The Catalan writer reflects upon the volatile, precarious situation of housing, which has turned public space into a refuge. She also notes that the city has something in common with the prison when it does not have clear limits.

Shared Spaces interviewed Marina Garcés in May 2014 when she visited the Centre of Contemporary Culture of Barcelona (CCCB) to give the lecture “Unbranding Barcelona”. In the interview she cited Javier Pérez Andújar who, when interviewed by Shared Spaces and referring to the social movements resisting the numerous evictions which have been happening in Spain since the real estate bubble burst, said that, nowadays, “the refuge is in the street”. Garcés agrees and speaks about the “vulnerability of every person when alone at home”, explaining that when the home becomes a “tenuous, precarious item”, public space then turns into a “refuge in which we can meet, create alliances and defend ourselves”. Moreover, she notes that, in contrast with am the idea of a “refuge”, “the city has something in common with a prison when it never ends”, which is to say when it doesn’t have clearly defined limits.