At the end of Franco’s dictatorship in Spain in 1975, Badia a new town was constructed in the city of Barcelona. People from all over the country applied for a housing in Badia because many of them lived in poor conditions. The ones that were choosen moved to Badia and became owners of the house. Almost 33 years later a virtual Badia was transposed to the internet; it is called Badiafonia and allows the visitor to virtually walk around Badia and listen to the various stories of it’s inhabitants and the sounds of the town itself. Barcelona-based architect and artist Pau Faus was asked by the Municipal Culture Department of Badia del Vallès and the Barcelona’s Area Culture Department to produce a web-based map and art project of Badia. Collecting soundscapes and interviews from people living there since the construction of the town.
Pau, who commissioned you to work on the Badiafonia project?
One could say it was the municipal culture department of Badia del Vallès and the Barcelona’s Area Culture Department (DiBa) who contacted me for an art festival. The festival was called Plasma: Urban Cultural Visions.
Could you please give us a little reminder of Badia’s history?
Badia was built in the early 1970s and had been finished in 1975. People that went there had to apply for a house because they lived in precarious places, in hostels or paying rents. The ones that were choosen moved there and became owners of the house. In the beginning Badia was a neighbourhood of two villages; but during the years the people from Badia claimed and protested a lot for kindergardens, hospitals, culture centres and so on.
Does the history of Badia represent the history of Spain in general?
The history of Badia is the history of the Spanish transition from dictatorship to democracy. Badia was born when Franco died, democracy was being built and so was Badia. The fights in Badia were the fights of many cities to recover control of their own spaces, but the particularity of Badia was that it’s inhabitants didn’t have any government at all that represented them – they were abandoned. So they had to scream louder.
Were Badia’s people successful in demanding and protesting?
The people from Badia were very successful, after fighting for years and years, they had everything they needed. In Badia there was no municipal government, Badia belonged every two years to a different city, can you imagine that? Two years they were part of Barbera and two years of Cerdanyola, and then Barbera again. Nobody took really care of them nor their needs. So the people from Badia stopped trains, cars and occupied houses to protest. Finally they became independent so they had their own municipal government that could take care and understand their needs. Of course there are problems, there is no good government anywhere, but at least it is their own government. Finally they became independent, being now the youngest and most densified city of Spain. The history of Badia is the history of the Spanish Transition from dictatorship to democracy.
The people could apply for housing - but who made up the decisions to achieve a place to settle?
Finally, it was the Spanish government – still a dictatorship in 1975 – who decided who could have a house in Badia. On the one hand most of the houses were given to the poor; but at the same time many employees of the government were taking profit of the low prices and took houses for themselves allthough they didn’t depend on that! Some years later these circumstances led to the effect that many houses were still empty because their owners didn’t use them for living! At the same time many (poor) families were in need for housings; so a very strong “squatter” movement occured in Badia. Entire families broke the doors of empty flats and decided to live there. More and more problems for Badia arrised. But at the end, many of these families were able to buy the flat they occupied because the law forced the owners to sell it to them once it was proved that they didn’t have the place for a living need. If you could find somebody that speaks Spanish (and some Catalan, too) you could find out everything by listening to the stories on Badiafonia.
What do the four different colors on the map stand for?
Magenta represents the memory and thus the past. Whereas the colour blue stands for emotions. Yellow represents the every-day-life in Badia. The green markes on the map cover the sounds (like the river, highway, market, kids playing, old peolple playing domino, sound of the library etc.).
Listen and watch Badiafonia
Other projects by Pau Faus
www.illafortpienc.net - A collection of written stories in a building of Barcelona
www.laciudadjubilada.net - An online book about the kitchen gardens self-built by the retirees of Barcelona next to the highway, rivers and train tracks (Spanish and English).
