THE EARLY SHANTYISM. 1920S AND 30S
A long tradition of substandard housing:
1914 / 1.200 shanties
1922 / 3.860 shanties
1929/6.000 shanties
The industrial Barcelona had attracted large numbers
of workers in the first third of the 20th century. The
scant attention to the housing problem, the shortage
of public resources, the little industrialisation of
the building sector and the freezing of rents, which
reduced the interest of property owners in leasing
out dwellings, aggravated the shortage of popular
housing.
All this caused an increase in the number of
subleased tenants and the growth of the shantytowns,
which tripled between 1914 and 1922, rising from
about 1,200 to 3,600 nuclei.
The municipal authorities acted only when it was
necessary to eradicate certain nuclei of shanties,
as happened with those around the grounds of the
International Exhibition of 1929. The problem was
structural, however, and shantyism reappeared in
other parts of the city. When the Exhibition opened
its gates, there were already some 6,000 shanties in
Barcelona.
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