Ferran Mascarell: "Barcelona is a city that has been fought for, and Madrid is a city that has been given to you."

BarcelonaAfter a long political career that led him to become a regional minister and city councilor, first with the PSC and later with Convergència and Junts, Ferran Mascarell (Sant Just Desvern, 1951) continues to dedicate his time to reflecting on the country and the Catalan capital. He has captured this in his book. Barcelona, ​​a quick divePublished by Tibidabo Ediciones.

It raises the need for Barcelona to rethink itself. Why?

— All cities must reinvent themselves frequently. Barcelona has been reinventing itself for 2,000 years, and now it needs to do so again because internal, national, and international circumstances demand it. For example, it is essential that Barcelona view Catalonia differently.

As?

— Today, Catalonia is a metropolitan area with several centers. Barcelona and its metropolitan area are the most important, but Girona-Figueres-Roses, or Tarragona and Reus... are also significant. And Barcelona must be able to transcend this. Barcelona's housing needs cannot be addressed without considering the rest of the country. Barcelona's connectivity cannot be improved without redesigning the entire connectivity network of the region. How can it be, for example, that Barcelona is absent from the debate about the AP-7 motorway? Barcelona grew up by tearing down its physical walls; now it must demolish the conceptual ones. There are no longer metropolitan boundaries: it is Barcelona, ​​its metropolis, and its region.

He argues that the city should no longer be viewed from Tibidabo, but from the sky. From an aerial view.

— From Tibidabo, you see a beautiful city, bordered by two rivers, a sea, and a hinterland. But this is no longer just the city. Barcelona is the country's main service provider. It's surrounded by urban areas with the same or similar urban intensity, interspersed with productive areas and natural areas. It's a bargain of a country, if we know how to understand it. But we're operating with the mindset of the 1930s. The Noucentista model of copying Barcelona and extending a library, a telephone line, and a highway to every corner can no longer be Catalonia's program.

Some argue that it should be a co-capital of the State.

— I'm very critical of this idea because the investment is 99 to 1 in Madrid's favor. Barcelona shouldn't be the co-capital of a state that's capable of diverting resources from the Mediterranean Corridor to Madrid. Barcelona is a city that has historically fought for its place, while Madrid is a city that was given to it. It's very difficult to be a leading city without a state that protects you, and we have a state that actually hinders us.

Does a pessimistic discourse about Barcelona sometimes prevail?

— One of the things I say in the book is that not all cities have lasted 2,000 years. And one of Barcelona's strengths is having endured despite the amount of hardship that has typically come from outside. Now, to look at the present with any real understanding, we have to think about it historically. You look back at a moment of splendor and then look at the present and say, "Wow, the city isn't what it used to be." But there have been many moments like this, and the resurgences have ultimately led to events like the Olympic Games. There are things that can be done, but we can't wait for them. We have to go out and find them. We have to know how to build them.

So where do you begin?

— We should be able to give the city a new dimension and restore a sense of coexistence fundamentally based on Catalan identity, which means certain values, certain agreements, respect for people, respect for languages... Otherwise, the city will fall apart. Historically, Maragall's ideal for Barcelona was freedom and justice. Now, we must add two more elements: prosperity and well-being.

In what sense?

— Barcelona should try to reinvent the concept of well-being, which belongs to the last century and was based on education, healthcare, and employment. But how can you have well-being if, with the transportation system for getting in and out of the city for work, you lose hours of your life every day? Or if you grow up in the city convinced that you'll never find a job, a good salary, or decent housing?

Is civil society losing strength?

— This is the city's great challenge. Barcelona's driving force has always been the solidarity of its people. The city must undergo a profound process of democratic renewal so that people feel involved. I believe a city begins to shape its future when it achieves its first victory, which is when people envision that future. Right now, if you ask Barcelonans where they're headed, they don't know.

A little bit of that Barcelona, where are you going?, the book of the 70s.

— I didn't like that title. We ask the city where it's going. Let's ask ourselves where we're taking it, shall we? Because cities go where they're taken. If we don't manage to give Barcelona society, the middle classes, the context of a project, they'll end up accepting simplicity.