La Borda
Created on 04-06-2022 | Updated on 09-03-2023
La Borda is a housing cooperative located in the neighbourhood of La Bordeta–Sants, a working-class neighbourhood of Barcelona with a long cooperative tradition. The plot is part of the former industrial site of Can Batlló and was the outcome of a neighbourhood movement to recuperate the area and empower its social fabric. It is an important experiment that emerged from local grassroots initiatives, to provide decent, non-speculative and long-term affordable housing, as well as, to create a more sustainable way of living, minimizing the environmental impact and the energy demands. Through a participatory process, the group worked together with local organisations, architects, and professionals to rethink what it means to dwell, questioning the individualisation of living, and suggesting more communitarian forms. By promoting reciprocal relations and equality, they produced new forms of coexistence, social bonds and self-organization. This model aspires in creating a scalable alternative in the field of public housing, by articulating a model of accessible housing for people with lower income. The property is characterised as social housing, as the group managed to achieve an agreement with the municipality, which owns the plot, for a leasehold for 75 years. The legal framework under which the cooperative secures the long-term affordability is called “grant of use”, prioritizing the use-value instead of the exchange value, thus avoiding speculation. The project has gained international recognition by winning several awards during the last years, as a result of the innovative process, it followed, emerging from a social movement, and arriving at providing affordable and cooperative housing with sustainable considerations.
Architect(s)
Lacol cooperativa
Location
Barcelona, Spain
Project (year)
2012-present
Construction (year)
2017-2018
Housing type
cooperative houisng
Urban context
part of an old industrial site
Construction system
first floor with concrete and the next six with CLT
Selected option
New building Built
Description
The neighborhood movement
The cooperative housing model in Spain played a particular role during the 1960s-1970s when people in search of affordable housing explored cooperative schemes extensively (Quaderns, 2014). After the economic recession of 2008 and the burst of the real estate bubble, people started questioning many generally accepted notions of identity, collectively and of social and cultural needs (Baraona Pohl, 2017). At that moment, many social movements emerged as a reaction, such as the "Platform for Mortgage Victims" (Plataforma de Afectados por la Hipoteca, known as PAH).
An important experiment inspired by these movements was La Borda, located in the neighborhood of Sants, at a plot that forms part of Can Batlló, a former industrial site built in the late nineteenth century. The project occurred as a reaction from a neighborhood movement to a process of urban renewal which the residents felt that was going against their interests and needs, causing distraction and fear of the loss of the local identity. This was the reason the neighborhood movement ‘Recuperem Can Batllo’ took the initiative to occupy the site, demonstrating the importance of the local communities’ opinions in the processes of urban development. The case of La Borda manifests how urban movements can achieve greater control in the process of recuperation and regeneration of an existing urban area to imagine and build spaces that reflect their values and needs (Avilla-Royo et al., 2021).
Active participation
The project started in 2012 as a result of informal meetings, with an initial core of 15 people, consisting of actors who were already active in the neighborhood, including members of the architectural cooperative "Lacol", members of the labour cooperative "La Ciutat invisible", members of the association "Sostre Civic" and people from different association movements in the area. After a long process of public participation and negotiation with the municipality of Barcelona, an agreement was signed in 2014, and the group opened to new members, arriving from 15 to 45. After another two years of work, the construction started in 2017 and the first residents entered in 2018.
The word participation often appears as a buzzword, as it is being co-opted to refer to processes of consultation or manipulation of the participants to legitimise decisions, thus ending up as an empty signifier. By identifying the hierarchies entailed in such processes, we can recognize higher levels of participation, based on horizontality, reciprocity, and mutual respect where participants not only have equal access in forming a decision but are also able to take control and self-manage the whole process. This was the case of La Borda, a project that followed a democratic participation process, self-development, and self-management. Another important element was the transdisciplinary way in which the group collaborated with architects, environmental engineers, local organisations, and professionals from the social economy sector with whom they were sharing the same ideals and values.
According to Avilla-Royo et al. (2021) greater involvement and agency of dwellers throughout the lifetime of a project is a key characteristic of the cooperative housing movement in Barcelona. In that way, the group collectively discussed, imagined, and developed the housing environment that best covered their needs in typological, material, economic or managerial terms. The group of forty-five people was divided into different working committees to discuss the diverse topics that were part of the housing scheme: architecture, cohabitation, economic model, legal policies, communication, and internal management. These committees formed the basis for a decision-making assembly. The committees would adapt throughout the process as new needs would arise, for example, the “architectural” committee that was responsible for the building development, was converted into a “maintenance and self-building” committee once the building was inhabited. Apart from the specific committees, the general assembly was also taking place, where all the subgroups will present and discuss their work. All adult members had to be part of one committee and meet every two weeks. The members’ involvement in the co-creation and management of the cooperative significantly reduced the costs and helped in creating the social cohesion needed for such a project to succeed.
