The future of Barcelona’s El Prat Airport – bringing youth voices centre stage

Charlotte Gallagher Squires

Climate justice

The Government of Catalonia, Spain’s Ministry of Transport and Aen recentlty signed a deal to expand Barcelona’s El Prat Airport, starting 2030. This includes expanding the runway by 500 metres, affecting 27 hectares of a protected wetland area, and bringing an additional 15 million passengers a year. The plan received much resistance from the local population due to its potential impact on the environment, noise and air pollution, and increased tourism, and the secondary impacts on the housing crisis and gentrification. Young people (aged 16-35) living in Barcelona and surrounding areas will be the group that will be left to live with these impacts and their fallout in decades to come. However, young people have not been formally included in the decision to expand the airport. This is despite Spain and Catalunya’s governments advocating for including youth and adolescent voices in policy that affects them.

Youth activists organise a multi-day sit-in protest outside El Prat Airport. They set up long tables and chairs to invite passing people to conversations. On the tables, they are serving plates of black sludge, representing jet fuel and fossil fuels used to power 99% of commercial flights. There are planes flying overhead, protest signs opposing the expansion, people passing by. The protest lasts 5 days and gets media attention. The airport and Catalonian government have an emergency meeting to decide a plan to manage the protest and protect the reputation of the expansion. They plan to send out their chief Sustainability Manager and Salvador Illa to discuss with the young people. They want to highlight the use of biofuels to enable ‘sustainable aviation fuel’ and sustainable growth of the industry and the possibility of jobs for young people at the airport.

The conflict centres around differing ideas of ‘progress’, ‘value’ and what a ‘good life’ constitutes. And contradictions between short-term economic priorities and long-term thinking about environmental stewardship and ecological health. On the one side, expansion brings short-term benefits for jobs and the economy, but it also comes with long-term risks and climate damage. The Sustainability Officer explains their report they did on the impacts of the expansion. They calculated it would bring billions of euros in terms of local jobs, tax from tourism, and spending from tourists. The Delta wildlife area that will be impacted only brings around 200,000 euros a year in terms of biodiversity and carbon sequestering benefits. The politician adds that they will build 250 hectares of green area to make up for the 200 hectares lost. Activist 2 responds that it’s not just about the economic value of the Delta area, what about the cultural value and identity this brings to people in El Prat? Also, there are over 200 species in the Llobregat lagoon – a highly diverse area. These species can’t just be picked up and ‘built’ on a new green space. Also, his family have been visiting Llobregat since he was young. He wants to be able to show his children this area. Activist 1 adds that they don’t think this economic value will be equally distributed – Barcelona has already experienced a growth in tourism, but her and her friends aren’t experiencing any of these profits. Her parents’ generation bought their houses in Eixample and Sants for very cheap. Now, it is impossible for young people to find a house. She works for a popular Barcelona museum, but they pay minimum wage and have insecure contracts. Why will it be different with this expansion? The Politician suggests that action could be taken to invest the increased tourist taxes and economic profits into enforcing the Rent Cap Law and investing in more housing, fixing this problem. All the young people shake their heads in disagreement – can’t the politician see that growing the airport means growing the problem of over-tourism. So with time, larger solutions and fixes will be needed! Activist 3 speaks: Growing up in Peru, I saw the impact of fossil fuel extraction, oil and gas drilling, and deforestation in my country. The problems don’t stop in Barcelona, but the worst parts of the aviation industry is felt in countries like my own. An aviation worker who is observing the protest speaks. He’s shocked to hear of these impacts in Peru. He says that although working in the airport provides a good salary, it’s not the kind of work he wants to be doing. He wishes he could use his mechanical and repair skills to benefit the community and environment. The Sustainability Officer replies; we’re using sustainable aviation fuels! From household waste and crops! The young activists shake their heads, along with the aviation worker. They all respond at the same time; “we know they won’t work!”. The aviation worker explains that after decades of research and development, still only 1% of the world aviation fuel is from biofuels. The activists add; we also know that biofuels require a lot of land to grow the crops, and this competes with land which we need to grow food!

