All Projects
Barcelona Urban Public Spaces
Barcelona, Spain

Barcelona Urban Public Spaces
1976

Barcelona, Spain
  • open space
  • infrastructure
  • place making
  • transit system
  • waterfront
  • social fabric
  • redevelopment

The city of Barcelona was awarded for a collective effort between many professionals in the requalification of 42 Urban Public Spaces in the city between 1981 and 1987. The projects affected positively nearly 1.7 million people extending over 100 sq. kilometers, covering the territory of the districts: Ciutat Vella, Eixample, Sants Montjuïc, Les Corts, Sarrià-Sant Gervasi, Gràcia, Horta-Guinardó, Nous Barris, Sant Andreu, and Sant Martí. The proposal’s merit resides in enhancing the quality of life through the public realm and the access to areas for leisure and social activities. Three kinds of specific urban space projects have been completed: plazas, parks, and streets. The urban public space projects represent a large and impressive body of public works at widely different scales spread throughout the city. The aim was to develop a program for the entire city, one that would eventually operate in a decentralized manner, fitting the needs of particular geographic locales regardless of prevailing socioeconomic and physical circumstances. During the early stages, all public improvements were confined to the project sites themselves, and there were no displacements of population or viable urban functions from surrounding areas. Moreover, projects were undertaken in all ten districts within Barcelona: Ciutat Vella, Eixample, Sanes Moncjuic, Les Cores, Sarria-Sane Gervasi, Gracia, Horca-Guinard6, Nous Barris, Sane Andreu and Sant Marci, respectively. The program officially began in December 1980. Apart from being a local jurisdiction, each district corresponds to a distinctive area within the city that war­rants special urban design consideration, and each district is largely characterized by a particular pattern of streets and surrounding buildings.

Project Leads

  • Town Planning Commission
  • Office of Urban Projects

Organizations

  • Town Planning Commission
  • Office of Urban Projects
  • Piñón y Viaplana
  • Urban Planning Laboratory

Stages

  • Design Development
  • Construction
  • Planning
  • Schematic Design
Parc del Clot
Plaça dels Països Catalans

Site

The requalified open spaces include: 1. Plaça del Peu del Funicular; 2. Parc de la Creueta del Coll; 3. Plaça de Salvador Allende; 4. Parc Güell Restoration; 5. Plaça de Sóller; 6. Via Júlia; 7. Plaça Trilla; 8. Plaça de la Virreina; 9. Plaça del Sol; 10. Plaça de la Sedeta; 11. Avinguda de Gaudí; 12. Parc de la Pegasso; 13. Plaça Can Robacols; 14. Plaça del General Moragues; 15. Pont Felip II-Bac de Roda; 16. Parc de Sant Martí; 17. Plaça de la Palmera; 18. Parc del Clot; 19. Parc de l'Estació del Nord; 20. Plaça Tetuan; 21. Passeig de Picasso; 22. Places de Sant Pere i Sant Agustí Vell; 23. Pati de les Aigües; 24. Plaça del Rei; 25. Moll de Bosch i Alsina; 26. Plaça de la Mercè; 27. Plaça Reial; 28. Jardins d’Emili Vendrell; 29. Plaça Folch i Torres; 30. Fossar de la Pedrera; 31. Plaça de Navas; 32. Plaça de l’Univers; 33. Passeig de la Reina Maria Cristina; 34. Jardins Can Sabaté; 35. Parc de Joan Miró; 36. Parc de l’Espanya Industrial; 37. Plaça dels Països Catalans; 38. Plaça de la Concòrdia; 39. Jardins de la Vil-la Cecília; 40. Plaça Ángel Pestaña; 41. Palaus del Carrer Montcada; 42. Entorn del Velòdrom d'Horta. The urban public space projects represent a large and impressive body of public works at widely different scales spread throughout the city. The aim was to develop a program for the entire city, one that would eventually operate in a decentralized manner, fitting the needs of particular geographic locales regardless of prevailing socioeconomic and physical circumstances. During the early stages, all public improvements were confined to the project sites themselves, and there were no displacements of population or viable urban functions from surrounding areas. Moreover, projects were undertaken in all ten districts within Barcelona: Ciutat Vella, Eixample, Sanes Moncjuic, Les Cores, Sarria-Sane Gervasi, Gracia, Horca-Guinard6, Nous Barris, Sane Andreu, and Sant Marci, respectively. The program officially began in December 1980. Apart from being a local jurisdiction, each district corresponds to a distinctive area within the city that war­rants special urban design consideration, and each district is largely characterized by a particular pattern of streets and surrounding buildings. Three kinds of specific urban space projects have been completed: plazas, parks, and streets. A number of these parcels contain a variety of recreational activities as well as public artworks by major international artists. Throughout the urban space program, a shared intellectual idea of Barcelona accompanies the strong conviction that the city is, in large part, something objective and capable of renewal. Within this common agenda, however, there is also a tolerance of formal design diversity remi­niscent of other moments of Catalan modernism such as the periods of Gaudi and Domenech i Montaner, or of Sert. Within contemporary circumstances, this diversity extends from the mini­malism of the Placa de! Paisos Catalans, by Pinon and Viaplana, to the expressionistic contextur­alism of the Pare de l'Espanya Industrial, by Pena Ganchegui and Rius, as well as more prosaically from soft-planted surfaces to the traditionally hard paved Mediterranean plaza dura. In the final analysis, a broadly based and authentic Catalan style of place-making has emerged.

Typology

Public Realm Renewal

Land use type

Open Space

Size

100 sq. km

Population/density

1.7 million inhabitants

Timeline

1976

People

Awards

Veronica Rudge Green Prize in Urban Design

1990

Summary of the Jury Statement: “the jury recognized the significant role public open spaces play in contemporary cities, and the need for renewal within this public realm to further the quality of urban life. Urban public spaces provide needed places for recreation, leisure-time and other social activities. They also provide an important context for public gatherings that mark the civic life of a community, and they serve as a constant reminder of the crucial role played by this civic life within urban society. The urban public spaces of Barcelona provide an admirable contemporary demonstration of all of these qualities, encompassing a broad range of project scales and community settings. The prominent public status of these projects also provides an exemplary demonstration of leadership in the physical conformation and renewal of a city – a task common to many urban areas in other parts of the world”.

Jury

Peter G. RoweJury Chair
Henry N. CobbJuror
Peter E. WalkerJuror
Gwendolyn WrightJuror

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