If these days you stroll through the center and feel a slight déjà vu when you see that some Christmas lights are still up there, it is not that the municipal brigades have been glued to the sheets. The decision is firm and has a rationale that goes beyond festive nostalgia: the Ciutat Vella district has decided to keep some of the garlands on in the most critical points to try to prevent the feeling of insecurity from taking over the narrowest streets.
This measure, which mainly affects neighborhoods such as the Gòtic, the Born and Sant Pere, Santa Caterina i la Ribera, comes from a historical request of the traders in the area. The objective is twofold. On the one hand, the aim is that the less well-lit streets stop being “gloomy”, as some neighbors say, and on the other, to encourage small businesses to look more attractive during the months when the sun goes down before we have finished our afternoon coffee.
Farewell to reindeer, hello to timeless light
The idea of the consistory is not that we live in a perpetual December 25. As detailed by the district councilor, Albert Batlle, the plan is to remove the most strictly Christmas motifs, such as stars of the Orient or Santa Claus figures, and replace them or keep only those light structures with timeless designs. These are garlands that bring warmth and clarity without the need for All I Want for Christmas is You in the background.
This anti-darkness shock plan will be applied following the winter timetable. That is to say, the lights will remain active approximately from the end of October until the last weekend of March. With this, the City Council intends to give a more cheerful appearance to areas that traditionally were left in an unwelcoming gloom after the end of the Epiphany campaign.
An investment to illuminate the center
Maintaining these infrastructures is not just a matter of flicking a switch. This initiative adds to the growing investment that the city has made in lighting in recent years. It is worth remembering that the budget for Christmas lighting in Barcelona has experienced a significant increase, approaching 3 million euros in recent campaigns, in order to use low-consumption LED technology that allows this type of temporary extensions without shooting up the electricity bill in an unsustainable way.
In addition to the public garlands, the consistory is working with merchant associations to regularize the lights that many businesses install on their own. The intention is that all the lighting from facade to facade keeps an aesthetic coherence and complies with safety regulations, turning the labyrinth of Ciutat Vella into a much more walkable and pedestrian-friendly space during the long winter nights.