In June, the Madrid City Council inaugurated the Ouka Leele Intergenerational Center, at number 16 Calle del Bronce. Divided into a youth center already operational and a senior center that, according to municipal sources, will open “soon,” it is one of the first public facilities in the Barrio de los Metales.
Named after the number of roads with metallurgical names, it is actually an unofficial neighborhood within Legazpi (in the district of Arganzuela). Developed and expanded in the last two decades, its population is mostly made up of young families with children. Neighbors who had been demanding equipment such as the Ouka Leele for years, which pays tribute in their name to the versatile artist and photographer from Madrid who died in 2022.
Lorena remembers that they do not have any public library or institute in the area. He also reproaches the administrations for underusing Adif’s land in the area, now partially transferred to a private company that exploits it with the Espacio Ibercaja Delicias. That is why the center was very well received in the neighborhood. “We hugged him with emotion,” says even Lorena. Now, however, the operation of the space has sparked controversy: “They do not allow people over 35 to enter their study room.” For this resident it is “a clear case of age discrimination in a public place.”
From celebration to anger
The Ouka Leele arrived in the Barrio de los Metales like water in the desert: “When the project is taking shape, we see that it is going to be a center for young people, something we are full of. It’s great that they have a space to do their choreography, to play role-playing games and in general to do things that interest them. We love that part of leisure and sociability in a public space, but we believe that it makes no sense to apply restrictions in the study room.”
Things began to go wrong when they noticed the restrictions on the entrance to the study room. “The world has changed and now there are many people who continue studying beyond 35. Preventing or limiting our access makes no sense,” says Lorena.
The neighbor decided to send a complaint form to the City Council in September. The municipal government then chose to introduce a transactional amendment that will allow access at certain intervals to be determined for those over 35, provided that their prior request is accepted.
An Intergenerational Center that is not yet complete
For Lorena, this continues to preserve “ageism.” It demands free use and under the same conditions of public space by all residents: “Otherwise, there is no consonance with the intergenerational character that is sought in the center and that seems super-adequate to us.”
From the area of Social Policies, Family and Equality of the Consistory, directed by councilor José Fernández, they defend themselves: “The Ouka Leele Intergenerational Center is not yet operational in its conception of a space for coexistence and joint participation in activities between older people and young people. . At the moment, only the youth center is operating. The senior center will open soon. Consequently, the rules of youth centers, whose users are between 14 and 35 years old, are being applied.”
These sources assure that the Executive of José Luis Martínez-Almeida will solve the problem when the center becomes an intergenerational space, beyond its current status as a youth center: “When the senior center is inaugurated, the relevant rules will be established in the resource for this intergenerational coexistence to exist.”
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