The Informal City in the Museum of Barcelona

Shanty towns have been common to most major immigration cities around the world, including Paris, New York, Sao Paulo, Mexico City, Mumbai and Seoul. Yet, this crucial theme in global urban history remains poorly represented in city museums, with the focus generally being limited to urban poverty. This has contributed to neglect the fact that people living in shanty towns have played an important role in the development of urban economies. The present article describes recent efforts by the Barcelona City History Museum (MUHBA) to research and include in its narrative, as a city museum, previously omitted parts of the history of communities living on the periphery of Barcelona. The Turo de la Rovira project, a settlement that was active from the 1940s to the 1990s, allowed the inclusion of new heritage sites in the museum's exhibition spaces, in an effort to develop new understandings of Barcelona's twentieth century, as well as for the institution to create stronger links with local associations.