When Urban Beautification Turns Ugly

In Burgos, Spain, plans to “turn the district’s main street into a traffic-calmed, bike-friendly boulevard with subterranean parking have caused an outcry that has turned explosive”:

Why is the boulevard being resisted so bitterly? The answer comes down mainly to the perception that the city is mismanaging its money. The city has earmarked roughly €8 million for an essentially cosmetic project – one that will also replace free parking with paid spaces – while badly needed government services are being cut elsewhere to help the city manage its debts. As a 35-year-old unemployed woman told El Pais: “We have to pay our debts and create a surplus of social benefits before creating this reform that will only beautify the city.”

Zooming out:

Across the continent, we see urban beautification plans proposed as solutions to any number of knotty social problems, whether it’s pedestrianization plans in crisis-hit Athens or a blueprint for a futuristic elevated cycle highway through one of London’s poorest districts. The reaction to projects like these is often cautious approval – any investment is better than nothing. But when such plans take place simultaneously with cuts to education and training, or alongside lack of investment in genuinely affordable housing that will allow residents to remain following improvements, attitudes shift. Urban improvements are supposed to boost general human happiness, but in cases like Burgos’ they can seem like false fixes that fail to address the more complex, deep-rooted issues that shape people’s lives.

(Photo: A tourist is sketched next to policemen during a demonstration in Barcelona on January 17, 2014 in support of locals from the city of Burgos protesting against planned construction works to revamp Vitoria street, the city’s main thorough-fare. After a week of protest, Burgos’ mayor announced today the abandonment of the project. The nightly protests began on January 10 and have spread from Burgos, to Madrid and to the town of Valladolid. By Josep Lago/AFP/Getty Images.