El Poblenou (; ) is an extensive neighborhood of

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

( Sant Martí district) that borders the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...

to the south,

Sant Adrià del Besòs Sant may refer to: People * Alfred Sant (born 1948), Maltese politician * Andrew Sant (born 1950), English-born Australian poet * David Sant (born 1968), Catalan director, actor and writer * Indira Sant (1914–2000), Indian poet * James Sant ( ...

to the east,

Parc de la Ciutadella The (; "Citadel Park") is a park on the northeastern edge of Ciutat Vella, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. For decades following its creation in the mid-19th century, this park was the city's only green space. The grounds include the city zoo (o ...

Ciutat Vella Ciutat Vella (, meaning in English "Old City") is a district of Barcelona, numbered District 1. The name means "old city" in Catalan and refers to the oldest neighborhoods in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. ''Ciutat Vella'' is nestl ...

to the west, and

Sant Andreu Sant Andreu () is one of the ten districts of Barcelona since its redistricting in 1984. It was named after the former municipality of Sant Andreu de Palomar, which was the largest in the area and now makes up the bulk of the neighbourhood be ...

to the north. In the past the neighborhood was a town entirely separated from Barcelona.

History

During the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

of the 19th century, Poblenou was the epicenter of Catalan and Iberian industry, earning it its

sobriquet A sobriquet ( ), or soubriquet, is a nickname, sometimes assumed, but often given by another, that is descriptive. A sobriquet is distinct from a pseudonym, as it is typically a familiar name used in place of a real name, without the need of expla ...

of the ''Catalan Manchester''. Surrounding the extensive cluster of factories stood mostly working class residential areas. When the industrial buzz passed, the neighborhood fell into a state of abandon and after a period of decay, the neighborhood underwent a dramatic transformation. The

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...

in 1992 were the main trigger for this massive transformation of El Poblenou. Many of the areas that have been developed — including the Vila Olímpica, the Diagonal Mar area, and the Fòrum area — arguably comprise their own neighborhoods. Completing its original, unfinished plan, The

Avinguda Diagonal Avinguda Diagonal (, in Spanish Avenida Diagonal) is the name of one of Barcelona's broadest and most important avenues. It cuts the city in two, diagonally with respect to the grid pattern of the surrounding streets, hence the name. It was or ...

now stretches from Plaça de les Glòries to the sea. The massive 22@ plan sets to convert Poblenou into the city's technological and innovation district, as well as to increase leisure and residential spaces. Alongside the newly built, upscale Vila Olímpica and Diagonal Mar areas, many artists and young professionals have converted the former factories and warehouses into lofts, galleries, and shops. Art & Design schools and studios have also opened, making the area known for its creative outlook. Some of the old factory buildings are now declared historic monuments and are under protection. This is the case of the Factory Hispania SA, built by the Cuban-German merchant

Emilio Heydrich Emilio Heydrich Martínez (Cuba 1861 – Barcelona 1947), was a German-Cuban merchant, entrepreneur and landowner, son of Fernando Heydrich Klein and María-Candelaria Martínez y Valdés. Heydrich was married to Antonia Cubero y Casals and their d ...

, and architect Josep Graner in 1923, or the factory of chemicals "Valls, Teixidor i Jordana" The leafy Rambla del Poblenou, which stretches from

to the beach, is the main commercial street.

Life in El Poblenou

El Poblenou lies between the great beaches of Barcelona and city center which allow its residents on the one hand a great chilled beach lifestyle and, on the other hand, proximity to a huge variety of shopping centers, bars and restaurants. Due to its rising popularity, prices of flats in the area have increased dramatically. Besides good beaches this neighborhood offers wide open spaces, green parks and relatively few tourists. The annual light art festival

Llum BCN Llum BCN is an annual light art festival held in Barcelona, Spain. It is celebrated since 2012 every February in Barcelona's neighborhood Poblenou. A selection of outstanding international creators, along with the emerging talent of local art and ...

is celebrated since 2012 every February in Poblenou.

