Can Batlló
Can Batlló is a former textile manufacturing complex where several initiatives are being launched from below: a cultural self-organized space, a housing cooperative, a self-managed school, and an agency for the promotion of a cooperative and solidarity-based economy. Even though the initiative takes advantage of some kind of collaboration with public administrations, it can only be understood from its emancipatory wish, which comes from a longer neighbourhood tradition. Can Batlló’s success has been possible because behind the initiative there is a huge and heterogeneous citizen movement claiming for an autonomous way of doing. However, since the experience has grown up and is being more and more institutionalized, new challenges appear. The bottom-up yet linked form of governance developed in Can Batlló – initiatives emerging from below that create links with institutional actors – emerges as a crucial challenge for Can Batllo’s future effectiveness and scalability. Download report