Barcelona Beautiful
Last year, Mike’s Learning Lisbon post highlighted his teaching role in the Design for Public Spaces module on the Spatial…
Last year, Mike’s Learning Lisbon post highlighted his teaching role in the Design for Public Spaces module on the Spatial Design course at Edinburgh Napier University. A very fortunate outcome of the module is the annual study trip, where second, third and fourth-year students, along with their tutors, visit a European city.
Eixample ‘Expansion’
This years destination was Barcelona – a city familiar to many, but continues to reveal more of itself with each visit.
A slight twist on previous year’s briefs is the choice of a unique site of study: an intersection within Ildefons Cerda’s Eixample district. This extraordinary example of city planning features a 113m grid laid out over 2 square kms. Cerdà’s plan, based on the concept of Eixample (meaning “expansion” in Catalan), sought to extend the city beyond its old walls and accommodate its growing population.
Our study site sits at the heart of the Eixample plan, at the intersection of Carrer del Consell de Cent and Carrer de Sicilia. The latter runs southeast to northwest, with the Sagrada Familia just a few blocks to the north. To the north, one block away, lies the Avenue Diagonal. Both the Diagonal and Consell de Cent are currently undergoing significant renovation and environmental enhancement, making this intersection the ideal focal point for our study. The project’s opportunity to connect to these ongoing urban improvements was a key reason why the intersection was chosen.
At lunch with Joan
The first morning was bright and sunny—perfect for a stroll through the shaded, narrow streets of the old town. It was an immersive exploration of the city, rich in heritage and discovery, led by Chiara Ronchini, Urbanism Module Tutor. This walk was a lovely introduction into the city, setting the tone for the afternoon study of the wide open grid structure perfectly.
At lunch, we were fortunate to be met by Joan Callis of Studio EMBT Architects. Joan, a Director at the practice, was the architect behind the Scottish Parliament and the Santa Caterina Market in Barcelona. Joan was generous with his time, giving the students a tour of the market and the surrounding housing development. He provided valuable insights into the the design development, challenges and the unearthed history uncovered during the projects implementation. A big thank you to Joan for such an enriching experience!
3 x 3
To further reinforce the contrast between old and new, we visited some of the newly developed neighbourhoods within the Cerda plan, to the east of the city centre: Poblenou and Saint Antoni. Here there are many new innovative buildings with some early experimental interventions in the delivery of the Superblocks concept.
The idea behind Superblocks is to combine 3×3 sections of Cerda’s grid into a single block, managing traffic and increasing pedestrian priority. Pilot projects in these neighbourhoods have reduced the impact of traffic on streets with there are many new innovative buildings with some early experimental interventions in the delivery of the Superblocks parklets and zoned off lanes for people. The intersections have been transformed into play spaces and community parks, with temporary installations of colourful graphics on the road surfaces, trees in planters and play equipment-turning spaces once dominated by cars, into vibrant, people-friendly zones.
Streets into Spaces
The initial response to these pilot projects, which seemed temporary and fleeting, was to transform a number of streets and intersections on the west side of the Eixample. Consell de Cent, along with four intersections on perpendicular streets, has been evolved into pedestrian boulevards with new tree planting, rain gardens, and seating areas-creating green axis to the grid city.
These projects, which have been implemented to date, were subject to an international design competition, each of the plazas designed by a separate practice, and the contrast is striking and one to learn from. Using variation in geometry and intensity of planting the designers have executed very different atmospheres to each of the four plazas. Rainwater is harvested using ‘sponge’ city concepts, these provide educational elements, while reacting to the cities climate crisis adaptation.
Our site lies further east, beyond these completed interventions. Plans are in place for 21 plazas, 21 green axis, and 33 kilometers of streets to be transformed—resulting in over 330,000m² of additional pedestrian space. The question now is: how will our students engage with and respond to this agenda in their own designs for the space?
Línea Alta
Further west, we explored the Barcelona ‘highline’—the Rambla de Sants. Opened in 2016 and designed by Joan Pinyol, this 800-meter-long park spans 48,400m² and is elevated above a network of tram, metro, and train tracks below. These tracks once divided the neighborhood, a classic example of being on the “wrong side of the tracks.”
The linear park has successfully connected these neighborhoods, offering lush planting, trees, shelter, and play areas. It’s become a true landscape asset to the community, widely used by locals and visitors alike. The long-term vision for the park is even more ambitious: it aims to stretch for 5 kilometers beyond the city. As we stood at the end of the first phase, overlooking the tracks, we reflected on how transformative the next four kilometers will be for this part of the city.
Where’s Gaudí?
It was interesting to reflect on my post last year of Lisbon. Where the comparison was made between the cities of hills, Lisbon and Edinburgh, as we were walking around Barcelona and studying the city in more depth, the similarities between Barcelona and Edinburgh became more apparent. Both cities have the rich and diverse old town complex of streets and lanes, and the contrasting order, airiness and simplicity of the new town/Eixample.
The key difference lies in the adjacency of these two urban forms. In Edinburgh, the old and new towns are separated by Princes Street Gardens and the valley. In Barcelona, however, the contrast is much more abrupt. The two forms clash and abut one another, resulting in irregularly shaped buildings and triangular plazas and parks. This striking contrast is what makes Barcelona’s urban design so fascinating.
And yes, I managed to get through this whole piece on Barcelona without mentioning Gaudí once! 😅
A Yearly Tradition
As a practice, we plan a study trip every year for the team. Previous cities of exploration have included Copenhagen, Milan, Berlin, Paris, and Amsterdam. These trips are incredibly valuable on many levels—not only for landscape architects to see built projects firsthand, but also as social events that strengthen team bonds.
The same benefits apply to student field trips. They provide invaluable opportunities to experience the city, engage with the site of study, and socialize with students from other years and tutors. These experiences significantly enhance the quality of creative input in their modules and final-year projects.
We’re looking forward to seeing the final design solutions in the coming weeks, and to our next trips—January 2026 with the students and the HarrisonStevens study trip in September 2025.
