The settlement of Son Serra Parera, the largest in Palma, houses hundreds of people in makeshift homes. The community is organised into three sectors differentiated by nationalities and living conditions.
Palma's largest shantytown, Son Serra Parera, located at the foot of the Establiments and Esporles road, is home to hundreds of people living in precarious conditions. The settlement, which has been the scene of fires and other incidents, is internally organised into three well-defined sectors based on the nationality of its inhabitants and the level of organisation.
In the first sector, closest to the road, the makeshift homes are built in an anarchic manner. There, mainly solitary men, many of whom are workers, of Spanish and North African origin coexist. The area shows accumulation of waste and remnants of previous fires, such as the one that destroyed several shanties and whose flames were visible from various points in Palma. Some residents have installed sensors to protect themselves from theft and intruders.
A few metres away, fenced and perfectly enclosed, is the second sector. This nucleus is predominantly inhabited by families of Romanian origin, including women, children, and elderly people. There is a greater sense of order and cleanliness here. “We are fine here, safe. We don’t bother anyone,” explains a young resident, who assures that the children attend school and that adults collect and sell scrap metal to survive. “We are here because we cannot go anywhere else, we don’t earn enough to pay for housing,” he adds.
A third group, of Maghreb origin, has settled further away, without contact with the other sectors. This division reflects the complexity of a settlement where the housing emergency has brought together people from different backgrounds under the same unstable roof. The lack of running water forces residents to supply themselves from nearby public fountains, while electricity is mostly obtained from solar panels.
The Palma City Council has acknowledged the existence of the settlement and has indicated that it is a structural problem requiring long-term solutions. Meanwhile, the residents of Son Serra Parera continue to fight to survive in a Mallorca where access to decent housing is becoming increasingly difficult.
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