Totalitarianism is born from the excessive ideologization of small things

Now is the time to change. Now is the time for Barcelona.Under this motto, Miquel Roca i Junyent ran as a candidate for mayor of Barcelona. He did not win the elections. Pasqual Maragall, against all odds, gained three more councilors than Roca and became mayor. That was his last political adventure. Since then, however, in addition to being an active politician and businessman, he has been involved in the social, cultural, and civic life of his city, Barcelona. He has been president of the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, vice-president of the Fundació Barcelona Cultura, president of the Societat Econòmica Barcelonesa d'Amics del País, and honorary president of Alumni Universitat de Barcelona. A gentleman from Barcelona.

--- How do you see Barcelona?

--- It is very difficult for one to objectively comment on their own city. The explanation of your own cosmos is very complicated. It is my city, the one I love, the one I like. That is to say, all other cities are interesting, but the city where you live is a part of yourself.

--- But…

--- Barcelona, at that moment, is in a stage of transition. We are moving towards a new city structure, a new social reality that conditions the entire city. And the difficult thing is not defining the final model: it is transitioning. Changing from one model to another. We are in a stage of transition where there is a great confrontation between two opposing options: the one that wants to accelerate the transition for tomorrow itself and the one that tries to preserve the essence without accepting this change.

We are in a stage of transition where there is a great confrontation between two opposing options: the one that wants to accelerate the transition for tomorrow itself and the one that tries to preserve the essence without accepting this change

--- And meanwhile? --- Well, neither one nor the other. It is an absurd pretension to believe that a new way of living in the city can be built in four days. It's absurd. When Barcelona tore down its walls, it took 50 years to build the new city. Will it be faster now? It's possible, but it can't be done in less than 20 years. And in the meantime, the duty of any administration is to ensure that this transition does not spoil the city. Should we create a city with less vehicle traffic? Certainly. But until we achieve less traffic, there must be order.--- And those who want to preserve the essence, what?Those who don't want to touch anything are totally wrong. There's no stopping this. Change is unstoppable. The new configuration of the world means that the epicenter of changes takes place in cities. We generate change and we are the stage for change.

The new configuration of the world means that the epicenter of changes takes place in cities. We generate change and we are the stage for change

--- To talk about transitions, there aren't many people better than you. Now then: a transition is going from point A to point B. We know point A. But point B, which is essential for us to move, what is it?It is essential, yes, but you must accept that the evolution of time itself will adjust it. That is: you can have a city model, but you must be flexible and humble enough to believe that the city itself can generate inflections in this final drawing. The city is a living and changing scenario. That said: at this moment there is no clear city model nor the humility to accept different visions. There is a very childish arrogance.

There is no clear city model nor the humility to accept different visions

--- Let's go to real issues. What challenges does Barcelona have?It has a fundamental challenge: mobility. And second, urban design cannot be at odds with quality.--- Explain yourself.At this moment, the degradation of the chamfers is a symbol of the city. We have degraded the chamfers. And we have done it gratuitously, senselessly. Accumulated shit, unresolved containers, and spaces for terraces that not even the pandemic justified. We have devalued the comfort that the Eixample had, for example. --- In addition to a project, leadership is also needed, right?We are all settled into the discourse of recognizing diversity. And recognizing diversity is accepting pluralism. And accepting pluralism means that truth is multifaceted. However, all those who speak to us of diversity want to create a monolithic city, from a single vision: theirs. In some areas of the city, we have applied such great changes that instead of integrating, what they do is expel. And this happens because the city is conceived from a monolithic ideological prism.--- Barcelona had always championed public-private collaboration. I don't know if it's still as prevalent now.This is a myth. Everyone talks about this issue, but nobody believes it. Above all, those who don't believe it are from the public sector, as collaboration with the private sector bothers them. At the moment, the requirements set by the public sector for collaborating with the private sector seem designed to prevent this collaboration from happening. I don't deny that cases may occur, but they can take six or seven years to formalize.

The requirements set by the public sector for collaborating with the private sector seem designed to prevent this collaboration from happening

--- We have the Copa América.The only exception. Barcelona Global has known how to play its cards well. They have done very well. But it seems like a small miracle, since in everything else the culture of no prevails. Everything else is no. And private sector initiative coexists very poorly with the culture of no. It is very difficult to get the administration to understand that modernity is public-private collaboration.

