This article reviews rehabilitation programs in Barcelona, focusing on aspects such as the intervention model, actual public investment, and results. Programs of this type are not exclusive to Barcelona; however, similar examples can be found in other European cities, especially where European Union (EU) funding is present. After analyzing these models, we reached a series of general conclusions that may be of interest. Thus, an eminently practical and reflective analysis is presented, aimed at technicians and those responsible for the design of intervention policies in urban regeneration. Rehabilitation programs are increasingly focused on vulnerable settings, and in this context, the participation and service function of public administrations are particularly relevant. The general model for rehabilitation subsidies rarely takes into account the specific characteristics of disadvantaged urban settings, as the article will show. After analyzing the different policies presented in this research, we identified two essential requirements: detailed knowledge of the affected neighborhood, and ongoing evaluation of the development of programs—beyond simple management indicators—so negative effects can be corrected in time such as gentrification, real estate speculation, and other by-products that the intervention itself can promote. This study confirms that not all public investments have the expected results.
This article presents the methodology and results of a pioneering investigation in the determination and mapping of socio-residential vulnerability in the city of Barcelona according to a multi-criteria synthetic analysis. The methodology followed is based on a system of indicators elaborated from the exploitation of habitual statistical Open Data complemented with specific unprecedented data elaborated and supplied by the Barcelona City Council. The analysis is based on secondary data and it is structured in georeferenced axes, components, and indicators, which allow determination of the sociodemographic, socioeconomic, and urban and residential space characteristics at neighborhood, population census unit, and urban block level. The objective of the research was to detect, determine, and establish a measure of differentiation relative to the degree of residential vulnerability of some neighborhoods with respect to others, in order to seek prioritization measures for action in the most vulnerable areas. The results of the research provide a series of maps that allow us to define the areas where the highest levels of vulnerability indicators coincide according to a synthetic multi-criteria analysis.
The objective of this research is to provide an updated state of the art of the interventions of rehabilitation in large housing estates built during the period of 1950-1975 in Europe, especially those interventions that focused on the modification of physical aspects, with the aim of providing analytic instruments that can be applied in future research on the implementation of verified intervention models.
In a context of downturn of public investment after the financial crisis of 2007, an increase of social and economic inequality takes place in territories and cities. Socio-residential vulnerability is intensified in certain urban areas where processes of socioeconomic and socio-spatial regression are related with the resident population difficulties to access resources for the intervention and maintenance of an aging residential building stock that gradually decays. Mediterranean cities in Southern Europe and precisely the city of Barcelona face the added difficulty of counting with a residential built stock of mostly private property, accounting many situations of horizontal property in which each building is managed by a community of owners who are not necessary householders and users. The present study consists of an analysis of the relation between the state of maintenance of residential buildings and the property regime, tenancy and uses, based on the observation of common spaces and elements of a large sample of buildings located in the most vulnerable areas of the city of Barcelona. The provided results can contribute to foster improvements in future public rehabilitation programs and policies. Particularly according to local challenges to guarantee and promote durability of a mostly privatelyowned residential built stock that is located in areas where socioeconomic difficulties hinder the residents' capacity to carry out rehabilitation or maintenance actions. Management of the maintenance of the residential built stock must take into account the repercussion of particularities in property regimes, tenancy and uses, especially when it refers to common spaces and elements of residential buildings.
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