Since this Tuesday, the Vatican flag has been flying on the facade of the Palau de la Generalitat and also on that of Barcelona City Hall. The Government has fully committed to the institutional visit that Pope Leo XIV is making to Catalonia – the first stop was this weekend in Madrid and will end the week in the Canary Islands – and the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, is accompanying the pontiff throughout his stay, from the moment he disembarked the plane on the very same runway. The visual proof that the Government wants to give its all for this visit is that it has also hung the flag on the facade of the Generalitat. Why?

There is one year left until the municipal elections and only ten days until the Pope's visit to Barcelona, and the labor conflict with part of the City Council staff is growing. In fact, social workers will maintain their strike for June 9 and 10, coinciding with the pontiff's presence. This Friday, in an extraordinary plenary session requested by the Junts, Comuns, and ERC groups, Jaume Collboni's government has been left alone with Vox against opening a dialogue space with the three minority unions –CGT, Intersindical, and ABACOS, with only 3 out of the 15 members of the negotiation table–, who have called for 30 days of partial stoppages in basic social services, gender-based violence, childhood, libraries, nursery schools, social emergencies, or citizen attention.partial stoppages in basic social services, gender-based violence, childhood, libraries, nursery schools, social emergencies, or citizen attention.

The CRIT Awards, which recognize and promote digital audiovisual projects in Catalan, celebrated their second edition yesterday at the Teatre Coliseum in Barcelona. Presented by Núria Marín, a total of 14 projects were recognized at the gala, with an attendance of 1,200 professionals and creators, including producers, journalists, and members of the Catalan audiovisual industry. This year's edition highlights the highest recognition for best creator of the year, which went to Laura Grau, and the podcast Guarres!, whose characters were interviewed by l'ARA a few weeks ago, as the best independent project.

The Barcelona League title celebration parade will force the rerouting of about thirty bus lines that normally run along the established route. After winning Sunday's match against Real Madrid, the procession will set off this Monday at 5 p.m. from Spotify Camp Nou and will pass through the most emblematic points of the Catalan capital. The caravan will affect mobility in Ciutat Vella, Eixample, and Les Corts, as there will be street closures and about thirty bus lines will be diverted from their usual route.

For Ali Smith, reading is so important and has shaped her in such a decisive way that this Wednesday afternoon she stated, in a packed Saló de Cent of Barcelona City Hall: "Books and libraries have a relationship and significance similar to what we humans have with water. I know that three-quarters of my body is water. I suspect that three-quarters of my body is also made of books".

Direct citizen service workers at Barcelona City Council have taken to the streets in another day of strike, which has caused basic social services, direct violence care, and libraries to operate at half capacity this Tuesday. The protesters' main grievance is the refusal to accept the new labor agreement that the council has signed with the CCOO, UGT, and CSIF unions, as they consider it to be a "loss of rights for the professionals" in this sector and, in turn, impacts "the quality of services and the rights of citizens." The council has downplayed the impact of the strike and indicated that at 10 a.m., only 3.8% of the 13,000 workers had joined the call.

Barcelona City Council has launched a civic responsibility campaign with a very direct and decidedly unfriendly message. It says that people who urinate in the street or litter are shameless. And I would go further: vandals, like those who deface bus stops; or freeloaders, like those who don't pay on the metro.

"Shame on you. Respect the neighbors' peace and quiet."Shame on you. Don't pee in the streetWalking along Carrer del Comércio in Barcelona's El Born district, you can see two large banners with these messages. One is in Catalan for locals, the other in English for tourists. The objective, however, is the same: to discourage antisocial behavior in public spaces, as the city council explains in a statement. The municipal body believes that "Little Shame" is a campaign with a "forceful and educational" tone, which will seek to highlight everyday instances of antisocial behavior such as drinking in public and littering. The campaign includes seven 10-second spots and a wide range of formats in the street, print media, television, digital media, and social networks. The messages will also be visible in the metro, on street furniture, and in iconic locations such as the MACBA (Museum of Contemporary Art of Barcelona) and the Agbar Tower.

"We call the City of Justice twice a month and the answer is always the same." It's been almost eight months since Montse Aguilar... a worker from the cleaning services of the Barcelona City CouncilMontse died upon arriving home after a workday during the heat wave at the end of June. Since then, her family has been waiting for the final autopsy to determine the cause of death so they can take legal action and argue in court that it was a workplace accident, not a random death. "They tell us they have nothing. We haven't received any new information since September 8th," Clara Aguilar, Montse's sister, explained to ARA.

City councilor Lluís Rabell has resigned from his position on the Barcelona City Council for health reasons. (November 2023) He already took a temporary break Rabell has also stepped down from his role as a member of the municipal government for medical reasons. But this time, the leave is permanent.

Barcelona will increase the number of places available for homeless people during the colder months: from the current 100 to 178, and will reinforce its outreach teams with twelve new members. This was announced by the Deputy Mayor for Social Rights, Raquel Gil, during the first meeting of the City Roundtable against Homelessness. The measure aims to "size" current municipal services to respond to the increase in homeless citizens in the Catalan capital.

Discreet, from the inner workings of the party and a staunch supporter of Colau, the new Comuns councilor is known within the organization, but until now has maintained a low public profile. Tania Rodillos (Manresa, 1978) relief This Wednesday, Janet Sanz, Ada Colau's former second-in-command, was present at Barcelona City Hall. She has long held an important role within Comuns and Barcelona en Comú, where she joined the executive committee in 2020. In fact, she is responsible for the party's organization and territory, a key area, and until now she had been an advisor at the Barcelona Provincial Council. When did she become politically active? In a conversation with ARA, she explains that she became an activist within the Podemos and Comuns movement right after the 15M movement, a time she acknowledges is "very different" from the present. She also reflects on how "the rise of the far right, the Donald Trump factor," and the latent social problems in the country have turned the political and social landscape upside down. And that has led to an undesirable situation she wants to reverse: "Many people tell me we can't always be angry. We worry so much about so many things that happen... But people are tired. We must reclaim joy as a political tool to reach people, who already have problems," she asserts. That's why she took office with a "good sense of humor," something hard to find in Spanish politics, which is experiencing extreme polarization.

