jonathanananMay 6, 2025
J—dV

Want to hear a local (to me) story about public space, urban planning, and neighborhood activism? A story that starts with a convent and ends with a link to an online petition to try to make things right? Of course you do! So…

Once upon a time there was a convent. However, with the nuns only getting older and fewer folks interested in taking up the calling it was closed down. The church, in their infinite wisdom, sold the building and small garden to a real estate development agency, who planned to build a parking lot. Neighbors stepped in, joined up, and pressured the city into buying the land. Since 2012 it's been run, entirely on a volunteer basis by a neighborhood non-profit as «El Jardí del Silenci», The Garden of Silence. It's quite lovely. And now, it's being threatened … but not by whom you might think.

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#viladegracia

May 5, 2025 at 3:18pmWeb
Show threadJ—dVMay 5, 2025

Barcelona has a participative budget program, which is great and results in some nice projects. Except, it also tends to reward the types of people and groups who are good at navigating the proposal and online voting process. Often that means parents who want more playgrounds. I'm always in favor of more public space, and playgrounds are an important type of public space, just not the only type of public space we need. And in this case a group of parents are pushing through a proposal to turn the Jardí del Silenci into a playground.

There's one glaring omission in their proposal: they never coordinated with, or even spoke to, the folks currently managing the space—you know the volunteers who have been nurturing the plants, shaping the space, and who fought to keep it from being turned into a parking lot to begin with!

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#viladegracia

Show threadJ—dVMay 5, 2025

The parents want (1) the garden to be open even when their are no volunteers to keep an eye on things and (2) fewer plants and more room for kids to run around in, including a play structure. The volunteers who currently manage the space (as part of an agreement with the city, mind you) argue that (a) this random group can't just come in and dictate how the space they have been taking care of should be used and (b) this is a unique space with a unique focus on biodiversity and calm greenery and more playgrounds shouldn't come at the expense of already existing public space.

This is their petition to try to slow the roll of the participative budget process and not lose the garden: https://chng.it/Z5MbyLSTpx

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#viladegracia

Firma la petición

Rebutgem la intervenció al Jardí del Silenci

Change.org
Show threadjonathanananMay 7, 2025
@redjives signed! Thanks for sharing, the garden is a peaceful oasis, I had no idea it was under threat