The legal model
The tenure model that is being used is under the term "cession of use" or "grant of use", which refers to the right of the tenants to occupy a housing unit without having ownership of the property. The examples of the Andel model from Denmark (Cooperativa de Cesión de Uso, 2018; Estado de La Vivienda Cooperativa En Cesión de Uso En Cataluña, 2021)and the FUCVAM model from Uruguay (FUCVAM – Cooperativas de Vivienda Por Ayuda Mutua, n.d.) are the two key references that were studied for the development of a similar model adapted in the Spanish context. At the same time, previous cooperative projects in Catalonia were studied as references, such as Cal Cases (Cal Cases, 2020).
The leasehold with Barcelona's City Council leased the plot to the cooperative for 75 years with the obligation of an annual fee. After this period the property will return to the municipality, or a new agreement should be signed. As the project is constructed on public land and is classified as “State-Subsidized Housing” (HPO), all the members had to comply with social housing requirements, such as having a maximum monthly income and not owning property. Also, since it is characterised as HPO there is a celling to the monthly fee to be charged for the use of the housing unit, thus keeping the housing accessible to groups with lower economic power. This makes this scheme a way to provide social housing with the active participation of the community, keeping the property public in the long term. The cooperative model of “cession of use” means that all residents are members of the cooperative, which owns the building. Being members means that they are the ones to make decisions about how it operates, including legal, legislative, and economic issues as well as issues concerning the infrastructure. The fact that the members are not owners offers protection and provides for non-speculative development, as sub-letting or transfer of use is not possible. In the case that someone decides to leave, the apartment returns to the cooperative which then decides on the new resident. This is a model that promotes long-term affordability as it prevents housing from being privatized using a condominium scheme.
The building
The cooperative group together with architects and the rest of the team, and after a series of workshops and discussions, concluded on the needs of the dwellers and on the distribution of the private and communal spaces. A general strategy was to remove area -and functions- from the private apartments and create bigger community spaces that could be enjoyed by everyone. Thus, out of the 2950 m2 of the total built environment, 280 m2 are devoted to communal spaces (10% of the total built area). They are placed around the central courtyard and include a community kitchen and dining room, a multipurpose room, a laundry room, a co-working space, a guests’ room, shared terraces, a small community garden, storage rooms, and bicycle parking. The private apartments are 28 with three typologies (40,50 and 76 m2), covering the needs of different households, such as single adults, adult cohabitation, families, or single parents with kids. The grid upon which the apartments are based as well as the modular structure offers flexibility for future modification of the size of the apartments.
In relation to the structure, the objective was to create an environmentally sustainable solution and minimize the embedded carbon. For that, the foundation was created as close to the surface as possible, using suspended flooring a meter above the ground to aid with the insulation. Also, the structure of cross-laminated timber (CLT) was used after the ground floor, which was made of concrete, and for the next six floors, having the advantage of being lightweight and low-carbon. The CLT was used for both the flooring and the foundation. In relation to the materials, there was an emphasis on the optimization of the building solutions, by using less quantity for the same purpose, using recycled and recyclable materials, and reusing waste (Cooperativa d’habitatges La Borda, 2020)Also, the cooperative used industrialized elements and applied waste management, separation, and monitoring. According to interviews from the architectural cooperative (Lacol arquitectura cooperativa, 2020), an important element for minimizing the construction cost was the substitute of the underground parking, which was mandatory from the local legislation when you exceed a certain number of housing units, with overground parking for bicycles. La Borda was the first development that succeeded not only in being exempted from this legal obligation but also in convincing the municipality of Barcelona to change the legal framework so that new cooperative or social housing developments can obtain an “A” energy ranking without having to construct underground parking.
Energy performance
In terms of energy consumption, the project aimed in reducing the energy demand by prioritizing passive strategies. This was pursued with the bioclimatic design of the building with the covered courtyard as an element that plays a central role, as it offers cross ventilation during the warm months and acts as a greenhouse during the cold months. Another passive strategy was enhanced insulation which exceeds the proposed regulation level. The climate comfort proposal occurred as a result of surveys with the future tenants. According to the first data that was gathered from the Arkenova monitoring system and with support from the Barcelona energy office, the total average energy consumption of electricity, DHW, and heating per m² of homes in La Borda is 20.25 kWh / m², which is a reduction of 68% compared to a block of similar characteristics in the Mediterranean area, which is 62.61 kWh / m² (Com de Sostenible Realment És La Borda?, 2020). Finally, renewable energy is being used with the recent installation of solar panels.