Imagine being about to buy an apartment, after searching extensively and juggling finances to afford the down payment, only to have the owner tell you it's already sold to another buyer. And not only that, but the real estate agency adds that the entire property will be used for tourist apartments. A situation that wouldn't surprise anyone today, but more than ten years ago, it left Francesc Serrano and his partner reeling. He, who owned a software development company for third parties, arrived at the office and had the staff investigate whether tourist apartments were common or if he'd just had bad luck.

Barcelona is the guest of honor at the 2025 Guadalajara International Book Fair (FIL), the most important publishing event in Latin America and one of the most significant in the world, second only to the Frankfurt Book Fair in terms of business volume. The event begins today and runs until December 7. This designation recognizes the efforts of the Barcelona City Council, in collaboration with the private sector, to promote literature and culture in the city.

Barcelona City Council is accelerating the rollout of Pla Viure, the municipal strategy designed to address the housing crisis and ensure that access to decent and affordable housing is no longer the primary concern for citizens. With the slogan "We prioritize housing," the plan positions this policy as one of the top priorities of its term and outlines the actions to be taken to guarantee and universalize the right to housing. The Pla Viure structures the municipal housing strategy around three cross-cutting areas of focus: universalizing the right to housing, rehabilitating and improving existing housing with sustainability and comfort criteria, and addressing vulnerability and the different life stages of the population. It also includes measures aimed at vulnerable groups such as young people and students, households (families and children), the elderly, people with disabilities or reduced mobility, and people experiencing loneliness or poverty. Universalizing the right to housing

To reverse the situation of difficulty in accessing housing, the first pillar of the Pla Viure (Living Plan) prioritizes ensuring that everyone can live in decent and affordable housing. To this end, this pillar establishes three main objectives: expanding the stock of subsidized housing, using all available resources to develop vacant lots and build public housing, and involving the entire public and private sectors in housing development.

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Quantum physics, often perceived as an abstract theory far removed from everyday life, has been one of the most transformative forces of the contemporary world. Since the beginning of the 20th century, this discipline has changed the way we understand reality and has made possible advances such as computers, the internet, and mobile phones. Now, as its application expands into fields such as artificial intelligence and secure communications, quantum physics is once again at the center of scientific and social debate. In this context, Barcelona will host the fourth edition of the City and Science Biennial from November 18 to 23, coinciding this year with the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology. For six days, the Biennial will offer more than 130 activities—80 of them in Barcelona—to bring this scientific revolution closer to the public. The program will take place simultaneously in Barcelona and Madrid, and for the first time will extend to Mexico, within the framework of the Guadalajara International Book Fair (FIL), where Barcelona will be the guest city.

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The global mobilization campaign ACT x Palestine drew attention this Sunday to the fact that tickets for the Catalonia-Palestine match, scheduled for November 18, have not yet gone on sale, and that institutions are not promoting it. "Just compare it to the Basque Country-Palestine match," which will be played three days earlier at San Mamés, the stadium owned by Athletic Club, "for which 35,000 tickets were sold on the first day they went on sale," Luca Gervasoni, spokesperson for ACT x Palestine, told ARA. "There, the administrations and institutions work together to ensure the match is a success. In contrast, in Catalonia, there is a network of entities that are hindering the match from taking place at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys, and we don't want to point the finger at any one in particular because we don't know who is responsible," he added. Gervasoni's fears about the obstacles to holding the match at Montjuïc appear to be well-founded. Official sources from the Catalan Football Federation (FCF) have confirmed to this newspaper that they are looking for other stadiums to host the game. "Our priority is that it takes place. At this point, the main requirement we've been given for playing at Montjuïc is that it requires an investment of more than 600,000 euros, an unaffordable figure. Other options are being explored. Sabadell and Tarragona are two possibilities," say the Federation sources. It's worth remembering that the Estadi Olímpic can hold around 50,000 spectators and is owned by the city, and that the stadiums in Sabadell and Tarragona have a much smaller capacity, less than 15,000 spectators. "The FCF's priority is to organize it, and that's what we're working on," they assure.

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Pedro Velázquez (Barcelona, ​​1967) has been the head of Barcelona's Guardia Urbana (municipal police) since 2019, a force he joined more than three decades ago. After years of rising crime rates, the indicators began to decline, especially those for robberies. But insecurity remains among the top concerns of Barcelona residents.

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José Antonio Donaire (Salamanca, 1968) has been for three months the commissioner for Sustainable Tourism Management of the Barcelona City CouncilA PhD in geography and tenured professor at the Faculty of Tourism of the University of Girona, he lives in the Gothic Quarter, where he witnesses firsthand the effects of a tourism sector that the city council believes has peaked.

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Taking a stroll through Barcelona in the heat can be a real ordeal. Finding shaded areas to take a break and recharge is a challenge. This Wednesday, Barcelona City Council took a step forward with its Shade Program by launching a competition to win awnings and other sun protection measures for three iconic locations in the city: Portal de l'Àngel, Plaça Comercial (also known as Plaça del Mercat del Born), and the Passeig Marítim, between the Port Olímpic and the city center. According to Deputy Mayor Laia Bonet, the proposal will provide at least 5,000 square meters of new shade in these three locations by the summer of 2027, with a total budget of €2.15 million for the installation.

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