Cercle’s note alerts the rising cost of housing as a structural problem in the city, which “progressively drives young Barcelonans out of their city.” At the same time, he warns of a “remarkably widespread perception” about “the decline of being, be it mobility, security or hygiene”. And he stressed that the next four years “will be critical in addressing these problems and improving the quality of life that the city provides.”
Cases pending for Cercle at the municipal level, with a city able to overcome the crisis and attract major events such as the Copa America in 2024 or maintain the Mobile World Congress, a metropolitan with better governance and more powers has territory and resources that increase the “strength” of a region of five million inhabitants “representing the seventh economic region in Europe”, which is something Cercle was already demanding 50 years ago, the entity’s general Recalled director Mikel Nadal. In his opinion, it is necessary to expand the scope of action of this super-municipal unit to 164 municipalities.
At the same time, it needs to strengthen public-private cooperation to avoid “dogmatism”. “The complex solutions we need require collaboration between the city council and the private sector. And this has to happen in a stable environment and mutual trust,” he says. In this sense, Cercle highlights the “misunderstandings” with which the current Council, headed by Ada Colau, treats many projects by private initiative. And he adds that “there are many areas, both in business and civil society, that have not been adequately reckoned with.”
They also call for “more debate, analysis and consensus” before new actions are taken to transform Eixample, aimed at “broad sharing, such as increasing green space and reducing polluting vehicles”. . Cercle criticizes that what has been done so far has been done “without the necessary consensus and with insufficient public transport provision.” They highlight the rising cost of housing, which “progressively drives young people out of the city” and “a particularly widespread perception of the decline of basic services, be it mobility, security or sanitation.”
