Social reform, social services and hygiene in Barcelona at the turn of this century

Abstract

During the last third of the 19th Century, Barcelona becam e an industrial centre of the first order, its population soaring to half a million odd, this mainly due to immigration. Poor living conditions and differences of purpose as between districts led to a markedly riven urban set up. The paper tells of the high death rate, especially in the working class districts and of the begging and general povertly then prevalent in these. City Planning thus turned upon what was to be done if social revolution was to be avoided and thus out of a bourgoise fear of this there grew measures that led to the setting up of social services and social control at both a public and private level, much of the latter in the hands of religious bodies. To allay sickness and cut the death rate back, the City Hall set in motion policies aimed at the lower classes through the municipal health department, this by a network of dispensaries and a home medical assistance service. The hospital service was likewise improved and the cover offered by it widened. In 1891, the Instituto Municipal de Higiene was created. One of the key undertakings in this sanitation policy was the laying down of a sewer network in 1891 and, linked to this, the putting in of a drinking water supply system. Both of these measures were of prime importance for both hygiene and public health and public morality.