Up to date, the Bon Pastor area has been considered suburbia, but with the new metro line connecting it to the downtown, the distances somehow decreased. There is political will behind the development of the area, causing redevelopment into a denser typology. There have also been focuses on public services in addition to the metro station, like upgraded squares, playgrounds and a modern library. Even though revitalization is much needed, this causes problems as people’s homes are demolished. In addition to more central parts of Barcelona, there are an overwhelming proportion of elderly people in the area, who might have lived there all their lives. The forced relocation of their homes, causes protests and frustration as their homes and home district are rapidly transformed into a place they no longer know.
In order to function as a living city, it is important for the Bon Pastor area, as any other part of the city, to keep up with modern city life and living standards. As the city grows, it is also necessary to keep a density corresponding to the demand of housing. On the other hand, a redevelopment at such a rate happens much more rapidly than a normal city pace, and can cause many problems. As the development happens rapidly, the city gets no time to grow naturally, and the residents no longer recognize their environment. It is claimed by scientists that a rapid change or loss of architectural environments are experienced by the inhabitants in the same way as losing a person near, only that the collective grief are slower processes than personal ones. Therefore it is important to also have in mind what rapid development of areas does to the inhabitants psychologically, in addition to other problems that may occur.
Even though my example from Norway is a much different issue from the one in Bon Pastor, it is still concerning a relevant density problem these days, causing about the same reaction from the inhabitants. In the small town where I grew up, Molde, it rages a debate about city densification there days. Molde is a city that mostly consists of detached houses, but as the city grows bigger, the low dens buildings makes the city grow over a large area causing problems of both communication and urban intensity. The city council is not sure how to act in the densification issue, and the result is that half dense buildings arises in the middle of low dense areas, only depending on where private developers find an available site. This causes much rage from the neighbors as their common surroundings change rapidly with no control and plan.
