Purpose:
Different mediation services are in place with the aim of providing resources to municipal service professionals to facilitate intercultural communication and to prevent and resolve conflicts that may arise in relations between people and groups with different cultural backgrounds.
Its aim is to become a bridge between different points of view and visions of reality, promoting dialogue, constructive relations and citizen coexistence, but it also seeks to improve citizens' access to municipal services, fostering acceptance and the right to information.
Stimulus/Rationale:
The current Barcelona Intercultural Plan (2021-2030), under the axis ‘ To encourage the creation of spaces and opportunities for positive interaction and the generation of ties and relationships on equal terms’ establishes the objective of strengthening the dispute management and mediation tools and teams from an intercultural perspective and mainstreaming the intercultural approach to the different mediation services.
Mediation and community action are considered the main methodology for tackling and preventing conflicts.
Process:
Mediation services
Barcelona has a wealth of services to ease tensions and provide mediation in the city:
- Service for the Management of Social Disputes in Urban Spaces.
- Intercultural Mediation and Translation Service aims to help professionals who work with people of different origins to adopt an intercultural perspective. It is divided into three areas: translation; interpersonal mediation; and group and community mediation.
- Mediation and Alternative Dispute Resolution Service (Office for Non-Discrimination (OND) and Office of Religious Affairs (OAR) deals with situations of violation or discrimination on the grounds of gender, religious choice, origin or other particular or collective rights.
- Urban Planning and Safety working group intervenes in situations where the conflict comes from the use of public space.
- The Neighbourhood Community Support service deals with situations of conflict in the neighbourhood community due to lack of or poor organisation or management of the neighbourhood community. The landlord/tenant mediation programme deals with situations of conflict between landlords and tenants regarding rental income, the use of the property or situations in which tenants feel that their right to peaceful use of their property has been greatly affected by the actions or omissions of the landlord.
- The Legal and Mediation Guidance Service, integrated into the Citizen's Advice Bureau assists people who wish to participate in a mediation process in the field of private law by directing them to the Private Law Mediation Centre of Catalonia.
More recently, two more services have been added:
- Mediation in tourist flats provides support for the resolution of coexistence disputes between local residents and the owners or managers of tourist flats (HUTs) arising from the fact that the tourist flats are located in the same blocks of flats as the residents' homes or in adjacent properties.
- Mediation in night-time leisure for the prevention, intervention and alternative management of conflicts at night and in the early hours in night-life areas and activities in public spaces.
Implementation
Intercultural mediation is provided in specialised institutions such as hospitals, police, youth clubs, mediation centres, retirement homes, etc. It is also provided in the city administration for general purposes; in neighbourhoods, on the streets, where the city actively seeks to meet residents and discuss problems.
