Analysis of an urban plan: Barcelona

Barcelona is a maritime city of the Mediterranean sea, located in the north-west area of the Iberian peninsula, in the valley formed between the mouths of both the Besós and the Llobregat rivers. It is limited in the north by the province of Girona, in the west by theprovince of Lleida, in the south by the province of Tarragona and in the east by the Mediterranean sea. The relief is characterized by a plain with a small slope between those river deltas that is clearly limited on its north-west area by the Collserola Mountain Range. One of the geographical characteristics of the city of Barcelona is Monte Táber, a promontory of 16.9 meters over the sea level in which the former roman city was built. 
The origins of Barcelona are found in a roman castrum built over an Iberian settlement dated in the IIIth century B.C. Although Barcino, as the romans called it, was a strategic point in the Iberian peninsula to start its conquest, in the beginning of the first and second century after Christ, Barcino became an important port in the Mediterranean sea due to commercial activities.

Moving on to the urban structure of Barcelona, we can establish four clear sections: the Historic Center, the CBD (Central Business District), the Inner Suburbs and the industrial and commercial areas. Besides, as it occurs in most of european cities, we see an obvious difference between the pre-industrial city (historic center) and the industrial and post-industrial enlargements of the city (“Ensanche”). 
Regarding the Historic Center we must say that, due to its roman origin, Barcelona has a wall , built during the third and fourth centuries, surrounding it, although nowadays just a few sections of it remain. 
The orthogonal design that the romans established disappeared during the Middle Ages, period in which the streets followed an irregular pattern , shaping what we know today as Barrio Gótico.
Talking about the industrial and post-industrial era, Barcelona is well known because of the numerous buildings that the architect of the gods, Antoni Gaudí, built between 19^TH and 20^TH centuries: from the Sagrada Familia to the Palace of Music of Catalonia. On the other hand, the main squares in the city are the square of Spain, the square of Francesc Macià and the Plaça de les Glòries Catalanes that is located in the middle of the central axis of Barcelona: Avenida Diagonal. In addition, the main public buildings/sites of Barcelona are Parc de la Ciutadella, Ciutadella Campus UPF, Parlament de Catalunya, the seafront, Güell Park… and the main monuments are Agbar Tower, Columbus Memorial, World Trade Center Barcelona, Castle of Montjuïc, Sagrada Familia and the Arch of Triumph.

Secondly, the CBD (central business district) is located in the section 22@ of the city, just around the Plaça de les Glòries Catalanes and Avenida Diagonal. In fact, several headquarters of enterprises dedicated to advanced technology, chemistry, electronics and automotive are located in this area, which has the second market values of Spain: The Bolsa de Barcelona. Although Madrid has “stolen” to Barcelona the financial leader’s role in Spain in the past decades, Barcelona continue being the industrial Capital of Spain.

In the city of Barcelona, the historic center is surrounded by Ronda de Sant Antoni and Ronda de la Universitat. As the current historic center had a medieval origin; the plan is irregular and the streets are narrow and small, especially in the area of Barrio Gótico. Besides, the main material is stone, that is present in pedestrian streets and in several buildings and edifices. We can divide the historic center into 4 sections: Raval, Barrio Gótico, La Barceloneta and Ribera; and talking about the main streets we can mention Via Laietana and the famous Les Rambles; but other important streets are Columbus Seafront, Paseo de Gracia… Apart from these, most of the main buildings (Palau de la Música, Cathedral of Barcelona) and the main monuments (Columbus Memorial and Catalonia square) are located in this central area. However, as every medieval area, it has several problems such as the strange outline of the winding streets of the center that difficulties the transition of cars and pedestrians, or the deterioration of some historic buildings and houses. Some measures to deal with these problems are to convert some streets in pedestrian streets and to apply rehabilitation politics to preserve all the historic buildings of the zone.

Thirdly, the suburbs of Barcelona are characterized by the bourgeois “ensanche” that Ildefonso Cerdá designed around the historic center in the second half of XIX century . As a consequence of the intense industrial revolution, people from the countryside moved to the city, giving place to an enormous rural exodus that make possible a growth of Barcelona. This “Ensanche” is organized within an orthogonal way with wide avenues such as Avenida Meridiana, in the center of the city. In addition, these areas are dedicated to middle-high class residential and tertiary sector activities. Besides, two of the main streets of the city are located in this “Ensanche”: Avenida Diagonal and Avenida Gran Vía. Besides, some of the main buildings of Barcelona, such as the Sagrada Familia, L´Auditori, Hospital Sant Creu i Sant Pau… are placed here. Some problems of the Suburbs are the difficulties to design a public transportation system that cover the total area of Barcelona as the city is distributed in a orthogonal way. Also, the fact that the "ensanche" has been built many years ago, convert this area in part of the historic center, and, so, the "ensanche" has the same problems as it: deterioration of buildings, difficulties to manage waste... Some measures that could be taken to deal with this problems are to design an urban restoration plan to keep all the buildings in good conditions; and also a investment on public waste management that would improve the condition of the streets.
The outer suburbs are organized around the "ensanche" in a outern area that mixes worker neighborhoods, factories and small villages that nowadays are part of the city. However, the plan of the periphery is not organized in wide and long avenues with high buildings made of noble materials, but it has narrower streets and smaller buildings made of worse materials than in the "Ensanche". In fact, this outer suburbs were built in the 20th century and they are dedicated to low and middle class housing and for industrial & commercial activities. Llobregat, Mataró and Zona Franca are areas that belong to this layer of the city, in especially Zona Franca, which is a main industrial zone of Barcelona, near Llobregat.

Finally, the main industrial areas of Barcelona are “Polígono Industrial de Montsolís” and “Polígono Industrial de la Pedrosa”; and, within the industrial activities developed in Barcelona, we can remark high technology industry, chemistry industry, pharmaceutical industry, automotive industry and electronics industry. Although Madrid is the financial Capital of Spain, Barcelona is in reality a global city with the strongest industry system of the country. However, talking about commerce, the main areas are the historic center, Paseo de Gracia, Les Rambles, Borne Neighborhood, Paseo de Fabra i Puig and department stores such as La Maquinista, Glòries or Diagonal Mar. As we see, these commercial areas are distributed all over Barcelona, and offer a mixture of small shops, hypermarkets, warehouses and big department stores with several types of brands, which convert Barcelona in a perfect commercial city for both the consumer and the small wholesale.