Climate change will radically alter the shape of cities, which were once temperate and in the future will be warm or torrid. For example, if you read these lines while waiting for the bus or sitting outdoors on a July day, you will understand that streets, in our latitudes, will need much more shade. A public space at 37 degrees, no matter how public it is, will always be deserted. And Barcelona has a very well-maintained and quite well-designed public space in certain places, but it is inclement from May to September.
The greenest way we have to create shade is to plant trees, but this requires a long journey until the canopies become tall and leafy. And not all trees tolerate pollution and drought. For years, old plane trees in Barcelona have been replaced by hackberries, linden trees, Judas trees, tipuanas, sophoras... But there are still long esplanades of hard plazas, panots or asphalt that accumulate radiation within their mass and retain it until the early hours of the morning. Then, concepts such as the alignment of trees in the street (rows or vegetable columns) will have to be doubled to cover the entire space of the sidewalk or plaza.
Curtain walls will have to be banned. Projects are still being processed that feature completely glazed facades, without opaque parts. And glass is a welcome invention for views, but it does not help to confine the air, because it immediately transmits the outside temperature to the inside. These facades you see, which are a single skin of glass, are a nightmare for air conditioning the interior space. Glass can help transmit the sun's heat to rooms in winter, but in summer, glass must be protected with blinds, awnings, or balconies, which poses a much more difficult challenge for the composition or general appearance of the facade.
I always say that Barcelona should look to the Maghreb and the Middle East, where traditional architecture has been working for centuries with light patios, wind chimneys, or fountains to conduct the very scarce breezes into the interior of homes. Medinas are full of narrow streets, which are covered with awnings in the warmer seasons, and houses are white, so that light bounces off and does not heat the heavy stones of the facade. And Mallorcan cities are also full of eaves on the roofs and balconies where no one goes out, but which project long shadows over the windows of the houses. Porches, pergolas, or brise-soleils are the most valued spaces by pedestrians looking for the coolest places to walk in the city.
In a climate like ours, where luckily it is not hot all year round yet, we will say that facades become sophisticated, because in summer we will see them very protected by blinds and awnings, and in winter they will show glazed spaces that let the sun into the interior of the houses. To all intents and purposes, this means that two very different images of the buildings will have to be worked on, in summer and in winter, and trust the users, who just as they wear a scarf in winter to protect their throat, in summer they will have to cover the windows so that they do not excessively heat the air in the house. Or overcome the temptation to open the windows in the afternoon, because no matter how hot it is inside, the street temperature will be more torrid. When it's hot, you have to confine the scarce cold air left in the house, and that means tricking the meteorological inclemency.
I always say that Barcelona should look to the Maghreb and the Middle East, where traditional architecture has been working for centuries with light patios, wind chimneys, or fountains to conduct the very scarce breezes into the interior of homesAt night, everything will have to be opened, to make the air in the house or offices lose a few calories. And this implies getting used to being in silence and moving gastronomic activities away from the windows of the rooms after certain hours. The conflict of noise in the city has a sustainability derivative that cannot be underestimated.
It's very hot, but installing air conditioning units will aggravate the problem in the short term, so we will have to get used to new clothing and new types of skin on all urban buildings. We will see hats, visors, capelines, grilles, blinds, awnings, eaves, and pergolas to achieve more comfortable facades and urban spaces. Barcelona, get pretty and, in summer, cover up!
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