It is very difficult to get the administration to understand that modernity is public-private collaboration

--- Why does this happen?The world of politics has generated, sometimes with good reason, a lot of distrust from the private sector. The private sector has been seen as an intruder or as a selfish entity that views the general interest from its own perspective. But many of the current debates cannot be resolved without an agreement between the public and private sectors. The sustainability debate, for example, is metaphysically impossible to resolve without that collaboration.--- The private sector, at times, has not known how to explain itself very well.I don't dispute that. But the obligation of the public sector is to overcome this situation. It can never excuse itself on a defect of form. That way we would never have made any substantial change in the history of humanity. The public sector must understand that change does not belong only to it, but it has the responsibility to lead it.--- Shall we go back to the challenges?The great challenges are never offered in material answers. The great challenges are intellectual. And our challenge is to understand what Barcelona should be. Concrete. The progress of humanity goes through the densification of cities, since the future of many people is in big cities. That is, you cannot tell Africans not to go to the capital. Well-managed densification leads us to culture. It is what provides the ability to generate new technologies. A new technology you can perhaps invent in Montseny, on top of a mountain, but you apply it to densification. Therefore, the main challenge is to create sustainable densification, but in no case avoid densification. Because with this you are condemning people to misery.

The progress of humanity goes through the densification of cities. Well-managed densification leads us to culture

--- But, in Barcelona, there are many people who question big events...It is a great irresponsibility. The obligation of any administration is to adapt events to characteristics compatible with the city, but not to reject them. If we do not participate in major events, we will cease to have a presence in the world and will fall into inoperability, into ignorance. We will become a saddened and devalued city.

If we do not participate in major events, we will cease to have a presence in the world and will fall into inoperability, into ignorance. We will become a saddened and devalued city

--- Its political tradition was very clear that every action could generate negative externalities that had to be assumed.…and now, instead, we have given up on doing pedagogy and, in many cases, we have replaced it with something terrible: to indoctrinate people based on your own mental parameters. We have a great tendency to say "If you want to be good, say the same thing I say." And this is impoverishing. --- What assets would you highlight about the city?Many. The grace of Barcelona is that the asset is itself. It is a city of a very singular balance. But we have an enormous challenge: the metropolitanization of Barcelona. We must know how to find the point of balance. The metropolis cannot reach us by asphyxiation; it must reach us by ambition.

The metropolis cannot reach us by asphyxiation; it must reach us by ambition

--- And is ambition having a better airport?This is another challenge. We cannot let opportunities be lost. Some say we are heading towards the disappearance of airplanes. And it is possible that this is the case. I don't deny it. But it won't be today, perhaps towards 2050. And I want to arrive alive in 2050. And precisely this is one of Barcelona's dilemmas: "Since I am incapable of growing sustainably, I sign up for degrowth." And no, this is not a model! This is cowardice! And that cowardice leads us to misery.--- How should Barcelona relate to its surroundings?Here I share the Pujol's theses: the Barcelona metropolis cannot suffocate Catalonia. We need a balanced Catalonia. And now we have a big political decision on the table: how do we build this great metropolis. We can make a single municipality --London style-- or we make a federation of municipalities. This is the issue: do L'Hospitalet or Cornellà cease to exist or do they become a neighborhood with self-government?--- It already happened with Gràcia, el Clot and other towns.Yes, politically they disappeared and the districts were created. Well, just as there is a municipal charter, a metropolitan charter could be created. But hey, let them sit down and talk about it.

In the same way that there is a municipal charter, a metropolitan charter could be created

--- The sitting down and talking thing is not very fashionable...The problem is excessive ideologization. Totalitarianism is born in the excessive ideologization of small things. Ideology is the engine of change, but not in small things. We cannot make ideology with the width of a street, for example. We need to talk and reach agreements. --- Making political decisions nowadays is much more complex, isn't it? One has to offer quick solutions to complex problems and disruptive innovations.You are absolutely right. And, therefore, since everything is so complicated, we need agreements. Democracy is agreement. The priority should be to agree, since agreement between different parties generates trust, creates incentives, and gives strength. It's impossible that in a city you cannot agree. We did it.

Agreement between different parties generates trust, creates incentives, and gives strength

--- Luckily they didn't have Twitter.We didn't have it, true. But this cannot be an excuse. Politics is always an exercise in grounding oneself in reality. And reality has several conditioning factors: temporal, territorial, etc. This is not new. The problem is not Twitter, but the lack of an ambitious collective project.