Barcelona's latest attempt to combat the tourist monopoly on the Ciutat Vella trade

BarcelonaBarcelona takes another step forward in the fight against tourist monoculture in the Ciutat Vella district. This Friday, the City Council presented its proposal for a new use plan for the district, which seeks new ways to limit the opening of businesses such as cannabis, souvenir, nail, and mobile phone case stores, as well as 24-hour supermarkets. The municipal government's project—which will be approved by the final government commission in June, with the goal of having it validated by the plenary session before the end of the year—includes new restrictions on the concentration of activities in a single area, the minimum required width of the street, and the minimum and maximum dimensions of the activity.

One of the key aspects of this new regulation is the creation of a new higher division to categorize the nearly 180 types of activities that exist in the district based on their impact on public space, noise, quality of life, waste, and coexistence. That is, in addition to the restrictions specific to its category—depending on whether it's a hair salon, a bar, a textile store, or a telephone store, to name a few—each activity will have other limitations depending on which of the three higher categories it falls into: high impact, moderate impact, or activities to be promoted.

For example, if previously, in order to grant a self-service store license, it was necessary that there be no other stores within a 50-meter radius, now another limitation is added to this: since it's considered a high-impact activity, the license can only be granted if, in addition to there being no other super establishments grouped in the high-impact category—for example, restaurants and concert halls—allowed within a 100-meter radius. A double-edged sword, which will make the opening of certain types of establishments even more difficult.

And what activities are part of each group? In terms of the most impactful category, there are everything from dance halls, bars, and restaurants to supermarkets and self-service stores with extended hours, private social clubs (such as cannabis clubs) and everything related to gambling and betting shops (which in this case are completely prohibited). In the intermediate category, there are everything from traditional supermarkets to activities aimed at tourism, such as lockers, bicycle and scooter rentals, and non-food retail.

Finally, among the activities they want to promote are everything related to cultural activities (without dance floors) and local food retailers, such as butchers, fishmongers, etc. Along these lines, the government will also lift the current suspension preventing the granting of any new licenses for La Rambla at the end of the month. From now on, licenses for cultural activities will be possible, and everything else will be suspended.

A single plan for the entire district

One of the new features of the land use plan is precisely that, unlike what happens now, there will be a single land use plan for the entire district. La Rambla will no longer have its own land use plan and will be integrated into the general district plan. However, both La Rambla and Via Laietana—which the City Council will inaugurate on June 29th after years of construction—will be given special consideration, as they are classified as unique strategic axes.

This means, for example, that while in the case of shows, according to the general plan for Ciutat Vella, there can only be one every 400 meters in streets over 15 meters wide and with a maximum area of 1,000 square meters, on Via Layetana and La Rambla, on the other hand, the area will be...

More inspections

However, as always in these cases, the land use plan only applies to new licenses applied for and does not affect existing businesses or those transferring premises with an incorporated license. In this regard, the City Council admits that the land use plan must be accompanied by "continuous reinforcement" of inspections to detect premises that violate licenses or misuse them.

One of the most common frauds is that, despite the district prohibiting the opening of new souvenir shops, many shops, despite being registered under another heading, take advantage of the margin granted by the regulations—which allow them to use 20% of the establishment for a purpose other than the heading under which they are registered—for example. Now, the new land use plan will explicitly prohibit the use of that 20% for activities not permitted in the district, such as souvenirs.

Protecting iconic commerce

The new land use plan also seeks to protect iconic establishments in the district, especially restaurants. It includes special features to allow for updates and improvements to establishments that, due to their uniqueness and location in high-density areas, until now required a new license, which in practice was impossible to obtain.