Activist 1: Anti-expansion and housing activist. 32-year-old working in charity fundraising and living in a shared house in Barcelona with a partner and three others. The couple want to live together and plan to start a family but have been unable to find an affordable two-bedroom apartment. Activist 2: Anti-expansion and environmental activist who grew up in El Prat. 23-year-old who became interested in pollution and health activism after his younger sister developed asthma – he thought due to the airport fine particulates. Activist 3: Anti-expansion and environmental activist from Peru. Became interested in environmental issues after witnessing oil and gas expansion and deforestation in his home country of Peru. Aviation worker: 27-year-old works as an aircraft maintenance engineer. Heard about the protest and went out to observe on this day. Did not go to university and began training as an apprentice since aged 16. He loves wildlife and wishes he could use his skills in a more socially beneficial industry, but he does not feel there are other jobs available with these skills. Sustainability Officer: Used to be an environmental activist before graduating with a MSc in Environmental Economics. Believes that the best way to achieve change is from the inside of business. Loves wildlife. Prides themselves in being pragmatic. When doing an economic valuation of the expansion impact, they found that the economic value Delta area impacted by the expansion was small compared to the GDP benefits. Politician: President of Catalonia and ex-Minister for Health. Understands the issues with the expansion but is worried about the rising youth unemployment and wants to create economic growth and more jobs for young people. He has been told by advisors from Blackrock consulting group (major investors in El Prat) that the airport expansion will link Barcelona with other cities will make it more appealing as an international hub for industries, offering higher salaries.

The transformation occurs as the characters realise that the core problem is the conflict between short-term economic gains and long-term future benefits for society. They realise young people have an valuable perspective, to help highlight the long-term impacts of infrastructure decisions. This is shown through the following scene: The scene ends with the politician going to sleep after attending the protest and having a dream taking place in the year 2050. El Prat’s airport expansion went ahead, and an additional 15,000 million passengers arrived per year growing to 30,000 million by 2040. Prat Airport has grown to one of the biggest employers in the city, employing around 10% of the population in airlines, operations, engineering, maintenance, hospitality, cleaning and security. However, Spain is experiencing more and more extreme droughts and flooding. Tourism is now dropping. At the same time, a war breaks out in a major oil producing country and jet fuel prices go up. Airlines are closing down, unable to keep businesses profitable. Widespread job losses take place. The young people appear in his dream now as adults – still dreaming of the same ideas of green jobs and youth participation in city decisions. They recall the protest, and the politician who didn’t listen to their ideas. The optimism and hope from their youth has been drained from them. Now they are just focused on surviving day to day. The politician wakes up from his dream. He feels the moral weight of how decisions today will affect future generations. He feels scared by the prospect of cancelling the airport expansion, but he feels comforted by the idea of bringing in young people to share the responsibility of this decision and input to solutions. He asks the audience – what alternative future shall we create? What policies around the airport expansion will help us create this better future?

Protest scene: Tables, plates, black sludge. Protest signs. Projector showing the shadow of aircrafts flying over – which interrupts the scene with loud noises. Future scene: airplane noise intensifies Waking up from dream: complete silence

A permanent youth panel of 10 representative young people will be established, with youths aged 18-35 selected by democratic lottery to sit on a panel responsible for reviewing major infrastructure projects and create a publicly available report on the impacts. They will hear expert evidence from sides for and against the infrastructure development, before deliberating amongst themselves and reaching a consensus. When selected to sit on the panel, youths serve to review 1 major or 3 medium sized infrastructure projects. The developer or state reimburses the youth for days of employment lost during their participation. The youth panel will also have rights to propose alternative infrastructure development projects that can support wellbeing, the economy, provide jobs which benefit the community, and also benefit the environment (e.g. green energy, retrofitting building, public railways, walking and cycling networks, parks), for review by the government.

European Commission (currently making the final decision on whether the expansion will take place, and advocates for youth participation in democracy). Barcelona policymakers in departments of youth employment, health, the environment, food, economic development. Journalists to report on the scene. Environmental rights groups – e.g. Amazon Watch who report on Indigenous groups resisting oil drilling in the Amazon. Private investors in Barcelona’s El Prat airport.

Local Barcelona residents; aviation workers; school aged pupils.

Sí, somos personas directamente afectadas por esta problemática

School-aged children not included in scene but included in audience.