Des dels blocs es un programa de radio que nace como un proceso de creación colectiva de relatos, representaciones y conocimiento sobre los bloques de La Florida en l’Hospitalet; y a su vez de creación de situaciones y espacios de encuentro y diálogo entre los colectivos diversos que lo habitan.

Es un proyecto de LaFundició, e inicialmente se propusieron, mediante el uso de herramientas gráficas y sonoras —la serigrafía, la radio o el paisaje sonoro— construir colectivamente esos relatos, conocimientos y espacios de encuentro; aunque el proceso permanece totalmente abierto a las propuestas y aportaciones de quienes en él colaboran.

El taller de serigrafía o la propia radio funcionan como espacios de encuentro no segregados en los que compartir y repensar los múltiples discursos y las representaciones sobre los bloques de La Florida —en muchas ocasiones divergentes y contradictorios—, partiendo también de la propia memoria del barrio y de las historias de vida de sus habitantes. A partir de estos procesos se abre el debate a nuevos agentes, tomando el espacio público como un lugar de encuentros inesperados.

Los programas del ciclo de radio están encarados a debatir y pensar colectivamente el espacio público y derecho a la ciudad. Grabados en la calle, se centran en esta cuestión en un momento en que el Plan de Intervención Integral está aterrizando en los bloques de La Florida.

En octubre de 2018 se grabó el programa con la temática de los jóvenes y el acceso a la ciudad. En muchos barrios la presencia de jóvenes en la calle es socialmente percibida con recelo, más aún cuando a la condición de joven se suma la racialización de los individuos o los colectivos. Habitualmente las quejas se centran en la falta de civismo de lxs jóvenes y en la inseguridad, y no suelen entrar a analizar las causas estructurales de los comportamientos individuales o grupales.

Para preguntarnos sobre todas estas cuestiones invitamos a Senén Roy, uno de lxs responsables de KN60Lab, acompañado por Camilo Jaime, miembro de la Comisión de jóvenes y fiestas de la AViV La Florida.

También participaron: Raúl Rubio, Eva Alba, José Antonio Contreras, Elhadj Bailo y otrxs vecinxs que se acercaron a los micrófonos de la Ràdio Des dels blocs.

On June 20 an open session was convened in the public space to carry out the Workshop – Laboratory for older adults ESTAR JUNTOS, carried out by the artist Víctor Prados Pinto.

The workshop focused on the courage to say the unsayable, to sing the unsingable, to dance the undanceable, to express the inexpressible. It was proposed as an exercise to confront traditional social values ​​and their transformation, a moment for old age itself to take to the streets to present itself and expose their point of view in a creative way in this era of individualism, passive consumerism and excessive technologies.

Bodies and voices were used as tools to build communication devices to show the world the desires, aspirations and concerns of people through this performance in the streets of Torrassa.

The rehabilitation of Can Seixanta is a key intervention to give neighbors necessary services and will be done so while keeping the essence of the historical Raval factories, while preserving the city’s heritage with the working and industrial memory of Ciutat Vella.

Until the space rehabilitation works are finished, two modules have been installed in the Rambla del Raval to begin to define the uses, the activities (artistic and training) and the leisure workshops that will be organized.

This project, called KN60Lab, aims to network with young people aged 16 to 25 (who do not normally participate in these participatory processes), to propose and design, together with institutes, entities and other neighborhood groups, the projects that will be developed in the new youth kit, and that also becomes its reference point.

Thus, it is expected to implement some lines of work that go through the creation of a microproject nursery (self-managed by young people and linked to public space) and community communication. It is about getting closer to the youth, their families and communities so that they are also part of the project.

Through these actions we want to collect the interests of youth, identify the issues that make the barrier between young people and public space (for reasons of gender, cultural diversity, functional, religion, sexual identity, etc.) and experience the self-management of projects.

All this aims to establish the foundations of the future youth team of Can Seixanta, both in terms of structure and content, but at the same time a second objective is also sought: to create a positive imaginary of the Arrabal on this public kit, that is to say, that the neighbors know the space and the basic process of it, motivate its acceptance and that the fabric of the neighborhood also participates in the project.

With the aim of including the students of the Santa Coloma School in the design of the new walk of the Salzereda -in particular the section in front of the school between Pompeu Fabra street and Francesc Moragues street- the Equal Saree collective stimulated two sessions of work.

In the first session, the children reflected on the current uses of the walk. In the second, new uses and games were defined for the ride and collective design criteria were generated on the areas reserved for games.

