Inside Barcelona’s most sweltering neighbourhood: El Raval

Barcelona, Spain – The entity glows with the pink, orangish and bluish hues that commonly look erstwhile the prima slips beneath the skyline – but the vigor and humidity stay suffocating.

A radical of Pakistani women instrumentality refuge from the scorching vigor astatine the water’s borderline connected Barcelona’s formation successful colourful, breezy fabric clothing, immoderate letting the h2o lavation implicit them arsenic they prevarication connected the bedewed sand. Others are dancing successful the shallows to euphony from location blasting from a speaker, oregon cooling disconnected nether showers connected the beach.

The Spanish metropolis broke its vigor grounds connected July 8 , with temperatures reaching 40.7C (105F) during the European heatwave and the wider Barcelona state has recorded an estimated 205 heat-related deaths since the commencement of the month.

A study past year published by Nature Medicine projected that, successful a worst-case scenario, the metropolis could spot much than 246,000 heat-attributable deaths betwixt 2015 and 2099 – much than immoderate different European city, mostly due to the fact that of its Mediterranean determination and municipality density. Then determination is the heat-island effect, successful which densely built-up areas, pollution, asphalt and a deficiency of greenish spaces trap vigor and thrust temperatures up.

Walking done 1 of the constrictive streets successful El Raval [Alicia Fabregas/Al Jazeera]

But wrong Barcelona itself, the hazard of dying from the precocious temperatures is not evenly shared. El Raval, successful the city’s aged town, ranks arsenic the astir “heat-vulnerable” neighbourhood, particularly astatine night, according to the Climate Vulnerability Index (IVAC), a instrumentality created successful 2022 to representation which areas would beryllium deed hardest

In the years earlier it was developed, “there were an expanding fig of heatwave episodes”, Elena Domene, the index’s coordinator and coauthor told Al Jazeera – hence the request to find retired “where radical would endure most”.

In Barcelona, a heatwave is defined arsenic 3 oregon much consecutive days with maximum temperatures supra 33.1C (91.6F).

But El Raval is particularly susceptible to respective hazard factors: it is among the city’s 15 astir densely populated neighbourhoods, it has Barcelona’s second-lowest median yearly income astatine 15,050 euros, according to the Spanish National Statistics Institute, and is 1 of the neighbourhoods with the least greenish space, according to the Public Health Agency of Catalonia. Indoors, determination is small relief. A map designed by the Architecture, Energy and Environment Research Group astatine the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC), shows that a precocious percent of homes deficiency thermal insulation and cross-ventilation, trapping vigor and creating an progressively suffocating situation arsenic temperatures soar.

The neighbourhood is besides 1 of the migrant hearts of the city. With 67 percent of its residents calved overseas – chiefly Pakistan, the Philippines and India – it is location to the second-highest stock of foreign-born residents, according to metropolis assembly data.

Women from Barcelona’s Pakistani assemblage conscionable each Friday astatine the ACESOP centre to chill off, chat, devour and enactment each different [Alicia Fabregas/Al Jazeera]

A moment’s reprieve

Tucked down 1 of El Raval’s constrictive streets, the Cultural, Educational and Social Association of Pakistani Women (ACESOP) offers immoderate refuge from the heat. With fans whirring successful the society’s hall, migrant women stock a repast and enactment 1 different present each Friday.

ACESOP’s founder, Huma Jamshed Bashir, tells Al Jazeera that during blistery afternoons and nights, galore radical successful the assemblage locomotion 20 minutes extracurricular of the neighbourhood to find immoderate respite successful an air-conditioned buying centre, oregon to the formation to flight their suffocating, overcrowded flats.

They usually enactment until slumber overcomes them, she says. Those who conflict to locomotion that acold beryllium alternatively on the Rambla del Raval, 1 of the fewer tree-lined spaces successful the neighbourhood.

The deficiency of alleviation from the vigor astatine nighttime is measurable. By July 20 , Barcelona had already recorded 25 tropical nights – lows of 20-24.9C (68-77F) – and 25 “torridas” (translating to “torrid” successful English, oregon “extremely hot”) nights with lows of 25-29.9C (77-86C), already catching up to the 36 nights of utmost vigor that the metropolis experienced during the full of 2025.

Reena Mazhar who visits the organisation immoderate Fridays arrived successful Barcelona from her autochthonal Lahore successful Pakistan six months ago. Neither she nor her hubby person recovered enactment yet. The mates stock 1 country successful a level successful El Raval, with 4 different radical surviving successful the adjacent room. They don’t adjacent person a fan.

“All I tin bash is support wetting myself down, taking showers, oregon leaving the location successful hunt of determination I tin breathe,” the 40-year-old tells Al Jazeera, arsenic she sits connected a sofa successful ACESOP’s surviving room. The different women stay astatine the table, chatting aft lunch, sheltering from the vigor outside.

Close to ACESOP, successful a quadrate with little than fractional its country shaded by trees, Adam Halui, a 16-year-old local, tilts his caput backmost to halt a nosebleed – a information triggered whenever the somesthesia spikes, helium says. He washes his look successful a nationalist fountain successful beforehand of the Josep Trueta municipal centre for aged people, an air-conditioned “climate shelter”.

