Segregated bike lane at the complex crossroads in Barcelona between Carrer de Còrsega, Avenida de la Diagonal and Paseo de Gràcia, in an archive image.Joan Sánchez
Streets converted into avenues for cyclists and pedestrians;
that the rental price is calculated based on the emissions of the flats;
an annual cap on kilometers for cars based on how much they pollute;
or discounts for those who return containers.
These are some of the duties that the people of Barcelona put to the next city government and that this Thursday they handed over to the mayoress Ada Colau and the municipal groups.
It has been a pioneering experience of participation at the city level: the Citizen Assembly for the Climate.
It began last summer with the sending of 20,000 letters offering to participate to a representative sample of the citizens of Barcelona, 1,600 residents responded and 100 people between the ages of 16 and 75 were randomly selected, representative of the population in terms of gender, age, district and level of studies.
The experience of the assembly is inspired by other deliberative processes held at the scale of Spain and in Scotland, in addition to the Fòrum Jove in the city of Barcelona itself.
And the process has been led by half from the Department of Climate Emergency and Participation.
Those elected had to commit to participate and have received economic compensation for participating in the sessions, as occurs at the polling stations.
More information
Barcelona declares a climate emergency
In September, the members of the Assembly received education and training on areas related to climate change, such as urban planning, consumption or mobility.
Some sessions led by experts, explains Irma Ventayol, director of the City Council's Climate Change Office, a technical position, not a political one.
A second phase was deliberated and proposals were launched, until they were finalized;
and in a third phase, the proposals were voted on, until reaching 34, which enjoy more than 51% consensus among the participants.
They are about energy, mobility and consumption.
The 34 final proposals involve different agents: the City Council itself or other administrations, citizens, or companies or real estate owners in the city.
For example, ideas are thrown at the council, such as reducing their energy consumption, promoting energy communities, door-to-door garbage collection, more green areas, or green axes for bicycles and pedestrians.
At a supra-municipal level, it is suggested that the Low Emission Zone (ZBE) be based on a maximum number of kilometers per vehicle based on its emissions (now the most polluting cars are banned): "The current ZBE encourages people to change car and this generates an environmental impact and benefits those who can change their car.
It is about reducing the pollution generated by all private vehicles,
Looking at the private sector, it is proposed to create a pole of companies dedicated to reducing energy consumption and the ecological transition, promoting teleworking or regulating the rental price according to the energy efficiency of homes: "Limit the rental price according to energy efficiency is a good way to put pressure on the property to undertake rehabilitation works”.
The recipe would be to "lower the rental price based on the level of your energy certificate": the greater the efficiency, the more you can charge.
Another proposal is to set a "minimum vital energy consumption", that the cost of energy is based on consumption: less consumption, cheaper.
Regarding citizens, the measures that directly affect them are linked to consumption and waste.
Proposals such as an application to measure the carbon footprint of citizens, self-repair workshops in neighborhoods, "forceful" actions against food waste, or creating a system of "deposit, return and reuse of packaging in municipal markets".
“Climate change is so complicated that we all have to get involved,” Ventayol points out about the citizen assembly process: “That citizens make proposals empowers them, the process is useful because of what they have learned, with a level of motivation and desire to contribute very high.
It is an oil stain, they will share the proposals with their families, co-workers… and they will spread the culture of sustainability, we have 80 or 90 prescribers”.
Elisabet Manich, 20, is one of the
assembly members
and tells of her experience: “I received the letter and although I am very concerned about climate change, I was not involved at all, it seemed like an opportunity to participate.
Now I am 100% involved, wanting to continue in the monitoring commission and I am raising awareness in my environment and sharing what I have learned, I think it is a big problem and we all have to get involved”.
Manich points out that she put a lot of effort into the proposal to change the way the LEZ works, although she admits that "it will be difficult to carry it out."
The experience of the citizen assembly for the climate is one of the actions that stood out in the election of Barcelona as the European Capital of Democracy last Wednesday by The Innovation and the Politics Institute.
The election was decided after the evaluation of projects presented by European cities by 2,500 citizens of the states that are part of the Council of Europe.
The finalist cities were Barcelona, Braga and Brussels.
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