The result of the activity is the proposal of these new uses and recreational spaces and the definition of some design criteria to include in the technical project of the new Paseo de la Salzereda.

 

A pesar de ser un referente urbanístico reconocido a nivel internacional, el Eixample de Barcelona se enfrenta a múltiples desafíos propios de una ciudad en constante cambio, una urbe muy diferente a la proyectada por Ildefons Cerdà.

La ciudad trabaja por revertir esta realidad definiendo un modelo que priorice a las personas potenciando una movilidad sostenible y construyendo un espacio público saludable, diverso, a velocidad humana —con especial atención hacia las niñas y niños y la tercera edad— en una ciudad donde las condiciones topográficas facilitan una cómoda movilidad caminando o en bicicleta.

En ese escenario, la oficina barcelonesa Leku Studio ha desarrollado un proyecto de “amabilización” de varios entornos escolares en el Eixample, testeando mediante urbanización reversible, nuevos usos y distribuciones que favorecen espacios más humanos y amables y que acerca la escala urbana a los niños. “Deben ser espacios comunitarios; como territorio de extensión de la escuela; como espacio para el juego, para el verde, la historia y la vida local de los barrios“, explican Leku Jokin Santiago Elorriaga y Marta Sola Páramo, cofundadores de Leku Studio.

 

Entrevistes #femplaça 2015 – Lucia from fem plaça on Vimeo.

Fem Plaça – means something like “Let’s make square” in catalan language – is a collective practice pushed forward by the neighbors of Ciutat Vella, in the center of the touristic Barcelona. Here, the locals feel like an endangered species, struggling to resist and to represent themselves in the everyday public realm.
Fem Plaça was born to make visible the lack of public space, understood as a physical, but also a political and relational space. Fem Plaça’s actions develop as temporary and itinerary meetings in the squares of the district, reclaiming public spaces where you can sit, play, chat and exchange experiences.
Gentrification, massive tourism and the consequent privatization of public space, is creating conflictive situations for the neighbors of Ciutat Vella, that have been seen reducing their possibility to move and to sit in a square without being advised to consume in a bar terrace. Due to a massive occupation of visitors, and because of the adoption of a preventive design of urban furnitures for the city, the Council thought that a good solution would be to remove public benches. And now the feeling is that the tourists have gained more power in the shared space of streets and squares of the neighborhood, to pass, consume, party, and then leave. The result is, in the everyday life of the neighbors, that there are no benches to sit, but a lot of chances to have a beer or a coffee in a bar terrace. With these actions, Fem Plaça collective is trying to highlight this problem, and at the same time to find moments and spaces of meeting and exchange between locals.
 

HOW IT WORKS

Step 1 – PREVIOUS ASSEMBLY
There’s a previous meeting organized in the square where we want to develop the next action, as a possible place to occupy temporarily, just for one afternoon. A call is made in the neighborhood and on social networks, so that people who are interested can come and share ideas. The aim is to grow a bigger voice and to involve more neighbors in the actions.

Step 2 – GENERATION OF CONTENTS / NETWORKING
To produce each event, a specific network is generated, where every neighbor brings his knowledge and expertise. Graphic communication, historical excursus, logistics, generation of a manifesto to explain the problematics of each square, invitation to entities and collectives of the city to participate and support, during the day of the action.

Step 3 – COMMUNICATION
Online and offline communication of the event, both through social networks and giving out flyers within a radius of 100 meters around the place of the event.

Step 4 – LOGISTICS
Preparation of the materials needed for the specific action, including food and drinks. A self-built cart serves to carry all the stuff for the action: chairs, games, chalks, drawing material, an itinerant photo exhibition of previous actions. The entities that are nearer to the chosen square, use to carry extra chairs.

Step 5 – FEMPLAÇA ACTION
The day of the meeting in the square, occupying the space without asking any previous permit to the Council. We were never asked by the police, or have had any problem with them. When children come out of school, they’ll come to play and draw with chalks on the pavement. It’s a nice way to stop by and know your neighbors, play with the kids, listen to stories and histories of the surroundings, mesure the private occupation of bar terraces and report.

