THE SELF-SUFFICIENT CITY: Envisioning the habitat of the future was a recent open competition from IAAC(Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia). We have subsequently been invited to submit work for their upcoming book and a 1 minute film as part of expo in CCCB. Below are the 3 A3 panels we submitted, click on each panel to view in PDF. Underrneath is a summary of the ideas examined. Our proposal was entitled:
Towards a healthier, happier, eco-effective Barcelona.
Greening the city, connecting communities, C2C city
PANEL 1 (1,76 MB)
PANEL 2 (1,06 MB)
PANEL 3 (2,98 MB)
150 word Summary -
Greening the city, connecting communities, C2C Barcelona
Create urban greenway / CPUL mesh
Develop more bikeways/ walkways to easily connect from within city centre to nature: rivers, sea, surrounding hills. Allow all abandoned spaces to become indefinite temporary gardens. Specify strategic zones as permanent community gardens, including within all existing public parks and schools. Connect these nodes by greenways. Turn greenways into CPULS (Continuous Productive Urban Landscapes), Plant fruit and nut trees, berry hedges, diverse vegetation, food. These bio threads allow nature into the city; butterflies, song birds, pollen. Use city roofspace(s) as one vast CPUL, solar energy harvest, water collection zone and new Public Park. As private car use diminishes turn old “car lanes” into “food lanes”. Create mixed use clusters around gardens, part of the urban fabric: play area, sport complex, café. Make spaces experimental, adaptable and open to everyone. Let all life adapt and grow.
You have to love the pure madness and wildness of it all. La Prosperitat, the edge city barrio (neighbourhood) in Barcelona is where, starting from midnight on friday, you will hear lots of roaring in the streets: ECO ECO ECO – VIVA SAN XIBECO. This is the opening night of the local festival this weekend, but for this night you will find the presence of a saint, San Xibeco, but he is no ordinary saint.
Take the yellow line metro up to Via Julia this friday and find out why…
San Xibeco es un santo creado por los vecinos de La Prosperitat, en Barcelona. Cada noviembre, un grupo de jóvenes organiza de forma voluntaria esta fiesta que pretende unir al barrio y crear red social. San Xibeco is a saint created by the community of La Prosperitiat, in Barcelona. Every november, a goup of young people organise voluntarily this festival which tries to unite the neighbourhood and create a social network.
The Gracia community garden radio documentary trilogy and accompanying article Springtime in Europe and the Earths life’s cycle is in bloom again. The 3 parts of the radio documentary capture magical moments in the recent history of one of the most exciting projects in Barcelona at present, our community garden in Gracia. This article was written after a lovely Valentines weekend of much open, shared and participative activity; the highlight of which was our collective mural day in the garden. It is hoped that some of the life, current ideas, projects, tools, spaces, bargains, oddities, dreams, passions and goings on of the city and her peoples are communicated here-in.
Friday… Thinking about winning
Saturday… Painting pictures and feeling like we are winning
Sunday… Sharing passions, playing and doing, Remembering the South.
In a new chapter in the BOLD urban history of Barcelona, a few days ago it was announced that there are plans to construct a new Ecobarri in the area of Vallbona.That being an eco neighbourhood on the banks of the river Besos, alongside the motorway and rail approach to the city from France. Jordi Portabella, the head of ERC (Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya – republican left party of Catalunya) is confident that the project will be ready by 2011.
(View original in PDF in Catalan in newspaper AVUI 15 Nov 08 or scroll below for English translation)
Here is an interview in Català with Jordi Portabella about the plan
Els espais buits no fan Gràcia : The empty spaces are not funny
So read the new banner that now hangs on the end wall of the new Hort Comunitari, or community garden in Catalan, that was opened in Gracia on Saturday morning. From just being another quite and dry street, theres now a hive of activity in Caller Banyoles; people, laughter, color, sounds, music, dancing, kids playing. Being there one knows that Patcha Mama smiles again in Gracia.
