Although it sounded like a joke initially, the figure of the night mayoress has been a reality in Barcelona for some time now. This entity seeks to do what its name says, to manage the city’s departments most closely linked to nightlife issues.
In Barcelona we are talking about Carmen Zapata, the newly appointed Barcelona night commissioner, who has just presented a plan to ensure that partying in the city is neither chaos nor hell for those trying to sleep. The proposals, which would be implemented until 2027, seek to improve nightlife without shutting down the city’s leisure activities.
Shuttles to party areas
One of the pillars (and main problems to be solved) of the plan is nighttime mobility. For the moment, the NitBus lines (N3, N4, N6, N13 and N28) have been reinforced and two new ones have been created: N23 and N24.
But the novelty is that the City Council is studying the creation of shuttle buses to connect the most active leisure areas -such as the Triangle Gulf of Poblenou- with key points of train or bus in the metropolitan area, to facilitate the coming and going of the public.
Nightlife… in civic centers
Zapata also wants to diversify the nightlife offer beyond alcohol and discotheques, and change the botellones for sports, video games or workshops in the early hours of the morning. How? By opening municipal facilities at night (as is already done, for example, with the d’estudi nocturn halls).
This would allow to have programmed activities in these facilities with which to enjoy another type of leisure. However, the condition is clear: no uncontrolled activities will be allowed. There will be no “coffee for all”, but specific proposals for different audiences who also have the right to enjoy the city when the sun goes down.
Buildings that respect the leisure halls and vice versa.
Noise is the main problem for the neighbors of party areas. But constructing new buildings near them is sometimes unavoidable. That is why the “night mayoress” proposes a new figure: the agent of change, whose mission will be to intervene when new homes are planned next to entertainment venues and advise how to build to minimize the acoustic impact.
In the same way, it is expected to expand the staff of night mediators from six to thirteen agents who will reformulate their role, staying at fixed points where they are really needed instead of approaching routes as they have been doing so far.
Finally, it is expected to reformulate the safe itineraries to move around the city at night, especially between leisure areas and public transport. These are now in the hands of the Guardia Urbana, but the aim is to hand them over to specialized mediators, who will not abandon the route if an emergency arises.
All these measures will cost between 1.5 and 2 million euros, which will have to come out of the City Council’s budget.