TOOLS
– Cartographies of the squares (measuring the occupation of terraces, the lack of benches, fountains, etc)
– “Com Fem Plaça?” itinerant exhibition – is used to inform and to separate spaces of the square
– Fem Plaça cart, to bring all the materials to the squares, and also an identitary element of the actions
– Manual Fem Plaça – DIY Fem Plaça with instructions (download)

 

Lucia Vecchi

 

From legal and administrative point of view the interventions in public space are very complicated procedures which refer to numerous legal departments and their expertise. In the municipality of Sofia the major body that coordinates the urban development is called Architecture and Urban Spatial Development Service (AUSDS). There are no plans from single architectural projects to masterplans of the whole municipality that can be executed without the approval of AUSDS. The agency’s structure is formed by three main directorates and thirteen departments. Directorate ‘Territorial Planning’ and its five departments (incl. urban design and advertisement) are mostly engaged with the issues of public space.

 

Legal Definitions

Concerning the physical interventions in the public space the first key distinction is made by material footprint of the intervention. This defines the interventions into permanent or temporary and respectively separates the path of their legal procedure from the very beginning. The interventions with permanent character require construction permission and follow the procedures by the national Spatial Planning Act. On the other side, the interventions with temporal character on the territory of Sofia’s municipality follow the procedures defined the local ordinance for “movable objects for advertising, information and monumental decorative elements for promotional activities in the territory of Sofia Municipality” (MOAIMDEOATSM). Mounting of any kind urban furniture on the basis of ‘action’ or seasonal placement in Sofia refer to the latter ordinance.

Zoning

In order to give more detailed framework regarding the possibilities for temporary interventions within public space the MOAIMDEOATSM ordinance contains a zoning plan for the whole territory of Sofia. This plan takes in consideration every piece of the city’s public space and separates it in different zone on the base of its location, monumental, functional or cultural importance in order to give better indications where temporal interventions are favoured and where they are rather restricted with rare exclusions.

• Zone I includes the very central part of Sofia’s street network and monumental squares;
• Zone II includes the street and boulevards which are limited by the first city ring and the adjacent squares;
• Zone III includes the public space within the city ring which does not belong to Zone I, II or VI;
• Zone IV includes the prime streets (classes II and III), located between first and second city ring as well as the boulevards and the streets from the first city ring;
• Zone V includes the prime streets (classes I, II and III), which do not belong to Zone I, II, III or IV as well as the boulevards and the streets from the second city ring;
• Zone VI includes the territory which is part of Sofia’s green system;
• Zone VII includes the rest of the public space on the territory within the municipality of Sofia.

Concrete Locations

The approval for placement of temporary objects within public space has always to be authorised by the head architect of Sofia’s Municipality. In order to ease the process of defining concrete locations for potential organisers / initiators of interventions the Architecture and Urban Spatial Development Service provides a free, online access to schemes which are indicating the concrete locations and dimensions where temporal objects can be placed or official socio-cultural activities can be accommodated.

Required Documents

The required documents regarding the placement authorisation, from Architecture and Urban Spatial Development Service is defined by two local normative documents – MOAIMDEOATSM Ordinance and municipality of Sofia’s Order RD-09-09-91, dated 18 December 2012.

Documents required by Appendix №4 to article 28, paragraph 3 from MOAIMDEOATSM Ordinance:

• Architectural project proposal;
• Design project proposal;
• Engineering project proposal.

Documents required by Order RD-09-09-91, dated 18 December 2012, from the municipality of Sofia:

• Application form;
• Identification documents of the company / person organizing the event;
• Approval by the director of “Security and Safety” department (the municipality of Sofia);
• Motivated proposal for a scheme to place movable objects;
• Project documentation;
• Agreement with the specialised supervisory and coordinating bodies;
• Declaration for execution of construction works; the approved plans in parts architecture, electricity and construction should be signed and stamped by the authors of the project in accordance to the Bulgarian Chamber of Architects and the Bulgarian Chamber of Engineers.

Approval Procedure

There are six main steps for the approval of a temporary intervention in the public space. They are:

1. Determining the type of object according to project documentation and compliance with the definitions in MOAIMDEOATSM Ordinance;

2. Verification of compliance of the project documentation according to Appendix №4 to article 28, paragraph 3 from MOAIMDEOATSM Ordinance;

3. Approval by the departments within the structure of Architecture and Urban Spatial Development Service including:

• Legal Department
• Department “Control investment planning and coordination in construction”
• Department “Public Works and Natural Resources”

4. Examination of the project documentation of the CEAS;

5. Approval of project documentation and authorisation for placement;

6. Announcing the placement authorisation.

Related Legal Acts and Ordinances

There are multiple acts and ordinances which are related to the authorisation of temporary placement intervention.

Acts:

• Spatial Planning Act;
• Spatial Planning Act and Development of Sofia Municipality;
• Local Government and Administration Act;
• Local Taxes and Fees Act;
• Cadastre and Property Register Act;
• Municipal Property Act.

