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of Tarragona, ifty years agoThe shantiesThe unrecognisable city and its inhabitants

Centre d’Imatges de Tarragona / L’ArxiuAjuntament de Tarragona

Blanca Gas Sancho

Departament de Disseny Gràfic Corporatiu i Autoedició de l’Ajuntament de Tarragona

David Martínez Villena

Ramon Segú Chinchilla

Ramon Vallvé Vilà

Production and coordination

Collaboration

Acknowledgements

Design

Photography

Arxiu Històric de la Ciutat de Tarragona

Biblioteca Hemeroteca Municipal de Tarragona

Grup de Recerca Per Amor a la Ciutat de la Universitat Rovira i Virgili

Departament d’Estudis de Comunicació de la Universitat Rovira i Virgili

EMATSA

TAC 12

Arxiu del Port de Tarragona

Arxiu Municipal de Terrassa

DLT

: 152

3-20

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C. Major, 39 - 43003 Tarragonawww.tarragonaturisme.cat

During the decade of the fifties, industrial presence was still very scant in Tarragona and it would not be until the sixties that industrialisation would make its definitive push forward when various companies from the chemical sector were set up in the Entrevies and Francolí Industrial estates. The tourist sector, simultaneously, also began to develop and contributed to the growth of the local economy.

The chance to work in an area economically benefited by tourism and industry would be the lure for a migratory flow, strong and constant, which led to the city registering a 20% inhabitant increase, from 43,519 to 52,056, in just four years between 1960 and 1964.

Even though there were enough job vacancies to integrate the immigrants, the city was unable to grow at the same rate. The lack of basic services and the impossibility of finding decent, affordable housing was the spark to what we now know as shanties. The shanty focal points were located on the outlying areas with absolutely no services whatsoever.

The shanties were very small, generally made up of just one space and built by their residents using cheap materi-al or debris, basically bricks, wood or cane.

A census carried out by the Tarragona City Hall in 1964 showed there were 404 shanties, grouped together in 10 focal points, in which 1,894 people lived, which meant 3,64% of the population and, approximately, 20% of the immigrants who arrived between 1960 and 1964.

The vast majority of those who had recently arrived came from Andalusia, 1,240 immigrants representing 65,4% of the total number.

Job offers for men mainly came from the port and the railway, as well as some chemical industries. The women, apart from domestic services, were also factory workers in some of the plants.

The shanties would remain throughout the second half of the sixties and wouldn’t disappear until the start of the seventies.

Entrevies, 1964. Photo Vallvé. CIT / L’Arxiu

Cantera Cavalet, 1964. Photo Vallvé. CIT / L’Arxiu

Riu Francolí, 1964. Photo Vallvé. CIT / L’Arxiu

Riu Francolí, 1964. Photo Vallvé. CIT / L’Arxiu