Can Batlló is a self-managed community and neighbourhood social and cultural facility in Barcelona’s La Bordeta district, created in the former Can Batlló textile factory site.47 It began as a local struggle over the reuse of the long-disused industrial complex and has, since 2011, become a public-community space managed by residents rather than as a conventional municipal centre.6
The project occupies several warehouses in the old factory complex and covers about 13,000 m² of spaces ceded by the City Council.4 It hosts a broad range of activities and services through 42 projects and seven commissions, including cultural programming, workshops, mutual-aid networks, and other community-led initiatives.489 The organisation presents itself as a place for collective self-management, with activities distributed across different buildings and rooms, including workshop spaces and an arts warehouse.13
Can Batlló emerged from neighbourhood mobilisation around the reuse of a historic 19th-century textile mill that had been out of use for decades.26 Research on the project describes it as an example of commons-based governance and democratic management of public services, where activists and residents co-produce the planning and delivery of services.2 In practice, the project combines community organising, cultural production, and everyday support functions, making it both a local meeting point and a wider reference point for citizen self-management in Barcelona.56