Of the Social Longevity of La BordaIntroduction

The Spanish economy, specifically its housing sector, has been struggling for about a decade due to the burst of the Spanish housing bubble and the global financial crisis. Citizens’ incomes are being reduced, increasing unemployment, and leaving the citizens of Spain very few options for affordable housing. This housing crisis has inspired many to bring new ideas to the table for alternative housing, one being cooperative housing.

La Bordá is a housing cooperative that wants to promote a non-speculative model of access to housing and was created in 2012 in the neighborhood of Sants. Sants has a long tradition and presence of cooperatives. The main goal for creating La Bordá is to provide social, affordable, and environmentally sustainable housing to the members of the cooperative and promote intergenerational relationships and community integration. The members of this cooperative believe that housing should be a guaranteed right and not a consumer good.

The three specific reasons why La Bordá was created are because of the housing crisis, the emergence of the social economy, and its strong neighborhood movement. Recently, the social aspect of housing and the idea of having many shared services and common spaces in the community has been growing. It is almost impossible to find and basically nonexistent in current affordable housing options.

Can Batlló is a former industrial site in La Bordeta, a neighborhood in the Sants-Montjuic district. This site was originally used for the garment industry, but eventually shut down in the mid-1960s. City Council had ideas of creating public facilities and affordable housing at this site. In 2011, they took the initiative and occupied the site, starting a neighborhood movement. This space is used as a meeting spot for neighbors and local organizations to make decisions and share information about their ideas for alternative housing. La Borda is just one of the many projects going on in Can Batllo. However, what makes La Borda different from the other projects is not only it being a housing cooperative, but also the fact that it focuses on social innovation and goes beyond the sole topic of housing.

Although La Bordá was carefully planned, there can still be flaws and challenges in the outcome of this project. Because of this, this paper will focus on the challenges of creating this cooperative by looking into the project’s organization and also to the social longevity of La Bordá. Even if the cooperative is built, it seems very difficult to sustain because of the potential challenges and conflicts within the community.

Map of Barcelona: La Bordá and Sants-Montjuïc are highlighted.

Map of Can Batlló and La Bordá

BodyAccording to Co-operative Housing International, co-operative housing

exists in various forms, including rental and co-ownership. Housing cooperatives are made possible through the co-ownership of spaces, where all owners share a collective vision or goal. Some key aspects of collective ownership include affordability, security, transparency, commitment toward social goals, a decent place to live and personal growth. Without all of these, co-operative housing would function very differently or maybe not even function at all. Communication between members of a co-operative is critical to keep everything running smoothly. These communities tend to be regulated through a board structure, but decisions are always reached collectively by members of the organization.

Co-operative housing first appeared in Spain around 1911, inspired by Fernando Garrido Tortosa, who initially wrote about co-operatives in Spain around 1864. The Associations’ Law, the Law on Low-Cost, and affordable housing were the first laws put in place to regulate the expansion of co-operative housing. Between the years of 1936-1939, this expansion was sharply reduced due the Spanish Civil War. The political changes that resulted from the war had a profound impact on co-operative structures throughout Spain. Instead of community member participation, many decisions were placed in the hands of state institutions. In 1942, Spain

adopted their first co-operative specific law, facilitating the growth of the sector. The Economic Stabilization Plan of 1959 further supported the growth of co-operative housing, since the state supported subsidized housing to stimulate the construction sector. During the 1970s and 80s, industrialization and population growth both led to a drop in housing infrastructure, at which point co-operative housing quickly increased.

In 2009, housing markets crashed across the country, lowering prices and negatively affecting subsidized housing. This crash led to a decrease in the purchases of subsidized housing, even though just two years prior, Barcelona had adopted the Land Law which supported the growth of subsidized housing. The issue with the housing prices was that the gap between the private market and subsidized housing was reduced greatly, which then lowered demand. In the present day though, there are new demands in the housing market, specifically an increase in demand for low-income rentals. Co-operatives around Barcelona are working to meet these demands, though due to a shortage in available land to build on, the process has decelerated a bit.

The creation and intention of cooperative housing is to create a place for people to inhabit a permanent sustainable home, sustainability meaning in terms of economically, socially, and environmentally. La Bordá is a holistic, well-rounded project because it attempts to cover all parts of sustainability. Particularly, La Bordá is structured to have a success in social longevity. Social longevity is the adaptable social organization of people with similar morals and rules to live cooperatively. The rules that are made are created to adapt to the certain economic, political or social changes that may arise. To succeed, all these elements, planners, designers, and architects work with the people who will inhabit La Bordá.

La Bordá was designed and created for the current and future residents of this housing development. The design and planning process of this housing development deeply involved the community to create this project. Designers and architects entered this community allowing the community to educate them and listen to what the community needed and required. It is a seven-story building with a green roof on the top. The overall design of this place was intentional of the communities wants and needs. The ground floor is not only a large gathering space, but it also connects to neighboring buildings. It also considered the surrounding

buildings that allowed people to utilize the building’s location and community interaction.

