Retrats de la Barcelona comunitària (Portraits of community Barcelona) is a book written with the aim of offering a small selection of the community actions that created ties in different territories, ambits and types of organisations, from public services to independent movements, through neighbourhood associations. It was presented in March 2019.
The book responds to a proposal by the Barcelona City Council, within the framework of its Energies Comunitàries (Community Energies) project, promoted with the Etcèteres cooperative. The project was set up with the aim of showcasing and giving impetus to the large number of initiatives of local men and women in the city who got together in order to change their lives, their neighbourhood and their relationships with each other.
The proposal allowed me to work for a year on different citizen initiatives and to interview more than 60 people who work for collectively transform their surroundings. Through their testimonies I could build seven stories about the neighborhoods of Barcelona and their people.
A radio program that generates community among people with mental health diagnosis; an initiative that connects women from a neighborhood to rethink urbanism and security; a female cricket league; the challenge of generating inviting spaces; a catwalk to promote community health; groups of neighborhood resistance; or young people who drive community-based leisure. Those are the stories that articulate this portrait.
The book, edited by the Barcelona City Council, has illustrations by Berta Aguilar to accompany each one of the stories.
Download the book from the Barcelona City Council website.
The Open University of Catalonia has translated to chapters to Spanish:
