6 ms·

Yet another example of how Barcelona feels societally futuristic in some ways. For a couple more - they were way ahead of the curve (at least from an American p

Yet another example of how Barcelona feels societally futuristic in some ways. For a couple more - they were way ahead of the curve (at least from an American perceptive) on superblocks[1] and they have centralized vacuum municipal trash collection[2] [1] https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/may/17/superblocks-rescue-barcelona-spain-plan-give-streets-back-residents https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/may/17/superblocks-r... [2] https://enviropaul.wordpress.com/2016/03/22/all-the-garbage-of-barcelona/ https://enviropaul.wordpress.com/2016/03/22/all-the-garbage-...

ResearchCode 5y ago
It feels more dystopian than futuristic. There are countries where children don't have to commute in large groups to avoid crime.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- VBprogrammer 5y ago
  I think the safety is to do with road traffic rather than deliberate criminality.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
- mejutoco 5y ago
  Barcelona is not a place where children have to commute in large groups to avoid crime. I do not know where you got that idea.
  - ResearchCode 5y ago
    Got the idea from them being one of the crime capitals of Europe where visitors are asked to practice war zone vigilance. Could also be a little bit of the middle class being priced out of driving cars. Futurism in the Davos sense perhaps. You will own nothing...
    - asdfwefdadsf 5y ago
      Please provide a source for Barcelona being a crime capital of Europe.
      - ResearchCode 5y ago
        For instance, the "sources" accessible through those keywords put in a google search query. (Entertaining the question as if my claim was more controversial than any other in this thread, that is, as if Barcelona was not infamous as a crime ridden s hole where visitors are asked to practice war zone vigilance.)
        vidarh 5y ago
        Putting "crime capitals of Europe" into Google gets me multiple lists, only one of which includes Barcelona. The one which includes it places it 26th in Europe, behind a whole lot of cities I've felt totally safe in.
        pvaldes 5y ago
        Feeling safe in the street is one thing, but those ranks miss that the big fat crime will try its best to be invisible and unnoticed. January 2021: "Police in Spain have reported the seizure of 827000 ecstasy pills, 76 Kg of amphetamine, 39.5 kg of crystal methamphetamine, 89 kg of cannabis, and 1.65 kg of cocaine in what they claim to be the biggest drug haul in Europe" https://www.addictionjournal.org/posts/police-seize-largest-haul-of-ecstasy-in-europe https://www.addictionjournal.org/posts/police-seize-largest-... Barcelona still has a huge problem with drugs In this sense, yes, has well earned sadly a place among European crime capitals. Indirect analysis as looking for sewage water biomarkers, place Barcelona among the European cities with a biggest abuse of cocaine, slightly bigger than London. This means that 5 millions of citizens in Barcelona consume more cocaine that 9 millions in London, so they almost double the average dose per capita. Antwerp (half a million) is a disaster doubling the London/Barcelona values in a weekend. They could go to Barcelona to detox. Those are recent values taken from here: https://www.emcdda.europa.eu/publications/html/pods/waste-water-analysis_en https://www.emcdda.europa.eu/publications/html/pods/waste-wa...
- ashtonkem 5y ago
  No, it’s to protect them from cars, which are by and far one of the biggest dangers to children
pachico 5y ago
Lots of opinions about Barcelona, I see. Somehow I feel I know the city quite well. I moved here more than 20 years ago and I can compare it to others cities I live in or visited. Barcelona is relatively safe, although, as it's been mentioned, it had several hot spots (I used to live in some of these, actually). Crime is in most of the cases about pickpocketing or, sadly but infrequently, with assault. Still, believe me, it's a relatively safe city. Anyhow, it's not a city to grow your children. Traffic is high, bike lanes are not safe and there are very few parks. This is the reason people try to move to nearby cities whenever they have kids (my case also).
- brailsafe 5y ago
  How bad is pickpocketing these days? Barcelona seemed to have developed an international reputation for it, but I presume that much like all things, it's overblown.
  - zxspectrum1982 5y ago
    These days? Horrible. Some people call it "Warcelona" for a reason. Authorities do nothing.
  - pachico 5y ago
    During years not much has been done. The problem is that pickpocketing pays off for people that has nothing or very little to loose. Much of the problem is in the hands of clans of underages that arrived to Spain with nothing. The law can't do much to them. After some years, local police started to do more pressure, mostly trying to dissuade or prevent, rather than to catch them after the fact. Eventually they moved somewhere else (our of the city now) and COVID killed tourism that always was the the main source of targets. I'd say it's much better now. Unfortunately, it is a topic that gets easily ignited by political parties counter accusations.
mlok 5y ago
I didn't know about the centralized vacuum municipal trash collection. I found this short video showing the concept : https://youtu.be/gHmt1GTVlnM https://youtu.be/gHmt1GTVlnM