Well over a hundred people entered a site that had been left derelict for the last 5 years. The concrete ground was smashed apart and the soil underneath was broken open with pics, forks, spades and hoes. People arrived in with recycled large construction bags with soil inside, once inside these bags had young plants put into them and were watered. that was lovely and brown and full of nutrientsdue to having horse manure mixed into it. Other soil was added to the freshly broken red earth and new plants were inserted here too. a large heap of soil at the end wall gave endless hours of healthy mucky enjoyment to kids who dug tunnells and rolled around, laughing and shrieking with delight as they did so.
The advent of Peak oil and solutions to it are perhaps one of the most critical issues we are facing today. A recent movement has exploded in Britain, transition towns. It began in Kinsale in Ireland with Rob Hopkins who set up the Permaculture college there. They set up the Kinsale Energy descent plan, looking at how their town could make the transition to less oil dependancy over a 20 year time frame. From there Rob went back to Witness in the UK and from there the model has exploded. You can find out whats going on on their WIKI (with translations) and they have set up a fantastic website Transition Culture.
Here is an excellent short video made by —- as part of the Lewes Transition town movement. It was shown in the local cinema of Lewes before all the films. It starts by asking the townspeople what are the causes of climate change and finishes with a rap about how oil is now used for the production of nearly everything we use
Rob Hopkins elaborates on the origins, the growth of and the future of the transition towns movement
As part of the last few days of GEF 08 (Global Eco Forum) there will be a gathering in La Teixadora (a squatted social centre in the Poble Nou barrio (neighbourhood) of Barcelona) during which we will talk about the origins and very successful growth of the Climate Camp movement that originated in the UK 2 years ago and whats being talked about for Copenhagen in December 2009, COP 15
Peaceful protestors meet heavy handed police??? see 2.45 of following
We, at EIG, recently proposed some BOLD ideas for how BCN might grow. We think these ideas are feasible and that many of them could be implemented immediately and cheaply. Apart from radically changing the eco performance of the city, we believe that they would hugely affect the livability of the city, and indeed enliven the very soul of this strange city.
We would like if you viewed the short PDF document, Towards a healthier, happier, eco-effective Barcelona of only 9 pages with many images and with that, should you agree with all or some of the proposals, give us suggestions as to how best we can realise these dreams.
Ciutadella and her green routes: A series of organic root like threads come from BCN´s park, her green heart, and weave to and through the rest of the greenway network.
Parc de la Ciutadella is not only the cities strategically placed central green lung; it happens to make up one of the most deeply loaded parts of Barcelona’s, and indeed Catalunya’s, urban and social history. In short; it matters. From this much loved city space, and always connecting back to and through it, are the 3 ripples; a series of radiating greenways that form a simple orbital matrix, the spine of the network. This structure forms the organising system through which all future greenways routes (roots) weave, from within the city out to her sea, rivers and surrounding hills. And from there to the wider Euro and Global network…
While many view these days with dread; the outset of climate crisis, political corruption and corporate manipulation blocking healthy change, lack of hope that things can change.
Others are starting to see something profound emerging; a re-awakening, an eruption of activity, new and intelligent ways of human interaction. Ecologist Paul Hawken sees this phenoman as “the immune system of humanity finally kicking in” and calls it Blessed Unrest.
As another bubble in all this, yesterday saw the first of 25 days of the first “Global Eco Forum”…
Posted by fuspey 
You have to love the pure madness and wildness of it all. La Prosperitat, the edge city barrio (neighbourhood) in Barcelona is where, starting from midnight on friday, you will hear lots of roaring in the streets: ECO ECO ECO – VIVA SAN XIBECO. This is the opening night of the local 
The Gracia community garden radio documentary trilogy and accompanying article
The Gracia community garden radio documentary trilogy and accompanying article Springtime in Europe and the Earths life’s cycle is in bloom again. The 3 parts of the radio documentary capture magical moments in the recent history of one of the most exciting projects in Barcelona at present, our community garden in Gracia. This article was written after a lovely Valentines weekend of much open, shared and participative activity; the highlight of which was our collective mural day in the garden. It is hoped that some of the life, current ideas, projects, tools, spaces, bargains, oddities, dreams, passions and goings on of the city and her peoples are communicated here-in.
So read the new banner that now hangs on the end wall of the new 
The advent of 