Due to the excessive cost and lack of housing in Barcelona, La Bordá was created to be social housing that not only provides a sense of community, but affordable housing for them. The contract for living in La Bordá is 75 years. To maintain residence in La Bordá, residents are required to follow the consensual rules and continue to participate in a committee to give back to the housing cooperative. Each person living here must participate regardless of how big or small the task is. The committee considers people’s restrictions, limitations,and disabilities in asking them to perform tasks. Besides a communal livingattitude, the committee hopes to provide their residents with accessiblehousing.

The housing of La Bordá is adaptable and designed for the change of demographic and housing configuration. They placed different rooms in access for the change of demographic that is living there. On every floor the home configurations are different to accommodate everyone’s needs. Different rooms have different access points to also additional access into rooms or minimize access into rooms. The design of La Bordá would be able to physically change as the demographic of the people also change as well.

This allows the residents to choose how they want to live in their home. Their design strategies also planned to solve issues of environmental problems that were connected to economic issues. The placement of high windows and low windows are strategically placed to allow cold air into the homes and allow warm air to rise into the greenhouse. They did this to use natural ventilation, so residents did not need to use air conditioning. Besides air conditioning affecting the environment, it can also increase the electric bill that noteveryone is able to afford.

Can Batlló and La Bordá functions in a horizontal manner emphasizing transparency and communication between professional planning partners and voluntary community members. With this type of organizational structure, La Bordá and Can Batlló attempt to listen to and include the community needs into their designs. In order for the overall space to function properly, Can Batlló is divided into different commissions that target specific goals and tasks. Commissions range from outreach, architectural design, finance, justice, and more. In the horizontal structure, there is no leader that makes the final decision, so everything is self-sufficient and self-governing. Can Batlló and La Bordá is a joint effort between all commissions, so everyone is expected to contribute equally. However, even with a horizontal structure, there are still internal challenges that stem from miscommunication and lack of boundaries.

Organizational map of La Bordá’s Assembly

Since Can Batlló and La Bordá is a self-governing site, they face an overwhelming amount of work that voluntary commission members struggle to keep up with. Each commission deals with an array of tasks and duties, but there are moments where members do not have the capacity to work resulting in burnout, miscommunication, and more. For example, Carles Baiges, an architect who works closely with Can Batlló and La Bordá, explains his struggle with working in a horizontal, self-governing cooperative. As part of the communications and outreach commission, his job is to handle the website, press, and tours. There are instances where his co-commission members all faced personal familial issues and he was left to deal with overwhelming amount of work alone. There can be lack of communication between members and one can be left bearing the burden. This has led to an increase in stress and burnout in the planning commissions, which can also be seen in the rest of the community.

When it comes to working with the community of Can Batlló, many have their own personal lives and families to take care of. Sometimes, there are instances where there are not enough participatory members in a

planning committee or at a social function. It is fundamental to have the community be involved in the planning processes, but it is challenging to expect them to balance their families, work, and volunteer time all at once. Problems arise when the community is not engaged in the work, which may also be linked to defining boundaries.

In Can Batlló and La Bordá, there comes an issue of personal boundaries and taking your work home with you. What can contribute to stress or burnout, could be working where you live. Although they have their designated private units, once residents of La Bordá enter the communal spaces, they are expected to help with the maintenance and upkeep of the place. There could be trouble in defining boundaries and where to draw the line between home and work. To avoid these kinds of issues, communication and open dialogue is vital in establishing personal space and boundaries.

There have been different scenarios and cases brought up that might interfere with the planning and maintenance of La Bordá. Although the space is designed with the growth and adaptability of family in mind, the social organization of commissions have not considered that in their structure. For instance, if a family happens to have many children, they will most likely not be able to handle extra volunteer work that La Bordá requires. Also, if another resident has a straining job that requires a lot of time at work, they will have trouble participating in community projects. One of the last scenarios is if there is group conflict between residents. Since La Bordá is a joint effort, there needs to be coexistence amongst people for it to work properly. If residents are not getting along, then that may inhibit the growth of the space. These are hypothetical, but very realistic expectations that could interfere with the functioning of La Bordá.

When thinking about the longevity of La Bordá, the social organization of the space is what may cause the most conflict. The fundamental aspect of cooperatives is a self-governing community which emphasizes transparency, participation, and coexistence. Human needs are met through the design and principle of the space, but the execution of communal work may not properly play out. If La Bordá wants to perform at its peak for years to come, then proper communication and boundaries need to be met.

Conclusion

La Bordá as a physical building is still forming and becoming a beacon of safety and reassurance. One may not be able to know the social structure of La Bordá since it is not completed yet. However, we do know one thing for

a fact. The community in La Bordá has come up with rules and regulations that will allow them to stick to their initial intentions and philosophies. As Barcelona changes, the community expected the people of La Bordá will change. So, in preparation, they created adaptable expectations that can change over time. Although the place is intended to inhabit a different demographic, there can still be potential social issues that interfere with the goal of sustainability or maintenance. Overall, La Bordá has come up with many new ideas to share with the world about housing cooperatives and has hopefully inspired other people in the world to have enough courage to create their own housing cooperatives in their community.

Works Cited

“Spain Archives.” Co-Operative Housing, www.housinginternational.coop/co-ops/spain/.

“Preguntas Frecuentes.” La Bordá, www.laborda.coop/es/proyecto/preguntas-frecuentes/.