It is not easy to get used to changes. This is corroborated by one of the new flexible bollards that have been installed on Balmes Street, which define the new relationship between cars and buses on one of the busiest streets in Barcelona. A few minutes past nine in the morning, it is already completely crushed and lying on the ground. This Friday is the first day of the pilot project promoted by the City Council so that vehicles wanting to turn right must do so from the middle lane. That is to say, without occupying the bus lane and giving way to taxis and buses in the style of what they already have to do, for example, with bike lanes.

The mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, already has a date for his first major political test of the term. The fourth deputy mayor, Jordi Valls, announced this Friday the calling of an extraordinary Economy commission next Tuesday to put to a vote the fiscal ordinances for the next term and the proposal to increase the tourist surcharge on cruise ships in transit. Two key debates that the municipal government aspires to be able to move forward before facing a folder that at first glance seems much more complicated: the budgets.