ResearchCode 5y ago

It feels more dystopian than futuristic. There are countries where children don't have to commute in large groups to avoid crime.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
VBprogrammer 5y ago
I think the safety is to do with road traffic rather than deliberate criminality.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
mejutoco 5y ago
Barcelona is not a place where children have to commute in large groups to avoid crime. I do not know where you got that idea.
- ResearchCode 5y ago
  Got the idea from them being one of the crime capitals of Europe where visitors are asked to practice war zone vigilance. Could also be a little bit of the middle class being priced out of driving cars. Futurism in the Davos sense perhaps. You will own nothing...
  - asdfwefdadsf 5y ago
    Please provide a source for Barcelona being a crime capital of Europe.
    - ResearchCode 5y ago
      For instance, the "sources" accessible through those keywords put in a google search query. (Entertaining the question as if my claim was more controversial than any other in this thread, that is, as if Barcelona was not infamous as a crime ridden s hole where visitors are asked to practice war zone vigilance.)
      - vidarh 5y ago
        Putting "crime capitals of Europe" into Google gets me multiple lists, only one of which includes Barcelona. The one which includes it places it 26th in Europe, behind a whole lot of cities I've felt totally safe in.
        pvaldes 5y ago
        Feeling safe in the street is one thing, but those ranks miss that the big fat crime will try its best to be invisible and unnoticed. January 2021: "Police in Spain have reported the seizure of 827000 ecstasy pills, 76 Kg of amphetamine, 39.5 kg of crystal methamphetamine, 89 kg of cannabis, and 1.65 kg of cocaine in what they claim to be the biggest drug haul in Europe" https://www.addictionjournal.org/posts/police-seize-largest-haul-of-ecstasy-in-europe https://www.addictionjournal.org/posts/police-seize-largest-... Barcelona still has a huge problem with drugs In this sense, yes, has well earned sadly a place among European crime capitals. Indirect analysis as looking for sewage water biomarkers, place Barcelona among the European cities with a biggest abuse of cocaine, slightly bigger than London. This means that 5 millions of citizens in Barcelona consume more cocaine that 9 millions in London, so they almost double the average dose per capita. Antwerp (half a million) is a disaster doubling the London/Barcelona values in a weekend. They could go to Barcelona to detox. Those are recent values taken from here: https://www.emcdda.europa.eu/publications/html/pods/waste-water-analysis_en https://www.emcdda.europa.eu/publications/html/pods/waste-wa...
ashtonkem 5y ago
No, it’s to protect them from cars, which are by and far one of the biggest dangers to children

pachico 5y ago

Lots of opinions about Barcelona, I see. Somehow I feel I know the city quite well. I moved here more than 20 years ago and I can compare it to others cities I live in or visited. Barcelona is relatively safe, although, as it's been mentioned, it had several hot spots (I used to live in some of these, actually). Crime is in most of the cases about pickpocketing or, sadly but infrequently, with assault. Still, believe me, it's a relatively safe city. Anyhow, it's not a city to grow your children. Traffic is high, bike lanes are not safe and there are very few parks. This is the reason people try to move to nearby cities whenever they have kids (my case also).

brailsafe 5y ago
How bad is pickpocketing these days? Barcelona seemed to have developed an international reputation for it, but I presume that much like all things, it's overblown.
- zxspectrum1982 5y ago
  These days? Horrible. Some people call it "Warcelona" for a reason. Authorities do nothing.
- pachico 5y ago
  During years not much has been done. The problem is that pickpocketing pays off for people that has nothing or very little to loose. Much of the problem is in the hands of clans of underages that arrived to Spain with nothing. The law can't do much to them. After some years, local police started to do more pressure, mostly trying to dissuade or prevent, rather than to catch them after the fact. Eventually they moved somewhere else (our of the city now) and COVID killed tourism that always was the the main source of targets. I'd say it's much better now. Unfortunately, it is a topic that gets easily ignited by political parties counter accusations.

mlok 5y ago

I didn't know about the centralized vacuum municipal trash collection. I found this short video showing the concept : https://youtu.be/gHmt1GTVlnM https://youtu.be/gHmt1GTVlnM