Alessandro Balducci: "Algorithms are deciding which areas of the city have more tourist interest"

Barcelona"Cities can end up paying a very high cost if no one worries about a more equitable distribution of resources." This is the statement of one of the most influential voices in territorial planning in Europe, architect and urban planner – and former City Councilor for Urban Planning in Milan – Alessandro Balducci (Rome, 1954), who visited Barcelona in July within the framework of presentations organized by the Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB). Taking into account the invisible, that which politicians often do not want to see and which we are leaving "in the hands of algorithms," has become his firmest defense. In conversation with ARA, he asserts that institutions must begin to cooperate and "stop working like in the last century."

You argue that what really transforms the metropolis is what we cannot see. What are the key elements of this invisible city?

— Well, the first great invisible is the health sector. Inequalities in access to health are a very important problem. Then we have climate change, which is becoming less invisible every time; we are not making radical decisions that we know are necessary because there is still resistance. Thirdly, digitalization: another great invisible that affects all dimensions of our life. Governments are discovering very slowly the importance of regulating it. E-commerce, data centers... all this has already created enormous wealth for very few people.

In Barcelona, something has been done regarding the regulation of digital apartment rental platforms...

— Yes, Airbnb. But in many other places, not yet. In Milan, it is already said that the number of data centers projected in the area could end up consuming the same amount of energy as a city like Bologna! We also have the issue of the invisible population: the elderly, for example. We do not have enough nursing homes, and if we want people to age in their own homes, we must address the problems of the neighborhoods, the buildings, and the housing, to allow them to live there with dignity.

He warns that we are outdated, regulating and developing cities with the same parameters as in the last century. Where should the focus be placed now?

— All these invisible elements must be taken into account. However, politicians do not see the need to govern these issues because they escape their municipal limits. This is an obstacle because these major topics cannot be managed within small borders. And ceding power to higher bodies is very difficult for them. I believe we must be aware that it is very difficult to redesign institutions and, therefore, what we should do is promote cooperation projects to address these types of problems.

With which ones?

— If we want to fight against climate change, let us organize ourselves into small communities to promote measures such as energy saving, teleworking, or better mobility, for example. My idea is not to design new institutions, but to get existing ones to cooperate. Housing is one of the most obvious areas. Climate change is another. Also the rethinking of welfare services.

This summer Barcelona has hosted major events, such as the Pope's visit or the Tour de France. Do you believe they have been prioritized over the invisible city?

— There is a general problem of territorial equity that ends up concentrating all the value in the cities. I will not deny that these major events are important for the municipal budget, for the city's image, and I believe that Barcelona has also done a lot of work with the superblocks, for example, or with housing policies in recent years that do indeed try to address this invisible dimension. But we must go further. Cities may end up paying a very high cost if no one worries about a more equitable distribution of resources.

Gentrification means that more and more people live far from where they work and, therefore, from where they spend a large part of their day. Does it make sense to continue talking about municipal boundaries or should the great metropolis be much more articulated?

— It seems clear to me that daily commuting needs to be reduced through teleworking. Also, mobility must be improved. It is a way of encouraging people to be able to spend more time in their municipality and achieve a true decentralization of activities, contributing to the development of forms of urbanity on a local scale, which are very important.

In Catalonia we have some problems with mobility, especially with the railway one...

— Yes. And that is a huge part of the housing problem. Because, if from the place where you live you could get to work –which might be about thirty minutes away by car– in only fifteen minutes with a comfortable train, the situation would change completely. Separating the transport problem from the housing one is a mistake.

You also state that Algorithms are deciding more things than some politicians. Why do you say that?

— For example, how many people are needed to maintain a certain service. Or which areas of the city have more tourist interest. And thus decisions are made that, traditionally, should be the responsibility of governments, especially if one wants to help certain territories that are in a situation of lack of attention.

Is it possible to find a balance? Between the big city and the rest of the municipalities; between digitalization and regulation; between mass tourism and the invisible city?

— Algorithms and tourism are closely related. The expansion of tourism in urban centers has been extraordinary as a result of platforms like Airbnb, online booking systems, or low-cost flights. Algorithms also show you that a friend of yours has gone to some festival or other, and that creates a need in you to be there. All of this has triggered a 50% increase in tourism compared to the previous period. And I believe we should try, at the very least, to distribute this pressure territorially. The city needs to find a balance between tourist attraction and the survival of its residents.

How do you imagine the Barcelona metropolis in ten or fifteen years?

— Barcelona has an extraordinary tradition, from Cerdà to Gaudí. You should preserve it and combine it with the capacity to experiment with ways of living. Like all other cities, you are facing the challenge of digitalization and regulating digital platforms. Fifteen years from now, people should be traveling much less; much more should have been invested in transport and the superblocks model should have continued to be expanded to the whole region.

Now in Catalonia we are more than 8 million people and we are heading towards 10 million. Will we have the capacity to absorb the growth?

— Do we have any chance of stopping it? We only have left to learn how to manage it.