The New Barcelona Post converses this month with Frankie Puig, one of the young executives participating in Barcelona 2040, the leadership and city program taught by Barcelona Global. The objective of this series of interviews is for this new generation of leaders to share their vision of the Barcelona of the future they aspire to, as well as their impact proposals for the improvement of the city.
--- What do you expect from Barcelona in the year 2040?
--- Barcelona is one of the best places to live and work in the world. To live and work, in that order. But it seems we have forgotten it. Perhaps we are so used to it that we don't value it. I believe that for 2040, we don't need to invent anything, just remember what we have always been, value it, and enhance it as much as we can. I hope that in 2040 Barcelona will be more Barcelona than ever.
Many young people have gone to cities where they can better develop their talent. I have friends in New York, San Francisco, London… We cannot compete with those cities in terms of opportunities. The money is there. But we can compete in quality of life. All those people, tomorrow, will have stabilized their projects, and will not need to be so tied to the main business centers. Perhaps they will start a family, and begin to value life more. Then they will want to return. But they will not give up what they will have built outside. I hope that the Barcelona of 2040 will be a good home for them and their projects. I think that if we manage to be that, everything else will follow.
--- What city would you compare Barcelona to?
--- Comparisons are dangerous. Even more so between cities, which are very complex. From my perspective, Barcelona is a city built by its tensions: sea and mountain, Carrer Petritxol and Gran Via 2, Sardanes in Plaça Sant Jaume and the MWC, Via Veneto and Pans & Company… They don't seem like contradictions to me, but paradoxes. They stimulate. They build a restless culture. Politically agitated. Detached, rebellious. It often reminds me of Berlin after the fall of the wall. It developed underground environments where hackers and artists converged, fantasizing about redefining the world. They looked at San Francisco with envy, but without a real intention to compete. Perhaps feeling inferior, they saw the tensions of the past more as pending tasks than as an opportunity. And they were distracted by accessible luxury, avoiding reality: great ambitions need investment.
--- What city model do you think Barcelona should resemble?
--- I haven't lived long enough in enough cities to answer this question well. But "live and work" sounds like Miami to me.
--- What is the main challenge Barcelona must solve in the coming years?
--- I think Barcelona should get excited again. For that, it needs to glimpse an attractive future and propose a project. Designing it shouldn't be difficult. It would involve understanding what has happened in recent years, seeing if we are going somewhere, and asking ourselves: "Do we feel like it?".
I think we should abandon the current political discussions. Not because they are irrelevant, but because while we discuss here, the future is already being designed elsewhere. Perhaps we should stop thinking about Barcelona in current terms and focus on being a global city. We are asphalt and nature, culture, gastronomy, good weather, good connections… Also nonconformity, effort, ambition. If we regain enthusiasm, we could aspire to be the best city in the world to live and work.
--- What do you think should be the role of new generations and their involvement in the city's development?
--- To contribute enthusiasm and energy. And I insist on "contribute." I believe their role will only make sense if it is in relation to all other generations. They may be tempted to override their parents. It usually happens. It's the easy way. But it wouldn't work long-term. Better to build on what we have. Evolve it, enrich it. Establish a dynamic in which, when these new generations reach their 80s, and their grandchildren challenge the city, they feel the project as their own and want to continue contributing.
Philosophy aside, and if you allow me to include myself as a new generation, I think our best contribution to Barcelona is a broad vision of the world. We have a new way of doing things. It escapes many of the mental limits with which we usually understand the city, and it poses new challenges.
--- Which business sectors do you think Barcelona should bet on?
--- If we have the project of being the best city to live and work, and we set as our main objective to relocate the talent that is currently developing in major capitals, we would have to build an ecosystem capable of hosting these people and their projects.
A critical sector in this maneuver would be Real Estate. When I speak of Real Estate, I am not referring to mere real estate speculation, but to the creation or redesign of entire neighborhoods around concepts or lifestyles. Barcelona already went through this in the 19th century, with the Cerdà Plan. It is about creating environments where the future can develop comfortably. Lately, I am working with funds that think in these terms. I would never have imagined that companies of that type, structurally designed to buy cheap and sell expensive, would have such a profound vision of what it means to create value. But they do. In a context where politicians work with a 4-year horizon, it reassures me to know that there are entities that truly think long-term. And I trust that they will do a lot of good for the city.
I think we should also strengthen all those service structures that relocalized talent may need to continue developing their projects. Especially, what is convenient to have nearby. Technological talent, innovation, and connectivity are essential. As well as services that provide solidity: international law and management. We also have a lot to contribute from the creative industry. From global positioning thinking and strategies, to product design or content production. Above all, judgment.