Barcelona operates astir 500 akin shelters – 15 successful El Raval – including libraries, museums and parks. They are unfastened to each who request them, however, they person limitations.

Blanca Arellano Ramos, an designer specialising successful urbanism and a prof astatine UPC, co-authored a 2023 study connected the effectiveness of the shelters for over-65s, 1 of the astir susceptible groups to precocious temperatures. Her findings amusement that astatine night, lone 15 percent of the aged colonisation has entree to 1 of the centres wrong a 10-minute walk, since galore adjacent aft dark. Other centres, specified arsenic schoolyards designated arsenic shelters, are closed during the summertime months.

Furthermore, Arellano Ramos says, “quality matters – not conscionable thing tin beryllium a shelter,” referring to the constricted opening hours. “There has to beryllium a spot to sit, wherever you tin portion water, oregon lavation up,” she adds.

Margarita Medina, 70, has lived successful El Raval her full life. She lives unsocial and says the vigor is particularly hard connected her due to the fact that of a lung information [Alicia Fabregas/Al Jazeera]

Inside the municipal elder centre, Margarita Medina, 70, is sitting astatine 1 of the tables. The lifelong Raval nonmigratory lives unsocial and suffers from fibromyalgia – a chronic information causing wide assemblage symptom and persistent fatigue. She has aerial conditioning astatine location but can’t usage it due to the fact that it irritates her condition.

“I don’t person capable oxygen successful my lungs, truthful I truly bash endure successful the heat,” she said, arsenic she collects her walker astatine the doorway of the elder centre.

A caller study by the Barcelona Urban Research Institute (IDRA) emphasises the hazard aged radical similar Medina are facing. According to its findings, older, low-income women surviving unsocial successful poorly insulated lodging are astatine the highest hazard of decease during heatwaves.

Ramos tells Al Jazeera that municipality plan needs to commencement focusing connected the “renaturalisation of the city” by introducing much greenish spaces, though that would necessitate important h2o proviso and capable abstraction for trees to grow. While h2o is not scarce for now, it was restricted to indispensable uses lone during the 2023 drought.

Barcelona City Council is aiming to present warm-climate trees and yet wants them to marque up 36 percent of trees successful the Ciutat Vella district, wherever El Raval is located, arsenic portion of its clime adaptation plans.

However, Pere de Mas, the council’s municipality trees coordinator, says that too the economical and logistical obstacles, erratic wintertime acold snaps marque it hard for specified taxon to thrive and European nurseries stay heavy specialised successful cold-climate trees.

“There are fewer producers of warm-climate trees,” de Mas told Al Jazeera.

The Agora Juan Andres Benitez sanctuary to beryllium and chill disconnected [Alicia Fabregas/Al Jazeera]

Neighbours are doing it for themselves

Within the sweltering neighbourhood, an oasis that offers alleviation is facing the menace of closure.

A purely voluntary, self-managed assemblage “green area”, it is simply a sheltered country built and maintained by the residents themselves.

In 2014, dozens of citizens occupied an seemingly abandoned country crippled – antecedently an overgrown spot of wasteland – adjacent wherever constabulary had killed a antheral and established a assemblage abstraction named aft him: Agora Juan Andres Benitez.

Six officers from the Mossos d’Esquadra, Catalonia’s determination constabulary force, were convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 2 years successful situation for restraining Benitez. The 50-year-old was detained pursuing a thoroughfare fight, according to Spanish media. Police were recovered to person utilized disproportionate unit against him for 12 minutes, which resulted successful his decease hours aboriginal successful hospital.

Margarita Hernández, Isa Fernández and Ana Maria Bovino drawback up successful the Agora ‘free space’ [Alicia Fabregas/Al Jazeera]

The country has since go a “free space” with lush plants to chill the environment, purify the aerial and nurture biodiversity. But determination has been pushback from the authorities and, now, a tribunal has acceptable an eviction day for 8 October.

“This is simply a assemblage abstraction that fosters societal cohesion. We are successful request of these kinds of spaces successful the neighbourhood,” says Margarita Hernandez, an El Raval nonmigratory and subordinate of the Agora – a word that refers to a gathering point, a treatment forum.

It isn’t conscionable a escaped abstraction to instrumentality refuge from the heat. Some 16,000 free oregon low-cost meals are served present annually,   It besides functions arsenic an informal community-led attraction web wherever section families stock caregiving responsibilities. It besides hosts schoolhouse visits, runs escaped acquisition workshops, provides wellness accusation and, ultimately, functions arsenic a harmless haven for El Raval’s astir marginalised residents, including undocumented migrants, stateless people, enactment workers and low-income families.

Users of the abstraction fearfulness determination volition soon beryllium obscurity to flight the vigor astatine all.

Isa Fernandez is sitting astatine a array nether the lush greenery of the assemblage abstraction and worries astir its loss.

“They don’t recognize wherefore we importune the Agora has to continue. They don’t realise what it means, however it affects the full neighbourhood,” Fernandez says. “It’s go a spot of invited for a batch of people. It’s bully to travel present – not similar sitting connected a seat successful the thoroughfare successful the heat.”

Additional reporting by Diego Arredondo and Serena Lordache. Reporting for this nonfiction was supported by a 2025 Montserrat Roig Journalism Research Grant.