IN-PERSON Barcelona. Section A

Abstract

On August 17, 2017, a terrorist steered a van into the crowds of pedestrians on the iconic Las Ramblas Boulevard in Barcelona, killing 13 persons. After the van came to a stop, the terrorist fled and killed another person on his way. Altogether, 15 civilians died and at least 130 people were injured in this terrorist attack. This paper addresses the heritage of the terrorist attack in Barcelona. It understands heritage not only as (im)material representations of celebrated and valued pasts, but also as encompassing traumatic and violent events and the contested processes of commemorating these events in the present. We will present first results of an ongoing research project “The Heritage of Terrorist Attacks in Urban Public Space”, in which the Barcelona attack is one of our case studies (among similar attacks in Berlin and Nice in 2016). Using the concept of Urbicide, we will investigate the complex spatial transformations of Las Ramblas since the terrorist attack. In the research on political violence, urbicide has been conceptualized as the targeted destruction of busy urban public places where socially, politically and/or culturally different people may mix and openly encounter each other. We will discuss the contested processes of negotiating the traumatic event in Barcelona that have evolved around how, where and in what forms to commemorate the victims of the violent act, and how to obstruct similar attacks in the future by protecting urban space.