Between February and June 2026, 17,461 complaints were recorded, compared to 25,956 in the same period of 2025. The Urban Guard has focused its actions on behaviours that affect neighbourhood rest and cleanliness.
The new Coexistence Ordinance of Barcelona has recorded a 32.7% reduction in complaints during its first four and a half months of validity. Between February 15 and June 30, 2026, 17,461 complaints have been counted, compared to 25,956 in the same period the previous year, according to data from the Barcelona City Council.
This evolution does not respond to a decrease in police activity, but to the entry into force of a new regulatory framework that reinforces the proportionality of sanctions and concentrates municipal action on those behaviours that have a real impact on coexistence, the rest of neighbours, and the quality of public space. The reform has also adapted various sanctioning assumptions to the Organic Law 4/2015 on the protection of citizen security and has incorporated new aggravating circumstances.
The Urban Guard has deployed a comprehensive device that combines uniformed and plainclothes patrols to intervene in areas with the highest recurrence of incidents. The device includes coordination with other municipal services and is reviewed periodically according to the evolution of incidents and complaints.
Territorially, Ciutat Vella concentrates the main volume of interventions, with 7,036 complaints, followed by Sant Martí with 2,848 and Sarrià-Sant Gervasi with 2,368.
Alcohol consumption: fewer complaints but more focused
The main transformation resulting from the reform occurs in the area of alcohol consumption. Complaints drop from 18,015 to 6,830, a decrease of 62.1%, but this change is explained by the disappearance of two types of complaints that existed until now, replaced by new infractions linked to the effective alteration of civic coexistence.
The new ordinance allows for specific action against behaviours that generate neighbourhood disturbances, mass gatherings of people, or affect rest. During these first months, 504 complaints have been filed for alcohol consumption, 165 for consumption in groups of three or more people at risk of mass consumption, 36 for consumption in areas especially protected against noise, including ZARE, and 42 for consumption in spaces frequented by minors or at risk of inciting their consumption.
Physiological needs and spitting: more control
One of the areas that concentrates more police activity is that of physiological needs in public spaces. Complaints increase by 15.2%, rising from 2,722 to 3,136. The reform incorporates new aggravated assumptions that allow for the sanctioning of behaviours particularly problematic for coexistence. In just four and a half months, 289 complaints have been recorded for urinating or defecating near public gathering establishments, 41 on streets four meters or less in width, and 11 near open public toilets.
There is also a notable increase in complaints for spitting in public spaces, which nearly doubles, rising from 182 to 363.
Filth and improper use of public space
The new tools incorporated by the ordinance have significantly increased the detection and sanctioning of behaviours linked to the degradation of public space. Complaints for other filth-related behaviours increase by 310%, from 414 to 1,698. At the same time, complaints for improper use of public space increase considerably, from 43 to 481 cases.
These data demonstrate a municipal commitment to strengthen action on those behaviours that directly impact the perception of cleanliness, order, and quality of public space.
Street vending: over 17,900 actions
Complaints for unlicensed street vending, excluding abandoned merchandise, increase by 13%, rising from 4,016 to 4,538 complaints. At the same time, the Urban Guard has recorded 13,416 actions for the abandonment of products intended for street vending, a figure very similar to that of the previous year. This tool allows action on the problem even if it is not possible to identify the responsible person.
In total, actions related to street vending reach 17,954 incidents during the analysed period. Significant increases are also detected in complaints for collaboration with unlicensed street vendors (+76.4%), street vending without occupying public space (+77.6%), and street vending with occupying public space (+18.6%).
Regarding sanctions, more than 11,000 fines have been imposed, and there has been an increase in alternative measures to sanctions, such as community service or participation in awareness workshops, which reinforce the model of control, prevention, and civic co-responsibility.
The Barcelona City Council has highlighted that the new ordinance consolidates a more effective and proportional model, focused on behaviours that generate neighbourhood disturbances and affect civic coexistence. The combination of control, prevention, and civic co-responsibility aims to improve the quality of life in the neighbourhoods of the Catalan capital.
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