In the streets of Cabanyal is very common to see walls painted with transverse stripes, marking the borders of buildings under demolition. Since 1998 the Municipality of Valencia has been demolished many sites of the Cabanyal, one of the most fascinating context in the history of Mediterranean harbours, where fishers, gypsies, old Valencian families and young bohemians live together in a multicultural community. Demolitions are part of an ongoing project Plan Especial de Protección y Reforma Interior (PEPRI), which includes the opening of a new avenue linking the City’s downtown to the seaside. More than 1600 houses and 600 buildings are planned to disappear.
Most of local residents, supported by intellectuals, artists and left think-tankers, have been trying to back up the project with every necessary means, since the new road of Cabanyal will gentrify the area, erasing the traditional environment.
My focus is on the visual changes affecting the urban landscape where both parents and children use to spend most of their social time. While parents wonder about the destiny of their houses, children are getting used to the changing face of their surroundings and react by re-familiarizing with the new location for their playing.