Ordinances:

• Ordinance № V-12-707, dated 15 November 2013, concerning the terms and conditions for safety and technical requirements in respect to equipment placed in amusement facilities;
• Ordinance № 1, dated 12 January 2009, concerning the terms and conditions for the spatial arrangement and safety of playgrounds;
• Ordinance on the terms and procedure for executing tenders and competitions;
• Ordinance for the maintenance and protection of the green system within the Sofia Municipality;
• Ordinance concerning the transport organisation within the territory of Sofia Municipality;
• Ordinance concerning naming and renaming of municipal sites, placement, relocation and removal of monuments and artistic elements within the territory of Sofia Municipality;
• Ordinance concerning the terms and conditions for executing commercial activities on the territory of Sofia Municipality;
• Ordinance concerning the determination and administration of local taxes and prices for services provided by Sofia Municipality.

Tips

If you would like to execute the whole procedure from having an idea until the actual placement of a movable object within the public space in Sofia there are three main things that you should consider as tips while dealing with the institutional bodies responsible for the authorisation:

• Plan enough time since the process is related to the coordination between multiple departments and follows strictly defined procedures;
• Get familiar in details with the normative ordinance for “movable objects for advertising, information and monumental decorative elements for promotional activities in the territory of Sofia Municipality” (MOAIMDEOATSM);
• Be careful with the normative definition(s) regarding your proposal and the content of the project documentation.

Architecture and Urban Spatial Development Service (AUSDS)

Website: www.sofia-agk.com

Address: Sofia, Serdika Street №5

Website of Sofia Municipality: www.sofia.bg

Website of Sofia Municipal Council: www.sofiacouncil.bg

POdLEZNO is a voluntary organization which deals with the quality of the urban underpasses in the city of Sofia; lots of them being in a terrible condition with lack of light during night. In the last two years the team has been dedicated to improve the physical quality of these underpasses by also adding additional cultural value. In this way they manifest their motto “Do not be kept in the dark”, which can be interpreted both literally and figuratively- art, music, interactive installations and historical galleries that fill the underground urban spaces. This concept aims not only to make the underpasses safer and more pleasing to the eye but also to get the average passer involved in the process of change which the Bulgarian society so desperately needs.

Despite the short period since the organisation have ben founded it succeeded to revitalise three underpasses in Sofia. These projects were realised through different frameworks including multiple actors during the processes. Although each project developed through its individual path the team of POdLEZNO managed to synthesise practical how-to recommendations based on its own experiences, which they share on the PublicSpace.tools Workshop at Sofia (31^st October – 1^st November).

Results from POdLEZNO’s Projects

The nature of their projects is through collaboratively bottom-up perspective to include simultaneously the structural body of the city’s administration and the citizens considering a scarcity of resources. An effective way to this is to work extensively for the institutional support and try your best to gather volunteers by diverse means for the actual intervention.

Working with Institutions

The administrative body and legal frameworks can be extremely difficult to deal with, especially when we speak for a city such as Sofia where there are tremendous amount of departments responsible for different elements within the urban environment. According to POdLEZNO it is decisive to equip yourself with patience and energy to go through the rather slow process. However, the institutions seem to be the only partners in respect to certain aspects of the urban interventions. They represent the only actor which is absolutely necessary to involve in any public space transformation. Before approaching any institution it is essential to understand its structure and who is responsible for what – knowledge that can ease the process.

Working with Volunteers

When you work with limited financial budget one of the crucial challenges is to actually execute the physical intervention(s). Depending on the project this can demand a serious amount of physical work and people involved. A method that POdLEZNO utilised to overcome this challenge is to make substantial efforts of inspiring citizens and volunteers to support them. From their experiences they have relied on five means to collect voluntary workforce:

• Crazy friends and relatives;
• Social media including Facebook, Google+ etc.;
• Online platforms for volunteering such as timeheroes.org;
• Institutions offering voluntary support such as Bulgarian Youth Red Cross;
• Involving local citizens.

In the long term the team of POdLEZNO believe that incorporating volunteers does not have only have financial benefits by saving money but also enhances the relationship between urban environment and its users i.e. the citizens.

Projects’ Description

Looking in more details back on their work POdLEZNO outlined two practical aspects which they found crucial while trying to proceed with their own projects – secure funding and deal with paperwork.

POdLEZNO

Website: www.podlezno.com

Email: podlezno@gmail.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/podlezno