Barcelona

** ﻿ ** ** Why is Barcelona considered one of the most successful cities in urban planning innovation? ** The reasons for that Barcelona has become a wonderful city, is in its historical process towards the transformation of a better city. These processes are conformed by three major waves of transformation. Barcelona is now widely recognized as one of the most successful cities in the world, internationally acclaimed for its innovative urban planning this is due to urban changes that begin in 1859 with the city's Eixample district, a garden city expansion of 520 street blocks planned for the architect Ildefons Cerdà i Sunyer. The second wave is the modern transformation of Barcelona began with preparations for the 1992 Olympics, in this face have serious problems of urban decay in both inner and peripheral districts, and planners took a holistic approach and used the Games as a vehicle for city-wide reforms. The third wave is now undergoing, is about a high technology zone (22@), hyper-community (Diagonal Mar), the Universal Forum of Cultures 2004 and a new container port and logistics park are the key developments, all constructed on coastal Brownfield and reclaimed land.
 * ... BARCELONA CITY... **

Ciutat Vella L’Eixample. Sants-Montjuïc Les CortsSarrià-Sant Gervasi. Gracia Horta-Guinardó Nou Barris Torre Llobeta San Andrés Sant Martí **One of the districts' name is Eixample, what's the meaning of this Catalan word? And Who designed this district?** Eixample in Catalan meaning extension or enlargement, the name is for the first wave of transformation, where the government in Madrid gave the architect Cerdà the contract to realize this extension of the city. This contract is still renowned in the world of architecture and urbanism. The principal idea was free the city from the medieval walls that were impeding its expansion, with a result that was both harmonious and rational.
 * Barcelona has divide in various districts, there are:[[image:http://prensacorazon.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/mapa-distritos-barcelona.png width="270" height="292" align="left"]] **

**How is this district divided into?** There are five administrative neighborhoods: L'Antiga Esquerra de l'Eixample (in the past, part of Esquerra de l'Eixample) La Nova Esquerra de l'Eixample (in the past, part of Esquerra de l'Eixample) Dreta de l'Eixample Fort Pienc Sagrada Família Sant Antoni

**What are the main characteristics of the expansion?** The architect Ildefons Cerdà takes many considerations for this city´s plan, like the traffic and transport of the city and sunlight and ventilation in all urban design. Apart of all this, the plan is characterized by long straight streets, a strict grid pattern crossed by wide avenues, and square blocks with chamfered corners. The most characteristic feature of Cerdà's plan is the 45º angled corner of each block (chaflanes). The idea behind this was to ensure more fluid traffic in all directions. Specifically we have morphologic characteristic of design in this city, that consists in: “…520 square blocks or manzanas in Spanish …Each district would be of twenty blocks, containing all the community shops and services. The sides of the blocks measured 113.3 meters and covered 12,370 square meters, of which at least 800 square meters were to be gardens. The regular streets were built 20 meters wide. Gran Via was 50 meters wide and Passeig de Gracia was as much as 60 meters wide. For Cerdà, the function of the street was for communication and the movement of traffic…” (Barcelona Field Studies Centre S.L.)

**What advantages did it bring to the city?** The idea was to create an adequate distribution of services to all habitants of the city, which is why all the measures were applied in each districts, for attack the insalubrities problems, pollution and congestion in general, bringing about improvements in quality of life of the population, and so to improve the quality of life of people.

Some parts of the Eixample were influenced by Modernista architects, chief among who was Antoni Gaudí. For this have few important urban spaces that take the attention of tourism around the world, like: the Casa Milà (nicknamed La Pedrera) and the Casa Batlló, both of which are on the wide Passeig de Gràcia, as well as the Sagrada Família and La Rambla. These points conformed ones of the landmarks of the city. **- Paseo de Gracia or Passeig de Gràcia**. Is both one of the major avenues in Barcelona and also one of its most important shopping and business areas, containing several of the city's most celebrated pieces of architecture. It is located in the central part of Eixample, stretching from Plaça Catalunya to Carrer Gran de Gràcia. In terms of the cost of renting or buying property anywhere in this avenue, Passeig de Gràcia is nowadays regarded as the most expensive street in Barcelona and also in Spain, ahead even of Calle Serrano in Madrid.
 * What are the most important landmarks and different neighborhoods?**

** - Sagrada Familia. ** This neighborhood is one of the most important of Eixample, also be called The Poblet. Is very importan because in this location could be found many structure designed by the famous architect Antoni Gaudi, we found the of the temple Sagrada Familia or “Basilica de la Sagrada Familia”, this monument is a large Roman Catholic and although incomplete; the church is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and in November 2010 was consecrated and proclaimed a minor basilica by Pope Benedict XVI. ** - La Ramba ** Is a street in central Barcelona, popular with both tourists and locals alike. A 1.2 kilometer-long tree-lined pedestrian mall between Barri Gòtic and El Raval, it connects Plaça (square) Catalunya in the centre with the Christopher Columbus monument at Port Vell. La Rambla can be crowded, especially during prime time tourist season. Most of the time, there are many more tourists than locals occupying the Rambla, which has changed the shopping selection, as well as the character of the street in general. **My opinion - About the expansion of Barcelona.** Barcelona is a great Eixample of the use of natural elements such as sunlight and ventilation for the organization of the city and households to increase the quality of life of people, also it is very important to highlight, the was essential that of location of the services that are equitable for the city, things that today is the envy of any city in the world, especially for cities in developing countries such as Caracas, where there is no organization whatsoever for the location of services and organization of urban settlements. However, the city was designed very strict, and its lack of flexibility is not conducive to population growth has now reached, and that is why we suffer from problems such as congestion and pollution. **Summary** Barcelona is one of the most important cities of Spain and Europe; this is because it is a great example of urban renewal and city in general. Barcelona is politically divided into 10 districts, each of these districts has something special to show the world in terms of architecture, urbanism and art, but the highlight of these districts is Eixample, a city of great tourist attraction and protagonist of the highest urban renewal in Spain named “expansion of Cerda" with the garden city ideal, conducted in 1859 and formed the first of 3 waves of transformation of this city, which became an enviable city today, the second wave is the modern transformation of Barcelona Began with Preparations for the 1992 Olympics. Finally the third wave is now undergoing, is about a high technology zone (22 @), hyper-community (Diagonal Mar), the Universal Forum of Cultures 2004 and a new container port and logistics park Developments Are the key, all on coastal Constructed brownfield and reclaimed land.   media type="custom" key="8501422" Thanks to these waves of transformation, Barcelona is an example of city and is one of the most studied for the history of urban planning ,as it establishes uses natural features like lighting and ventilation for indoor and outdoor spaces of buildings, also the hierarchy of the different areas of the city with grand boulevards and public spaces and the equitable distribution of urban services. However, the structure of the city was designed very limited and not sufficient for growth of the population today, so it is suffering problems of congestion and pollution. media type="custom" key="8501498"