Barcelona's blocks
Barcelona, Spain, 1859 · The idea: a grid planned for light, air and movement — and what happens when a plan meets land prices.
The problem
By the 1850s Barcelona was packed inside its old city walls: congested and prone to epidemics. When the government finally gave in and let the walls be torn down, the open plain outside had to be planned.
The engineer Ildefons Cerdà spent years counting how people lived, worked and moved in the old city before he drew a line. His question was how to build a city where everyone got sun, air and room to move.
Move by move
- 1859 Draw an even grid across the plain, so no part of the new city is favoured over another.
- 1859 Cut the corner off every block, so carts and later trams can see and turn at each crossing. The corners become small squares.
- 1859 Build on only two or three sides of each block, leaving the middle as a garden.
- 1859–60 The city council holds its own competition and picks a different design, by Antoni Rovira i Trias. The Spanish government in Madrid backs Cerdà, and building starts the following year.
- 2010s The city begins joining groups of nine blocks into "superblocks", keeping through traffic to the edges.
What happened
The grid and its cut corners were built and still shape the city today. Much else was not: blocks were built up on all four sides around their inner space, streets came out narrower, only one of two planned diagonal avenues was made, and the district filled with wealthier households than the mix Cerdà hoped for.
What critics said
- At the time, major property owners were unhappy that Cerdà’s design won out over the council’s choice, and how the plan came to be approved was later retold in more than one political version.
- Later critics point out that the gardens and low buildings, the parts most about health and light, were the first to be dropped once land grew valuable.
- Draw a block with its corners cut. Shade two sides as buildings and leave the middle open.
- Now take turns as a builder who may add one more side, or one more storey. When does the garden disappear?
The Honest Page
- Known. Cerdà made a detailed statistical study of how working people lived in the crowded old town. Source
- Known. The blocks have chamfered corners, and were meant to be built on two or three sides around a garden. Source
- Known. The city council chose Rovira i Trias in its 1859 contest; the central government favoured Cerdà. Source
- Known. Barcelona has turned groups of nine blocks into superblocks, with through traffic kept to the edges. Source
- Argued about. How far the later density betrayed the plan, or simply adapted it. Source