Spanish architects have lots of successful practices in the reform of recidencial buidings and districts. Torre Baro is one of them. It used to be poor developed and in a mess. But the government as well as the architects figured out many approaches to reform the bad surroundings, for example, new lights distributed in every corner of the districts and elevators for the steep roads.
In Beijing, there used to be places like Torre Baro. We usually call it by the name of the hometown of the inhabitants such as Country Xinjiang and Country Zhajiang. They are mostly poor people from other parts of China. With the city developing fast, the existence of these "countries" stands in the way of the city's extension. So the government decided to move them away. These move-aways can be really violent, and new modern residencials will be built up soon. But this time, only the rich people can afford living there.
I think Barcelona has found a better way to deal with those houses that are not so suited for the city's appearance and ambitions. A city should be friendly to the people that are willing to live there. Reform in an appropriate way will be much more rational and economical for the city.
