Barcelona City Council has acquired and installed 8,613 new benches, chairs, and tables across the city’s streets, promenades, and squares between 2023 and 2025, with an average cost of €1,419.01 per bench. This significant investment has sparked a debate among residents and urban planning experts regarding the sufficiency, placement, and design of public seating.

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The Ajuntament confirmed the average cost for individual chairs stands at €774.43, including both purchase and installation. The largest delivery of urban furniture occurred in 2024, with 3,058 items, following 2,954 in 2023 and 2,601 planned for 2025. Despite these numbers, many residents report a shortage of seating in their neighbourhoods.

Resident Concerns Over Seating Availability

Residents from Sagrada Família complain, “Vertical streets and those with slopes do not have benches.” The Can Baró platform notes that their narrow pavements make installation difficult in steep areas. They add, “We are a mountain neighbourhood, but the benches in the squares are always occupied: every journey here is difficult and there are more and more elderly people.”

Conversely, the Movimiento Diagonal Mar celebrates, “We are full of seats, they have always been there but are repaired, there has never been a protest.” The Asociación de Vecinos del Maresme states, “We have no problem, they were recently replaced on Rambla Prim, what we have asked for many times is for them to clean under the benches.”

The Asociación de Vecinos de Zona Universitària distinguishes, “We asked for benches a few years ago and they installed them, what is missing are bins.” However, the Asociación de Vecinos de Casc Antic criticises, “On Carrer Sant Pere Més Baix, there are only four individual seats, they are often damaged or occupied by tourists eating, and elderly people cannot sit.” Residents in Poble-sec express, “We complain about a recent renovation on Carrer Elkano, where they have not installed any benches.”

Gràcia District Faces Significant Shortages

Ana Menéndez, vice-president of the Federation of Neighbourhood Associations of Barcelona (FAVB), highlights that benches “tend to be missing in streets and squares with an abundance of terraces.” She specifically mentions Carrer Blai, Carrer Enric Granados, Plaça Reial, Plaça de George Orwell, and numerous small squares in Ciutat Vella, such as Plaça de Les Olles and Plaça de Manuel Ribé. Menéndez describes this as “a classic issue.”

Gràcia district, home to over 120,000 residents, records the lowest number of seats city-wide. Àngel Urraca, a 61-year-old Gràcia resident with reduced mobility, states, “Specifically, I lack benches on the street.” He explains, “They renovated Pi i Margall and put some, but not many, and there are some on Passeig de Sant Joan, but they are missing throughout the old town.”

Urraca finds the current number of seats “totally insufficient.” He adds, “When I go with my wife and see a bench, I sit down, but sometimes I cannot stop because, if there are any, they are always full.” He observes, “There is space to put more, but the space in the squares is occupied by terraces.” Urraca also points out the absence of benches on Carrer Bruniquer, Carrer Ramón y Cajal, Torrent d’en Vidalet, Carrer Encarnació, and Carrer Cartagena, which features a steep incline towards Clínica Puigvert. “You have to end up leaning on a car bonnet to rest,” he attests.

Debate Over ‘Hostile Architecture’ and Design

Neighbours also refer to the increasing prevalence of individual chairs instead of traditional benches. The Arrels Foundation, a leading organisation supporting homeless individuals, identifies these as examples of the 1,200 elements of “hostile architecture” in Barcelona. The foundation warns that such designs particularly affect those living on the streets.

Mirela Fiori, director of the Master’s in City and Urbanism at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), argues that “replacing long benches and putting fixed individual chairs is a very hostile policy.” Fiori explains, “It is very defensive or preventive urbanism, which seeks to prevent people from getting dirty, from spending the night, and ends up expelling not only supposedly undesirable groups, but also the elderly, for example.”

Conversely, Anna Maria Puig, a researcher at the Universitat de Vic specialising in sustainable cities and healthy urban environments, maintains that individual seats fulfil the resting function “just as well” as multi-seater benches. Puig suggests, “If they are close enough to converse, the social function can be maintained.” She emphasises comfort, stating, “The context is important and, if it is a place to stay, the environment must be pleasant and safe.” Ricard Ferrer, director of the Master’s in Furniture Design at Elisava school, acknowledges the debate surrounding models that deter homeless people from sleeping. He states, “It is a delicate issue, which must be worked on with sensitivity. It does not have an easy solution. Perhaps benches could be rethought, that would be a way.”

Removing Benches: A Controversial Measure

Barcelona City Council has removed benches in some locations, citing complaints about coexistence issues. This occurred last summer in the Sant Antoni superblock, a popular area in the Eixample district. However, experts challenge this approach.

Màrius Navazo, a public space specialist from the Gea21 study group, postulates, “The removal of benches cannot be based on discomfort, but it is necessary for the issue to be elevated to the rank of damage or problem.” Navazo proposes that exceeding noise levels or failed mediation processes should be factors for such a drastic suppression. He asserts, “The city needs benches so that the streets are not inhospitable.”

Mirela Fiori adds, “Sometimes you can reorient a bench or change the lighting to reduce the feeling of insecurity, but not remove the bench.” She concludes, “Removing benches is not the solution, putting isolated fixed chairs is not either, and cold concrete benches without backrests end up expelling everyone, not just those they want to expel.”

The ongoing discussion highlights the complex challenge Barcelona faces in balancing urban design, public comfort, and social inclusion. As the city continues to invest in its public spaces, finding sensitive and inclusive solutions for urban furniture remains a critical task for the Ajuntament and local communities.

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Originally published by El Periódico Barcelona. Read original article.