Revista Barcelona Metròpolis 112 - Lliçons de la crisi

N112 - Jul 19

Lessons from the crisis

In 2008, the worst economic crisis hit since the Great Crash of 1929. The recession did away with companies, jobs, housing and the life plans of millions of people. It weakened the welfare state and social cohesion. Economic recovery has not resulted in greater social justice but rather greater inequality. What have we learned from this upheaval?

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DossierLessons from the crisis

Illustration © Eva Vázquez. A person looks at a painting of a ledger. The painting shows descending lines that emerge from the ledger and pierce through the ground.
Lessons from the crisisOpen wounds

There are more poor people today, and they have even less than before the crisis. Organised citizenship has tackled this situation with social innovation and solidarity, but worsening...

Illustration © Eva Vázquez. A number of people contemplate a temple with Greek columns. The column on the right is shaped like a dollar symbol.
Lessons from the crisisThere is an alternative, it is progressive capitalism

Is capitalism compatible with democracy and prosperity? The rise in inequalities in the early 21st century has had worrying implications in liberal democracies, which are...

Illustration © Eva Vázquez. A house split into four as if it were a cake and, in the middle, grows a tree full of vultures.
Lessons from the crisisFrom the mortgage scam to the rent scam

A decade after the worst real estate bubble in history burst, access to housing is still one of the major social problems. And it is because states operate as another cog in the...

Illustration © Eva Vázquez. Residential neighborhood typical in the United States. There are some well-built houses with a pool while other houses are half-sunken in their pool.
Lessons from the crisisDivides that separate, bridges to be built

Europe’s economic reconstruction in the second half of the 20th century focussed on providing liberal democracies with institutions that would protect citizens’ social rights...

Illustration © Eva Vázquez. A number of people climb the stairs of a building but cannot keep going because a flight of stairs between two floors has collapsed.
Lessons from the crisisInequality in the age of disconnection

The economic crisis has widened the gaps (labour, generation, gender and fiscal) that contribute to exacerbating inequality. If societies continue to increase these divides and the...

Illustration © Eva Vázquez. Two people are talking. One seems to tell the other about the house of his dreams: one bigger than the one he has.
Lessons from the crisisDisparity drives us further apart: psychological effects of economic inequality

Economic inequality is conducive to individualism. Living in unequal societies makes us more concerned about our social position; the greater the difference, the further the distance...

Illustration © Eva Vázquez. A group of people form the blade of a palette knife, a plasterer's tool used to apply cement.
Lessons from the crisisSocial innovation: different responses from organized citizens

In the face of the post-crisis neoliberal siren calls, crying out for individual responsibility, civil society has organized itself to provide a collective response to the consequences...

Other contents

Retrat de Fina Birulés © Camilla de Maffei
Knitting spaces of feminist thought

Fina Birulés

Distilling thought involves the strenuous task of condensing sense and syntactic skill. Those who know Fina Birulés know of her tenacious precision in thought and...

Portrait of Dominique Méda © Albert Armengol
Reinventing work in a more humane and ecological society

Thinker of reference in the study of work, Méda impresses with her passionate, direct, documented and rigorous discourse in defence of work in general and of wage...

Il·lustració de diferents llocs de Barcelona: Sagrada Família, Camp Nou, torre Agbar © Astrid Ortiz
Tourism, between wealth and residents’ complaints

Barcelona receives more than 12 million visitors per year for both business and pleasure. The city is the location of one out of every three tourism companies in...

Houses on the street Carrer de la Font Florida, in the Barcelona neighborhood of Font de la Guatlla. © Arianna Giménez
Who does the reversal of a public land designation affect? The cases of Satalia and Font de la Guatlla

Classed as green areas by the General Metropolitan Plan, the small neighbourhoods of Satalia and Font de la Guatlla have long lived under the threat of expropriation...

Illustration © Eva Vázquez. A fish looks at its reflection in a fish tank from the outside. The inside the fish bowl features a cityscape and a boy on a bicycle.
Debbie and Humbert

Debbie and Humbert got married on the same day that Ibiza died. Carla found the turtle with her head inside her shell and her legs stretched out. Her friends...

© Laura Guerrero. Views of Barcelona from the sea to the mountains from Barcelona City Council's Novíssim building.
Culture, a tool for reconciling antagonism

Against the strength of the market, which spins people outside the city, culture can be a tool that helps them to overcome marginalities and puts them on equal...

Older women singing while performing a choreography with their hands. © Laura Guerrero
Cultural Democracy

If culture is to help us to create a community, the consumer of art must also be a participant and not a mere spectator. Participation enables us to broaden our point...

Llibre: Muñoz Ramonet. Retrat d’un home sense imatge, Manuel Risques (ed.)
The prince of the black market

Julio Muñoz Ramonet, the invisible prince of the black market, left his palace on Carrer de Muntaner to the city of Barcelona, along with the extraordinary collection...

Book: Variacions profanes, Marta Pessarrodona
Marta Pessarrodona, or love is what remains

Coinciding with her distinction with the Premi d’Honor de les Lletres Catalanes 2019, Marta Pessarrodona (Terrassa, 1941) has just published Variacions profanes...

Book: Novel·la, Pol Beckmann
A puzzle in the service of love and writing

The debut novel by young Pol Beckmann (Barcelona, 1991), that has received the Llibreter 2019 award in the category of other literatures, is a multi-faceted literary...

Portrait of Enric Montefusco © Dani Codina
“The most important struggle is the one you have within”

Enric Montefusco

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