Urban Planning, Ecological Transition, Urban Services and Housing

This year’s municipal services survey shows what local people think about the city, its services and municipal management. After a year of the pandemic, when indicators reflected a general trend of pessimism, the results for 2021 confirm an improvement in the data collected. Some 76.9% of those interviewed approved of municipal management, giving an average score of 5.9, an improvement of 0.2 compared to 2020.

The perception of the evolution of the city is better compared to last year’s survey. Even so, the figures are still well short of pre-pandemic levels. This means 53% of citizens believe that Barcelona has become worse in the last year (compared to 59% in 2020) and 29% believe it has improved (compared to 22% a year ago).

In terms of satisfaction at living in Barcelona, the upward trend in opinion continues, with the score of 7.5 representing an increase of 0.2 compared to last year. Of all those interviewed, 54% would continue living in the neighbourhood despite being able to leave, while 28% affirm they would leave the city if they could.

Of all the aspects considered, the future of the city is the one which generates the most optimism. Some 63% of people have positive expectations, an increase of 9% compared to 2020 and representing a return to pre-pandemic levels.

Main problem less of a cause for concern

Citizens also rated the problems which cause them most concern. Once again insecurity topped the list, but on this occasion with 14.5% of responses, down significantly from last year’s figure of 17.7%. Access to housing, unemployment and cleaning are the other main issues which worry people in the city, with percentages around 7%. Figures for Covid-19 and tourism dropped significantly.

Good scores for municipal services

Out of the 26 municipal services rated by citizens, parking is the only one not to make the grade. The city’s firefighters and libraries are the two municipal services which scored the best in the city, with 8.2 and 7.8 respectively. Markets, community centres, public transport, waste collection and public lighting are the other services which gained notable scores.

36 years gauging opinions

The municipal services survey has been going since 1985 and gauges the opinion of local people on important aspects for the city, the neighbourhood and municipal management through 6,000 face-to-face interviews with people over the age of 18.

See the full data from the Municipal Services Survey 2021.