MONTJUÏC. FROM SHANTIES TO THE BIG HOUSING ESTATES
A shanty versus a family flat
Montjuïc had become the great focus of the informal Barcelona, on
land occupied by gardens and private and public plots. In the 1960s, the
construction of the amusement park on the site of the Maricel shantytown,
the installation of the TVE (Spanish National Television) studios and Franco’s
statements on the eradications of shanties during his visit to Montjuïc castle
in 1963 gave rise to the process of reaccommodation of the shanty-dwellers of
Montjuïc in diverse social housing estates.
The achievement of “One flat per family” was a successful demand of the
neighbourhood movement of Montjuïc, which changed the City Council’s
approach. The Council had been offering only one flat per shanty, even if
more than one family lived there. This movement laid the foundations for
the neighbourhood associations in the new housing estates, where these
organisations continued the struggle for dignity within the context of the
urban deficiencies of the new neighbourhoods.
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