Landmarks

Notable buildings of Poblenou include the

Torre Agbar ''Torre'' (plurals ''torri'' and ''torres'') means ''tower'' in seven Romance languages (Portuguese, Spanish, Galician, Catalan, Italian, Occitan and Corsican) and may refer to: Biology * Muir-Torre syndrome, the inherited cancer syndrome * ...

(

Jean Nouvel Jean Nouvel (; born 12 August 1945) is a French architect. Nouvel studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and was a founding member of ''Mars 1976'' and '' Syndicat de l'Architecture'', France’s first labor union for architects. He has o ...

Herzog & de Meuron Herzog & de Meuron Basel Ltd.,
" Herzog & de Meuron. Retrieved on 11 October 2012. "Herzog & de Meuron Basel Ltd. R ...

Forum Building The Forum Building ( ca, Edifici Fòrum, ; es, Edificio Fórum), is an architectural landmark in Barcelona designed by the Swiss architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron (Herzog & de Meuron). The building is triangular in shape, measuring 1 ...

(which houses Europe's largest scale model of a city), and the ME Barcelona Hotel (former Habitat Sky Hotel) (

Dominique Perrault Dominique Perrault (born 9 April 1953 in Clermont-Ferrand) is a French architect and urban planner. He became world known for the design of the French National Library, distinguished with the Silver medal for town planning in 1992 and the Mies v ...

). Major public spaces include the Parc de Diagonal Mar (

Enric Miralles Enric Miralles Moya (12 February 1955 – 3 July 2000) was a Spanish architect from Barcelona. He graduated from the Barcelona School of Architecture (ETSAB) at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) in 1978. After establishing ...

), the

Plaça de les Glòries Catalanes Plaça de les Glòries Catalanes (), most often shortened to Glòries, is a large square in Barcelona, first designed by Ildefons Cerdà to serve as the city centre in his original urban plan (''Pla Cerdà''), but nowadays relegated to quite a seco ...

, the Parc Central del Poblenou (

), the beachfront Parc del Poblenou, the vast Parc del Forum, Oficines Diagonal 197 ( David Chipperfield), the Media-Tic Building ( Enric Ruiz Geli - CLOUD 9) (the historic

Poblenou Cemetery Poblenou Cemetery (Cementerio de Pueblo Nuevo in Spanish, Cementiri de Poblenou in Catalan) is located in the neighbourhood of the same name in Barcelona. It is also called East Cemetery (Cementiri de l'Est) or General Cemetery (Cementiri Gener ...

as well as many kilometres of beaches. Image:22@.jpg, View of construction in Poblenou, Barcelona, resulting from the 22@ urban renewal plan. Image:RamblaPoblenou.jpg, Modernista building on a corner of Rambla del Poblenou (Barcelona). Image:Poblenou-Contrasts.jpg, View of Carrer Pallars in Poblenou, showing renovation of underground infrastructure, as well as one of many former factories next to a modern building.

Public transport

Barcelona Metro line 1 Line 1, shortened to L1, coloured red and often simply called ''Línia vermella'' ("Red Line"), is the second oldest Barcelona Metro line, after line Barcelona Metro line 3, L3. It is the longest line of the Barcelona Metro, and links L'Hospita ...

stations: Marina, Glòries * Barcelona Metro line 4 stations: Selva de Mar,

Poblenou El Poblenou (; ) is an extensive neighborhood of Barcelona ( Sant Martí district) that borders the Mediterranean Sea to the south, Sant Adrià del Besòs to the east, Parc de la Ciutadella in Ciutat Vella to the west, and Sant Andreu to the no ...

, Llacuna, Bogatell *

Trambesòs Trambesòs () is a tram– light rail system in the Spanish autonomous community of Catalonia that links the Barcelona district of Sant Martí with Badalona and Sant Adrià de Besòs. Its name comes from the union of the words "tram", an abbre ...

stations: Glòries, Ca l'Aranyó, Pere IV, Fluvià

References

External links