La Borda housing cooperative is one of several projects to give a social use to the former industrial site of Can Batlló, Barcelona, specifically to create an affordable and democratic cooperative housing scheme. In 2011 the transformation of the site was still blocked, so Sants and La Bordeta neighbours entered the site and occupied the Bloc 11 building. A participatory process was initiated to define the uses and projects the neighborhood wanted for Can Batlló. By developing an affordable housing cooperative La Borda has pioneered the introduction of an alternative cooperative housing model in Barcelona. This has been achieved by using a long-term leasehold to access the land and a grant of use (cessió d'ús) to allocate the apartments to its members, and by engaging its members throughout the development process.