THE END OF THE SOMORROSTRO AND ITS TRANSFORMATION

THE END OF THE SOMORROSTRO AND ITS TRANSFORMATION 

 

A SLUM IN BARCELONA WHICH BECOME A BEACH AND WHAT HAPPENED WITH ITS INHABITANTS 

What is it the Somorrostro?

The Somorrostro was a neighborhood of shacks in Barcelona located in the present districts of San Martin and Ciutat Vella during the twentieth century. The huts were on the beach, among the Hospital of Infectious (current Hospital del Mar - on the outskirts of Barceloneta) and the former gasworks Lebon Poblenou. The living conditions were very poor, and the sea was often inundate houses. Its first records are from 1882, on its first period the place was not so marginal, most of their inhabitants were fisherman or workers from the factories around. It was after the civil war in Spain (1939) when a huge mass of people immigrated to Barcelona from the south of Spain. After this slums increased considerably in the city. The community increased until 1952 when the government started to relocate the dwellers and to stretch the seaside promenade, at that point there were over 15000 people living in 1km of beach. Finally in 1966 the last persons where moved due military movements. 

Somorrostro's shacks

Who were the inhabitants of Somorrostro? 

This area of ​​the city grew thanks to the economic development stemming from the World Exhibition of 1929 and it became a thriving ground for new settlement. It was inhabited by immigrants, who came mainly from Andalusia and Extremadura. It is known that in the neighborhood there was a large colony of Gypsies, called the Hill of Gypsies. There was a gypsy core and, in fact, there was born Carmen Amaya, the most important singer and dancer in the history flamenco. 

Where the Somorrostro’s citizens were moved?

After 1966 the people were moved to a neighborhood outside Barcelona. This area, called Sant Roque, had better constructions, but it was in the outskirt of the Catalan city and it was without facilities and connections with the center. The problems were not only about the location of the new settlement. Indeed, The previous inhabitants of Sant Roque did not welcomed the newcomers. The cultural differences were too wide to afford an easy integration and the former citizens of the Somorrostro found themselves in a place foreign and inhospitable. 

Sant Roque neighborhood

What is happened to the Somorrostro?

After being emptied in the 1966, the place was used as a kind of garbage dump by the factories around. The last change was in the 80’s when the Catalan’s capital has an important transformation due the Olympic games. The city started to be open to the seaside and the area became a touristic spot and a important beach for the city. Just 5 years ago a social movement from the last inhabitants pressed to return the name of the area and in November 2010 it was announced that the stretch of the beach of La Barceloneta located between the Hospital del Mar and the Olympic Port changed its name to Somorrostro beach. 

Somorrostro beach today

How should be done a relocation? Which is the role that the moved and receiver inhabitants should play in this operation?

The citizens of the Somorrostro lived in an area that they felt to be their, it was a representation of their identity. They had been moved in a neighborhood in which they felt foreign and that didn't want to welcome them. Somorrostro is a typical bad example of relocation. When people has to be relocated, there should be some aspects to considerate. The first one is that those who are moved should be moved to a place that provides them at least the same things of before. They need to find facilities to move and live like before. They can't be transferred in an area too much different because they will never adapt in that. They also need integration, there has to be a link between the old citizens and the new dwellers. The firsts have to welcome the newcomers and and the seconds have to feel welcomed. A relational move might be done to present and connect the locals with the outsiders. This is how they will become citizens of the city. On second place, they should not be moved all at the same place, it's not possible to move an entire cultural group in an area with an another area with different identity. The tension inside the new settlement would be too strong to allow an integration inside the new territory. Split the original group is often the only way to create an homogeneous fabric in discordance with the prior identity, mixture and introduction.

Where is the difference between a horizontal and a vertical slum?

The Somorrostro's citizens were moved from a horizontal slum made by them to vertical buildings given by the municipality. In a vertical building the urban life can be controlled more easily by the local administrations, but for the moved dwellers it's not the structure of the buildings that change their urban life. There is no difference between a lack of possibilities, commodities and integration for living in an own build house than in a governmental one. The important point is the contest, the links with the identity and the cities. If there are not facilities, proper buildings or a relation with the society the situation of the people is the same. 

Which part of the old identity should remain in the new area?

After fifty years from the relocation, the former citizens of Somorrostro feel yet the bond with the area in which they were born. The Somorrostro has been deprived of all his identity. His citizens have been moved, the area have been completely rebuilt and also his name has been changed. Despite this, someone is still identifing himself in the Somorrostro. The denomination has been given back  and now we call this zone with the name that belongs to it. But it's not enough for what has been the house of so many people. By art, design, architecture or urbanism a representation of what this was should show and represent in a direct way which was the identity of that place. Now nothing can give back what has been taken away, only the art can observe and remember what Somorrostro has been.

Ana Armenteros, Lepe
Oriol Gelabert, Barcelona
Giovanni Miseri, Trieste