Barcelona







Barcelona is a Spanish city and It is capital of the Autonomous Community of Catalonia. Barcelona is Located on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, about 120 km south of the Pyrenees mountain chain and the French border, on a plain bounded by the sea to the east, the Sierra de Collserola west, the river Llobregat to the south and Besós river north.


 * Why is Barcelona considered one of the most successful cities in urban planning innovation? **

Barcelona is a great example in the urban planning discipline, since it incorporates the creation of public spaces (in both small and large scale), the restriction of urban sprawl and finally keeping the city as compact as possible in order to create the challenge of redeveloping instead of developing.



The best example of these tendencies in Barcelona is the Eixample district, which characterizes for its strict grid patterns, straight streets, its block-shaped buildings with an empty center, which facilitates the use of public space inside of a neighborhood and finally its “ramblas”, which are three diagonal straight pedestrian streets, which have a variety of shops, cafes and markets and the most important part, they create a circuit between several Barcelona’s squares and the waterfront.

 







**How's the city of Barcelona administrative divided? How many districts does it have? What are their names? **

Barcelona is divided in 10 administrative districts, which still have their own unique history and personality. Ciutat Vella, which is the historic center of Barcelona, Eixample, which is famous for its grid pattern, planned by Idelfonso Cerdá, Sans- Montjuic, Les Corts, Sarriá-Sant Gervasi, Grácia, Horta- Guinardó, Nou Barris, Sant Andreu and Sant Martí.


 * One of the districts' name is Eixample, what's the meaning of this Catalan word? **

The word Eixample means extension and in Spanish is “ensanche”, which is understandable since the district was created to expand Barcelona and to create a communication between the centre of Barcelona and the several independent cities surrounding it.

 


 * Who designed this distric? **

 <span style="color: #61240a; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;"> <span style="color: #61240a; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">This district was design in 1860 by Idelfonso Cerdá.

<span style="color: #61240a; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; overflow: hidden;"> <span style="color: #61240a; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: 0px; overflow: hidden;">


 * <span style="color: #61240a; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">How is this district divided into? [[image:http://www.bcn.es/bcnbarris/images/ca/districte2.jpg width="567" height="448" align="right"]] **

<span style="color: #61240a; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">The district is divided in ice administrative neighborhoods: <span style="color: #61240a; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">- L´Antiga Esquerra de l´Eixample <span style="color: #61240a; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">- La Nova Esquerra de l´Eixample <span style="color: #61240a; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">- Dreta de l´Eixample <span style="color: #61240a; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">- Fort Pienc <span style="color: #61240a; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">- SagradaFamilia <span style="color: #61240a; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">- Sant Antoni


 * <span style="color: #61240a; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">What are the main characteristics of the expansion? **

<span style="color: #61240a; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">The freedom of the individual, the privacy of the family, air, sun and natural light in all dwellings, the equalitarian desire for quality services in all city districts and planned urban flow were some of the objectives of the integral city. The main features of this city, in other words is mobility and ease of communication.

<span style="color: #61240a; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">The L'Eixample was planned using an extensive grid-iron pattern. The development rapidly spread to connect Barcelona to the outlying towns, which were incorporated into the city at the turn of the century. The rigid blocks of Cerdà's grid give way here to narrow streets arranged haphazardly. Cerdà's grid, with wide roads and bevelled street corners was designed for the easy passage of the steam tram along each street.


 * <span style="color: #61240a; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">What advantages did it bring to the city? **

<span style="color: #61240a; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Cerdá`s design was revolutionary, since it took into account some ventilation and traffic issues, so he came up with the idea of building octagonal buildings, where the streets broaden at every intersection, in order to improve the visibility and ventilation. Also, the <span style="color: #61240a; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">streets and wide avenues were connected to the most significant public spaces in the district, creating a whole system of public spaces throughout the district.


 * <span style="color: #61240a; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">What are the most important landmarks and different neighborhoods **

<span style="color: #61240a; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">On this map we can see the most important landmarks of the city of Barcelona

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