Pol Casellas: "Living in Barcelona is a scam, but it has us hooked and we want to keep living there."

BarcelonaPol Casellas (Barcelona, ​​1995) is an architect, but he is best known for his work on social media, where he shares unknown, curious, and surprising stories about Barcelona. His passion for urban planning, architecture, and the city of his birth led him to launch this project with no other aim than to share knowledge, but it has ended up being so successful that it still surprises him and has led him to publish his first book. The impossible Barcelona (Compass Rose).

When did you start this outreach work on social media?

— Two years ago, in February 2024, I started this project because I felt there was so much to tell about Barcelona that wasn't being shared, from the sheer number of municipal facilities—many of which are historic buildings with rich histories—to stories about neighborhoods or the city center. It wasn't often about uncovering some big secret, but rather about sharing stories that resonate with people. Because Barcelona is so vast, we often only know about the stories from our own area. I wanted Barcelonans to have a place where they could learn about their city.

What topics do you most enjoy discussing?

— I'm really interested in everything related to transportation and infrastructure. And whenever I talk about things like subways or trains, it generates a lot of interest. I suppose it's because it's something you use every day, and it's fun to learn things you didn't know.

Do you like this idea of ​​presenting content as secret stories that few people know?

— I try to avoid the "Did you know..." or "Do you know that secret?" formula. Although I did use it a bit at the beginning. I always try to ask an initial question that sparks interest, a kind of clickbait, but I always want my content to be serious, with a rigorous foundation. This was important to me. After all, I'm an architect, and architecture, when you have references, when you tell the story, reveals that things have a reason. There's always a whole social and political context that you have to consider when explaining, and you always have to try to communicate it with the utmost rigor and also with a neutrality that I try to keep quite precise.

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This is quite surprising on social media, at a time when many people are sharing content without any rigor and with zero neutrality, quite the opposite, fostering polarization.

— I definitely see this: people tend towards polarization. It happens when I address a topic where I might take a stronger stance, or it's more controversial, and people react as if there were two opposing sides. With issues like the tram, for example, where the city is very divided, you see it. I always try to argue my points as thoroughly as possible. I don't like pointless debates. I want people to come to my social media to learn. There's a lot of noise on social media, especially now, with debates and heckling, and an atmosphere that doesn't help with learning.

As someone who knows Barcelona, ​​what do you think is the best thing about the city?

— Its diversity. Both in terms of urban planning and neighborhoods. The diversity of people, the cultural diversity... that plurality that I believe has always allowed Barcelona to grow and thrive, and without which it would be a very boring city. We wouldn't have that added value of taking the metro, going two stops, and being in a completely different place than where you were before. And, for me, that's something very beautiful.

And the worst part?

— The worst thing, I think, and the central issue, is how difficult it's becoming to live in Barcelona. The problem of high rents, the disappearance of local shops... I sometimes say that living in Barcelona is a rip-off, but it traps us and we want to keep living here. I'm thirty years old and I remember the city from when I was little, the one from the 90s, and I see it fading away. Going for a walk downtown, something I used to do with my parents when I was little, is now almost impossible. Before, there were events where locals would come, the shops were traditional, and now all of that is disappearing. But I still live here because I like it, I grew up here, and it would feel like a personal sacrifice to have to leave. If one day goes by, I'll consider the city lost.

Are you currently working as an architect?

— Yes, I now work for a property development company in the sector of project managementwhich is another branch of architecture. I combine this work with outreach on social media. I try to find a balance between both jobs and free time, and not burn out in the process.

Would you like to be able to make a living solely from what you do on social media?

— Well, it's a question I ask myself often. Taking that leap of faith makes me hesitate. It scares me a little. I think the key would be to be able to combine it with other collaborations: television, newspapers... not dedicating myself solely to social media because I think very few people can live 100% of the time doing that.

Have you ever considered creating the content in Spanish?

— A while ago, my roommate and I started a podcast in Spanish. We both always speak Catalan, and it seemed absurd to us. We did it to reach more people, but we realized it was completely pointless because we were talking about our lives, and it didn't make any sense in Spanish. So, when I started this project, I knew that if I wanted to talk about Barcelona, ​​and the language of Barcelona is Catalan, it had to be done in Catalan. It bothers me sometimes when there's content about Barcelona that's written for someone who isn't from here, because then it doesn't explain it well. There are many Catalan content creators who say that content in this language is a political act. It's clear that you can reach many more people in Spanish, but if the content is about Barcelona, ​​and the audience I want to reach is the people who live here, why should I do it in Spanish? There's some content that might justify it, but in my case, I could also do it in English, right? And then yes, it would reach the entire expanded audience and the whole world, but I'm not interested because I think the stories I tell are very local and it would lose its meaning.

Who are your role models?

— When I was thinking about this project, I started with more references from print media, from people who write columns like Xavi Casinos or Lluís Permanyer. My idea was to combine that more traditional profile with that of a content creator on social media.

Is there a particular corner of Barcelona that you especially like?

— I really like the Water Reservoir Library at Pompeu Fabra University, on the Ciutadella campus. It's not easy to get into, you'll never find tourists, it's peaceful. It's a place I really like because it's incredibly calm. Another spot I like is the municipal sailing center because I've always sailed, and there, despite being right on the beach, it's always very calm. It's like a gateway to the sea, which would be my favorite place in Barcelona. On the other hand, what I like least, I'd say, is Plaça Espanya. I don't like it at all; I find it a very inhospitable place. It's like a giant roundabout. There are no shops, just a lot of isolated elements...

In Barcelona, ​​the car is still very much present.

— Yes, yes, and there's a lot of noise. When I record videos, I realize how incredibly loud the cars and motorcycles are. But if you record on a Sunday at 9 a.m., you see how calm it is. We're used to living with so much noise. For me, driving around Barcelona is madness. I think the commuter rail needs improvement, that's clear, so that people coming from outside the city can get there more easily, but people who live in Barcelona should be parking their cars at home. This has to change.

Another criticism of the city is that it has few green spaces.

— It's true that we don't have large green spaces, those big areas like Retiro Park in Madrid, Hyde Park in London, or Central Park in New York. The good thing here is that we have a lot of trees. When I talk to people from outside Barcelona, ​​they're surprised that every street in the city has trees.

You've just published a book about projects that were never carried out in Barcelona. Where did the idea come from?

— I'm very interested in the idea of ​​investigating unrealized projects. I think it's another way of explaining the city because it's a part that was lost, that wasn't built, and this opens up a dimension of other possible cities that never existed. That's what makes it so interesting.

Which of these projects do you like the most?

— For example, the one at the Balneario in the Free Trade Zone is really beautiful. I find it incredible nowadays, because few people know it used to be a beach. I also like all the different zoo projects, because they were planned for locations outside the city, which opened up a lot of possibilities. And then I also really like the artistic ones, because I think they have a vision that goes beyond architecture; they wanted to create something iconic. They had a concept like flying pigeons, like the project that involved wrapping the Columbus monument, which I think is a crazy story.

Looking ahead, where should Barcelona go?

— I believe it's crucial to ensure that Barcelona residents can remain in the city because, otherwise, we'll be living in a completely dehumanized and characterless place. We've moved beyond the era of major events, and now we must work to ensure that, through politics and urban planning, Barcelona residents can continue to live in their city and that it doesn't become a theme park.