The Eixample is the most populous district of Barcelona, and it is clearly recognisable even from space (picture above taken by astronaut Scott Kelly from ISS) because of its characteristic squared blocks (manzanas) with chamfered corners. It was built after a series of deadly epidemics wich urged to tear down the walls of Barcelona to allow the city to expand and improve the salubrity of its habitants.
A contest was called in order to choose the best project for the future expansion of the city. Most of the proposals maximized the buildable area at the expense of green zones in order to obtain the maximum economic gain. In addition to that a clear distinction was made also between the areas that were supposed to house the wealthy and the poor families to prevent them to mix with each other.
On the contrary the Cerdà plan standed from the rest by being much more balanced in the distribution of green and building areas and because of its grid pattern it was more equalitarian; it avoided the generation of ghettos.
Despite that the Cerdà plan was choosed as the winner of the contest the economic powers of the city forced the rejection of the plan because they considered it did not provided enough buildable surface. Finally Madrid imposed Cerdà´s plan to the Barcelona authorities.
The constructive voracity that aspires to take all the available space becomes present since the early days of the Eixample construction. A sad example of this can be seen in the courtyards of the Eixample blocks in were what was supposed to be comunal interior gardens were sacrifized to build low buildings and even interior horrible blocks. This tendency reached its paroxism during the Porcioles (the city Mayor during Franco´s regime) era with its Eixample «Hats».
An example of a crude later added architecture that breaks the original aesthetics
It is worth to note the efforts that the city council has put into recovering some interior courtyards for public use, the idea is that each Example neighbour has to be able to reach a public garden in less than 5 minutes by walk from its home.
Perhaps the most notable interior garden recovered is «la Torre de les aigües» wich was the first recovered courtyard. Recently the Eixample has regain, after many years of neighbours demands, a big public garden «Can Germanetes«.
In addition to this efforts it should be noted also the remodeling of Enric Granados street, wich involved the substitution of a traffic lane by a two-way bicycle traffic lane. This seemingly insignificant change has represented a total transformation of the street atmosphere. The other side of the coin has been that the disappearance of part of the motor traffic has brought a significant increase of bars and terraces.
In any case Enric Granados remodeling was a first test for a future grid of streets with less private motor traffic and more bicycle lanes the so called «superilles«, wich had been under discussion and «study» by the city council for quite some years.
Barcelona in 1842 before the walls that surrounded the city were demolished to allow the city to expand.
Notice the great contrast of the arbitrary street patterns of the four different competing proposals for the urban expansion of Barcelona above and that of Cerdà below.The proposal of Cerdà stands for its rational street patterns.In the original idea of Cerdà inside every squared block there was to be a garden.Ildefons Cerdà plan achieved a perfect balance between urban density and space by establishing a maximum height that allowed the sunlight to reach the base of the blocks. Although the original height of Cerdà´s plan was of 16 meters additional floors were added in many buildings over the years.The transition from public to private space of the original Cerdà´s «manzanas». An example of how the maximum economic gain can spoil the common good.Classical Eixample Cerdà grid with the interior courtyards chaotically parcelled to gain the maximum buildable area.Aerial view of the Eixample which shows Plaça Letamendi a green area (at the right of the picture) at the corner of four blocks. The area is split by Aragó street and breaks the pattern of the Eixample grid. It is one of the very few green areas originally projected by Cerdà that has survived to this day.The first partially recovered internal patio the Torre de les Aigües. The tower was originally a water tank, the patio becomes a refreshing urban pool during the summer.Another more recently partially recovered patio made by RCR architects. The works have served to obtain a public library and a children playground with a beautiful preserved chimney.The communal interior garden that never was. Notice a typical example of three later added floors above the original building on the right corner.Despite the spoiled interior courtyards the Eixample stands for its modernist heritage. Although the most well known buildings are those by Gaudí there are many other great well preserved buildings which conserve the original colours. The building in the picture is known as Casa China and it is one of my favourites, it comes from an oriental inspiration by Joan Guardiola.The Eixample grid with the courtyards resulted in a characteristic shared by some modernist old buildings. It consists of a long corridor that connects the courtyard to the street façade. It allows daylight to enter from both sides of the hall and makes very pleasant to walk the house through the dark corridor towards the light. This feature is very rare in modern buildings. This picture was taken in 1923 inside the very luxury Casa Amatller next to Gaudí´s Casa Batlló.An example of Eixample modernist splendor the Hospital de Sant Pau by Lluís Domènec i Montaner.With the passing of the years the car became the king of Barcelona´s streets. As a result the city suffers from air pollution caused by road transport.A sympathetic vintage picture taken by Eugeni Forcano that however shows the annoying reality of cars presence all over the Eixample that survives to this days. In many crossing of the Eixample the traffic lights are red or flashing orange. Although the system is intended to make traffic fluid it becomes very dangerous for pedestrians and cyclists because many cars do not bother to slow down at all.To curb the effects of pollution Barcelona´s city council has invested in creating a network of bike lanes, at the expense of car lanes, as well as a bicycle sharing service (Bicing).The reform of a section of the Diagonal (the avenue that runs through the city from end to end) at the expense of a traffic lane has allowed to expand the sidewalks substantially. Similar reforms have took place recently in other important avenues such as Passeig Sant Joan, General Mitre or Balmes.Part of the character of being a Mediterranean city involves that much of the living and socializing of Barceloneans takes place outdoors. The lack of public spaces in where to seat or where kids could play has a great impact in the quality of life.An interesting example of equalitarian urbanism built a a thousand years ago, can be found in Ghardaïa a walled city located in the Algerian Sahara. Ghardaïa is composed of labyrinth streets built in concentric circles around a mosque that served as fortress in case of siege.A side view of the minaret of Ghardaïa´s mosque which also served as watchower. Ghardaïa was built based on a true sense of communitarian property between all the inhabitants. Each of them shared the available space inside the walls and had an equitable water supply for their gardens outside the city.A major drawback of fortified cities like Ghardaïa is the lack of available space. This forces the habitants to make most of their living reclused indoors; there is no place for the kids to play in the streets which are too narrow and awkward to spend time in them beyond the necessary. This sadly serves to perpetuate the tradition of segregation between male and women and of Arabic and Mozabite communities.Back when Barcelona was a fortified city like Ghardaïa it shared the same narrow streets, some are still preserved as they were before such as the 1,47 meter width Carrer de les Mosques. In the walled city only the very rich could afford the luxury of a patio in their homes, as in what is today the Picasso Museum.Despite of the many rehabilitation works made by the city council. Most of Barcelona´s underworld and personality survives in the narrow streets of the old city, a part of it is popularly known as «Chinatown» the red light district. The picture above taken by Francesc Català Roca shows two Navy sailors from the Sixth Fleet exploring the charms of the old city.This picture of social housing blocks in Leningrad is an exampe of intended equalitarian architecture and (crude) urbanism typical from the soviet era. The urbanism (or the lack of it) consists in a series of imposing blocks located more or less randomly with big open spaces between the blocks. The result is an imposing monument to social alienation.Another example of (middle class) equalitarian architecture and failed urbanism in China, the picture seems out of a dystopian nightmare. The streets are intended for cars and little else.The idea of living in the suburbs sounds like being a king in his own castle. However it involves many servitudes like depending on the car for virtually everything, spending a lot of time in commuting and traffic jams, and being surrounded by lifeless streets.
Barcelona on three wheels 