A curious phenomenon occurs in cities: everyone loves to see old photographs, film library movies, sepia-toned news, or archive images. In cities, the passage of time is healing. Seen with the perspective of years, the life of port stevedores, men in top hats showing themselves off on Paseo de Gràcia, or the great works of the Olympics that transformed the Olympic Village, become authentic spectacles that make us rethink the ambition of collective plans, how societies have transformed, and to what extent the streets we walk on we owe to the immense efforts and audacity of previous generations.
Twitter profiles such as El Boig de Can Fanga, Efemèrides d'arquitectura, Històries de Barcelona, Barcelona Singular, or the section Va passar aquí, from Betevé, carry out research and dissemination work that appeals to many people with very varied interests. I, for example, love, from time to time, to browse the Internet and discover stories of great spaces that were transformed in their day and of the people who created them.
It is an exercise in collective optimism and a certain historical humility, because seen in perspective, we too will one day be low-resolution images on a screen of some distant relative. And generally, Barcelona's transformations have been monumental. It is surprising that with very few mechanical means and a rather homemade energy, the city of the late 19th and early 20th centuries transformed with the magnitude that these graphic witnesses confirm.
Thanks to these transformations, the city of Barcelona today has better streets, public beaches, large artificial parks, and a very decent metro and train network.
Construction work continues to be a spectacle for many people. Whenever I can, I stop to take photographs of places undergoing transformation and I keep some magnificent images from when the Glòries drum began to be demolished. There were large yellow machines and a good number of elderly gentlemen next to the fence, who looked at it incredulously and as if saying "Do you mean all this will end well?". And it is turning out quite well, because the park is always packed to the brim and the vegetation is starting to be seen more than the asphalt.
But ten years ago, let's remember, the headlines and opposition parties said everything against the transformation of Glòries. That there would be traffic chaos, that a green square would only contribute to separating neighborhoods instead of generating urban life, that it was too large a space to remain empty and without buildings... That the structure of the concrete ring, cut off from traffic, should be preserved as a vestige of the Olympic era... Very little is said about the reality we have today, but in fact, Glòries is the only Superblock created from scratch in Barcelona, because in order to demolish the ring, it was necessary to connect streets that before were simply interrupted by the large roundabout.
I write all this because I believe that the construction trade is totally discredited. The 2008 financial crisis and the explosion of an economy based on real estate have shaped a public opinion very sensitive to the excess of cranes and excavators. And, also, the lack of controls over public works, which for many years was a source of party funding and extraordinary income for construction companies and material suppliers.
Fortunately, institutions change and new control mechanisms should be able to better scrutinize all these transformations. Because we still need big transformations. The city transforms because citizens' priorities also do so quickly and constantly. And to achieve greener cities, less anthropized spaces, and streets less dependent on cars, urban models will have to continue to be turned upside down.