A Future for Our Past: Textile Colonies in Catalonia

Abstract

Many regions’ industrial history has involved the creation of factory towns, but in Catalonia, their proliferation and development shaped the physical and cultural landscape in a unique way that has entailed a specific set of problems and opportunities today. These factory towns, or “colonies,” are located in rural areas along the rivers that run from the Pyrenees to the Mediterranean; they grew in isolation from each other and from existing centers of population, beginning in the second half of the nineteenth century. However, the colonies did not themselves grow into diverse urban hubs, but instead remained small and self-contained developments, with no residential or commercial activity unrelated to the factory. When the factories closed during the second half of the twentieth century, these colonies entered a phase of crisis, and many residents moved away; today the colonies are deteriorating and have been largely abandoned, with little industry or commerce. In recent years, we have worked together with government and residents to develop master plans for the colonies in order to improve quality of life and to protect the heritage they constitute, converting them into an asset for the region’s development.