Scalability
According to (Cabré & Andrés, 2018), the initiative was a result of three contextual factors. First and foremost, La Borda appeared in response to the housing crisis that was especially acute in Barcelona. Secondly, at that time there was a momentum when social economy was being promoted and a cooperative movement in relation to affordable housing emerged. Finally, the moment coincided with a strong neighbourhood movement related to the urban renewal of the industrial site of Can Batllo. La Borda, being a bottom-up, self-initiated project is not only a housing cooperative case but also an example of social innovation that has multiple objectives apart from the main which is the provision of affordable housing.
The novel way that the group invented for addressing the housing crisis in Barcelona, being the first one to use this kind of leasehold in Spain has a particular value of social innovation. The process that was followed was innovative as the group had to co-create the project, including the co-design and self-construction, negotiate with the municipality the cession of land, and develop the financial models for the project. The project is aiming in integrating with the neighbourhood and not creating a niche project, opening possibilities for scaling up and diffusion, as for example with the committee for public sharing that organizes open days and lectures. In the end, by fostering the community’s understanding of housing issues, urban governance, and by seeking sustainable solutions, learning to resolve conflicts, negotiate and self-manage as well as developing mutual support networks and peer learning, these types of projects appear as outcomes but also as drivers of social transformation.
Alignment with project research areas
The project is relevant to all three research areas of Re-dwell as it follows an innovative approach in relation to each of the categories: 1) Design, planning, and building, 2) Community participation and 3) Policy and Financing. In relation to the first category “Design, planning and building”, one of the group's objectives was to promote a sustainable building model. The construction was designed in order to have a low environmental impact and to promote energy efficiency. The dwellers were involved in the decision-making of the building's energy performance, by evaluating their actions and living patterns. The building is understood as a totality made up of interrelated dwellings and households which demonstrates the importance of a more holistic vision, encompassing issues of social, environmental, and economic sustainability.
In relation to the second category "Community participation", the project followed a strong participatory process througout all the phases, from the initiation, to the research, the decisions concerning the legal model, the co-design of the building up to the final construction and the management and maintenance. The members that initiated the project used open assemblies as spaces for participation where the neighbors and local organisations could meet, exchange information, and make decisions. Also, the project fosters a community-oriented type of living, with common spaces, shared facilities, and a common schedule for distributing everyday activities. The collectivisation of facilities and services integrates social values, such as mutual support, by sharing the tasks of childcare, preparation of common meals, gardening, cleaning of the common areas, and laundry equally among the residents.
Finally, in relation to the third category "Policy and Financing", the project developed an innovative housing scheme for the provision of affordable housing, bringing legislative change and pushing for new policies. The "grant of use" model separates the use-value from the exchange value of the property, preventing speculation and advocating for different types of ownership that can be long-term secure and affordable. After La Borda, the municipality of Barcelona aimed in applying the same model to seven other plots, and thus started to extrapolate the experiment. The funding model that was developed manifests an innovative approach as well. As there are many barriers and downgrades in obtaining funding from the mainstream banking system, the group found financing from the credit cooperative Coop57. However, as the credit cooperative was only able to lend a limited amount, the remaining cost was covered from alternative sources of funding, such as participatory bonds and voluntary contributions to the so-called ‘social capital fund’, the share capital fund of the cooperative.
* This diagram is for illustrative purposes only based on the author’s interpretation of the above case study
Alignment with SDGs
Out of the 17 sustainable development goals (UN, 2020) the case study of La Borda seems to be aligned foremost with the following ones:
GOAL 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
target: 3.4 By 2030, reduce by one-third premature mortality from non-communicable diseases through prevention and treatment and promote mental health and well-being
It has been manifested that there is a link between living in decent housing conditions and mental health and well-being. Intergenerational and communitarian housing schemes offer mutual support to its members, facilitating their everyday lives.
GOAL 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
target: 5.1 End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere
target: 5.5 Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life
La Borda is contributing to achieving this goal by recognising the unpaid voluntary work by gender in housing and aiming in redistributing and collectivizing everyday household activities, such as childcare, cooking, laundry etc. In that way household activities traditionally carried out by women are becoming visible, many of them are taking place outside of the private space, are shared among all residents and are used as instances to socialise.
GOAL 7: Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
target: 7.2 By 2030, increase substantially the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix
target: 7.3 By 2030, double the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency
One of the goals of La Borda was to follow a sustainable development model, prioritizing renewable energy sources, thus minimizing carbon emissions.
