by Hugh Morris, The Telegraph, March 3, 2017
Barcelona has launched a global search for ideas on how best to rejuvenate the iconic La Rambla.
The Catalonian capital’s most famous street has become emblematic of a city increasingly struggling to accommodate the number of visitors it attracts, and balance its tourism industry with the needs of its residents.
The mile-long avenue that links the Columbus Monument at the port with the Plaça Catalunya carries as many as 100 million people a year and is famed for its colourful flower stalls, souvenir sellers and access to the popular Boqueria food market.
However, in recent years its appeal has been dampened by congestion caused by hordes of tourists and stag and hen parties.
“The problem is not there are tourists, but only tourists,” said deputy mayor for urban planning, Janet Sanz, according to El Pais .
The city council had already announced it would begin work on the “recovery” of the street in early 2019 but it now seems there is a dearth of ideas and a growing concern over how the city will cope during the renovation, prompting the need for an international design competition.
“We will get an instruction manual to transform La Rambla,” said Gala Pin, the councillor for Ciutat Vella, the neighbourhood in which the street is located. She said that recent legislation to remove the stalls of caged animals and birds was part of the transformation, as are plans to shorten the length of kiosks.
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The plan is to return La Rambla to its neighbours and for Barcelona, she said.
It was May last year the “Special Plan of Rambla” was approved, with the aim of removing clutter from the street. At the time Cllr Pin said it was a “brave” intervention.
The design competition comes in a wake of the passing in January of a radical law to ban new hotels from opening in the Catalonian city.
Construction of hotels in zone one, which includes central districts such as the Old Town, as well as the issue of new licenses to tourist accommodation rentals, are on hold under the legislation expected to come into force in 2019. In zone two, which includes Sagrada Familia and Poblenou, tourist accommodation which closes can be replaced, but no more.
The city has become a victim of its own success as its main attractions suffocate from overcrowding. Last year, an estimated 32 million tourists visited Barcelona, far outnumbering its 1.6 million residents, who complain the city’s narrow gothic streets are filled with tours and that rising costs are preventing locals from finding homes.
“The number of tourists flats in the city is staggering,” said Sally Davies, Telegraph Travel’s Barcelona expert. “It has pushed long-term rental prices to stratospheric levels.
“It’s hard not to feel exasperated with the clogged-up streets, elevated prices and the closure of tiny family-run business.
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“There are now ice-cream parlours where there used to be bodegas, launderettes, herbal pharmacies and hardware stores – specialist shops for locals, who have never really taken to the mega supermarket concept.
“The tens of thousands who come in on cruise ships every month are a big part of the problem too,” she added. “They fill the streets but don’t eat or drink, because all of that is provided on board.”
This article was written by Hugh Morris from The Telegraph and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@newscred.com.