Much of the renewal of Barcelona's El Raval district has been
based on the development of tourist-attractions and associated infrastructure
thus tending to ignore the needs of the local population. Property speculation
has led to large increases in house values, and problems such as the harassment
of elderly tenants by landlords seeking to evict in order to increase rents. The
undercurrents of protest are visible in the street graffiti.
Bullying tactics (or 'mobbing') used
by property owners on renters are on the increase in El Raval where average
property prices have reached 200,000 euros.
The left-hand image shows banners hanging in the Tigre street
of the district protesting about the effects of property speculation, with
intimidated neighbours driven to desperation
Some of the bullying tactics used by the property owners in
Barcelona last year included: property not maintained (22.8%); physical
harassment (13.7%); failure to collect rent (13.4%); buildings not cleaned
(8.3%); essential utilities cut off.
Source Qué! (16/03/05).
Graffiti located adjacent to the
Contemporary Art Museum
'Poble Nou is not for sale' - graffiti in another
degraded district of Barcelona undergoing similar redevelopment
'Here they forced the neighbours to leave'
graffiti at a residential site cleared to make way for another luxury hotel
