Plaza de Catalunya, the square that centrifuges

It is not common for things to happen in Plaça de Catalunya. Despite being the center of Barcelona, activity is concentrated, and heavily so, in the surroundings. It centrifuges strongly outwards. But this May, the square has an important date. The Tast de la Rambla is held, which the works on this street force, once again, to move. This means that thousands of people, many Barcelonans, will once again venture into the most central center of Barcelona to try the gastronomic novelties that restaurateurs offer at this event, which has precisely this objective: that Barcelonans do not give up stepping on the center of their city. And it has merit, because Plaça de Catalunya is usually more occupied by pigeons than by people.

This place has long needed a renovation, and the city government has it on the horizon, although there are no details yet on how it will be carried out. This space has not been renovated for 65 years, since 1959, when the compass rose that is drawn in the center was created, designed more to be seen from the air than from the ground when walking through it. Some nearby sidewalks also need renovation, worn out by the intense use made of them. Here, more has been done underground than on the surface. In fact, the subsoil of Plaça de Catalunya is densely populated. It is a large interchange for metro, commuter trains, and FGC.

Under the square there is also another square ---this one without natural light--- where all these public transport passengers cross paths and where there are usually performances by street musicians who take advantage of the good acoustics of that space. In the subsoil, the public is much more varied: people arriving from different train and metro lines, from different parts of Barcelona and Catalonia, and who quickly disperse once they go out into the street. In contrast, if we look at the people on the surface, right in the middle of the square, the landscape is much more homogeneous: only a few tourists who still want to take a photo as a souvenir surrounded by hundreds of pigeons eager to eat the feed they are offered, flapping almost violently. An activity that became fashionable in the 1920s and that most Barcelonans, who do not precisely feel affection for these birds, would not do.

Surrounding this bare esplanade, without shadows and appropriated by pigeons, is a perimeter of trees and sculptures (there are a total of 29) by renowned artists such as Josep Viladomat, Frederic Marès, or Pau Gargallo. The most well-known is the homage to Francesc Macià, by Josep Maria Subirats, an inverted staircase located near the confluence with La Rambla. And among sculptures, trees, and benches, there are people seeking refuge. Refuge from the sun, from the hustle and bustle of the city center, or from life in general. It is a kind of second quiet crown before the anthill that exists in the surrounding streets.

The centrifugation of the center accelerates as one moves away from kilometer zero. The noise, traffic, and bustle increase at the foot of the illustrious facades that delimit the area: El Corte Inglés, the Apple store, a Wi-Fi meeting point, or the emblematic Zurich bar, an in-person meeting point. These are the references of a square that everyone knows, that is surrounded, but that is very rarely stepped on.