To pursue a more energy-efficient solution in the housing sector La Borda cooperative initially was aiming in retrofitting an existing vacant building that was in the area of Can Batllo. This plan was abandoned as it required more time for its realization and at that point, there was a need for quicker solutions. However, the idea of rehabilitating existing stock is still part of the agenda of the cooperative for future housing units.
Moreover, energy efficiency was a key concept for the development of the project, highlighting its environmental, social and economic impact. This was achieved, firstly, by lowering the demand for energy consumption through passive strategies (the use of the covered courtyard as a micro-climate element, enhanced insulation etc) and afterward by combining renewable energy resources, such as solar panels, with non-renewable ones.
The choice of the materials also considered their carbon footprint, prioritizing natural and low energy materials such as wood, and also recycled and recyclable ones.
Goal 10: Reduced inequality within and among countries
target: 10.2 Empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status
La Borda had as a principle to give equal chances of accessing the cooperative to a variety of different people with different needs that didn’t necessarily fit in the traditional housing typologies which often are centered around the nuclear family structure. This was manifested in two ways, first by creating different typologies of housing units that can accommodate the needs of different configurations of households. Furthermore, a flexible modular structure offers the opportunity for future modification, if the needs of the inhabitants change or if the number of people changes.
Goal 11: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable
target: 11.1 By 2030, ensure access for all to adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services and upgrade slums
La Borda is aiming in achieving the abovementioned characteristics: provide access to affordable, adequate and secure housing with basic services through the active participation of the community. A way to evaluate the success of this goal could be to measure the proportion of households that left inadequate/ poorly served housing by moving into the housing cooperative.
Goal 12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
target: 12.1: Implement the 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns, all countries taking action, with developed countries and capabilities of developing countries.
La Borda is following this goal as sustainable design practices and low-emission materials were used. A way to measure this could be to see the rate of reduced energy consumption from non-renewable sources.
Goal 16: Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
target 16.7: Ensure responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels
La Borda was a social experiment that achieved the promotion and legitimization of a novel framework of housing provision and the revision of municipal policies concerning the obligations for the building's permission.
References
Avilla-Royo, R., Jacoby, S., & Bilbao, I. (2021). The building as a home: Housing cooperatives in Barcelona. Buildings, 11(4). https://doi.org/10.3390/BUILDINGS11040137
Baraona Pohl, E. (2017). Cooperative Housing as a Means More Than an End. Together! The New Architecture of the Collective, 344–348.
Cabré, E., & Andrés, A. (2018). La Borda: a case study on the implementation of cooperative housing in Catalonia. International Journal of Housing Policy, 18(3), 412–432. https://doi.org/10.1080/19491247.2017.1331591
Cal Cases. (2020). Masqueunacasa. http://masqueunacasa.org/es/experiencias/cal-cases
Com de sostenible realment és la Borda? (2020). http://www.lacol.coop/actualitat/sostenible-realment-borda/
Cooperativa de cesión de uso. (2018). Masqueunacasa. http://masqueunacasa.org/es/habitapedia/propuestas/cooperativa-de-cesion-de-uso
Cooperativa d’habitatges La Borda. (2020). La Borda – Housing to build community. http://www.laborda.coop/en/
Estado de la vivienda cooperativa en cesión de uso en Cataluña. (2021).
FUCVAM – Cooperativas de Vivienda por Ayuda Mutua. (n.d.). Retrieved March 20, 2022, from https://www.fucvam.org.uy/
Lacol arquitectura cooperativa. (2020). La Borda: visita arquitectònica. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQYTrgeT7jY&ab_channel=Lacolarquitecturacooperativa
Quaderns. (2014, April). Una conversa amb Martí Anson i Manel Brullet. 1967-1969, Una Cooperativa. http://quaderns.coac.net/2014/03/anson-brullet/
UN. (2020). THE 17 GOALS | Sustainable Development. https://sdgs.un.org/goals
Related vocabulary
Affordability
Co-creation
Community empowerment
Participatory approaches
Social sustainability
Area: Design, planning and building
Created on 03-06-2022
Read more ->Area: Community participation
Created on 16-02-2022
Read more ->Area: Community participation
Created on 03-06-2022
Read more ->Area: Community participation
Created on 17-02-2022
Read more ->Area: Community participation
Created on 03-06-2022
Read more ->Blogposts

Towards flexible and industrialised housing solutions
Posted on 24-02-2023
Secondments
Read more ->
Cooperative housing in Barcelona
Posted on 01-02-2023
Secondments
Read more ->
The discussion for the right to housing. ENHR, Barcelona 2022
Posted on 12-09-2022
Conferences, Reflections
Read more ->
Community participation in the provision of affordable and sustainable housing | discussing inclusion/exclusion
Posted on 05-04-2022
Workshops, Reflections
Read more ->