; ) is an extensive neighborhood of

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of 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 c ...

’s 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 east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

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 San ...

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 31-hectare (77 acres) grounds inc ...

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 nest ...

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 beari ...

to the north. Originally, it was a town entirely separate from Barcelona proper.

History

During the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...

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

sobriquet A sobriquet ( ) is a descriptive nickname, sometimes assumed, but often given by another. A sobriquet is distinct from a pseudonym in that it is typically a familiar name used in place of a real name without the need for explanation; it may beco ...

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 (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

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 Vila Olímpica () is Atlético Mineiro's former training ground, located in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Inaugurated in 1973, it served as the club's main training facility for almost three decades, before Cidade do Galo was built. It also hosted the B ...

, 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 language, 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 th ...

now stretches from Plaça de les Glòries to the sea. The massive

22@ 22@ (read in ), also known as 22@Barcelona and Districte de la innovació (''Innovation District'') is the corporative name given to an urban renewal area in Barcelona's formerly industrial area of Poblenou, in the district of Sant Martí, ni ...

plan is set 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 ...

, and architect

Josep Graner Josep is a Catalan masculine given name equivalent to Joseph (Spanish ''José''). People named Josep include: * Josep Bargalló (born 1958), Catalan philologist and former politician * Josep Bartolí (1910-1995), Catalan painter, cartoonist and ...

in 1923, or the Valls, Teixidor i Jordana chemical factory. The leafy

Rambla del Poblenou Rambla may refer to: *Rambla, a synonym of Arroyo (creek), an intermittent or seasonal stream. *La Rambla, Barcelona, a street in central Barcelona *Rambla de Catalunya, Barcelona, a major street in Barcelona *La Rambla, Córdoba, municipality in ...

, 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 allows its residents a great relaxed beach lifestyle and 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. Despite local efforts to maintain authenticity, La Rambla de Poblenou is battling the effects of

gentrification Gentrification is the process whereby the character of a neighborhood changes through the influx of more Wealth, affluent residents (the "gentry") and investment. There is no agreed-upon definition of gentrification. In public discourse, it has ...

and

mass tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as being limited to holiday activity on ...

. The annual light art festival

Llum BCN Llum BCN is an annual light arts festival held in Barcelona, Spain. It is celebrated since 2012 every February in Barcelona's neighborhood Poblenou. It features a series of light installations and shows. Concept ''Llum BCN'', ''Light Barcelona'' ...

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 syndrom ...

(

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 ob ...

Herzog & de Meuron Herzog & de Meuron Basel Ltd. is an international architecture firm headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, with additional offices in Berlin, Hong Kong, London, Munich, New York City, Paris, and San Francisco. Founded in 1978 by Jacques Herzog and ...

Forum Building The Forum Building (, ; ), 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 180 metres on each side and 25 metres i ...

(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 Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) in 1978. After establishing hi ...

), 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 sec ...

, the Parc Central del Poblenou (

), the beachfront Parc del Poblenou, the vast Parc del Forum, Oficines Diagonal 197 (

David Chipperfield Sir David Alan Chipperfield, , (born 18 December 1953) is a British architect. He established David Chipperfield Architects in 1985, which grew into a global architectural practice with offices in London, Berlin, Milan, Shanghai, and Santiago d ...

), the Media-Tic Building (

Enric Ruiz Geli Enric () is a Catalan common given name, the Catalan variant of '' Heinrich'' of Germanic origin. Equivalents in other languages include Henry (English), Enrico (Italian), Henrik (Scandinavian), Henri (French, German), Enrique (Spanish) or Henriqu ...

CLOUD 9 In meteorology, a cloud is an aerosol consisting of a visible mass of miniature liquid droplets, ice crystals, frozen crystals, or other particulates, particles, suspended in the atmosphere of a planetary body or similar space. Water or var ...

), the historic

Poblenou Cemetery Poblenou Cemetery (; ) 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 General). It is located in calle de Taulat, with the main entrance at Aveni ...

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 stations:

Marina A marina (from Spanish , Portuguese and Italian : "related to the sea") is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats. A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships or cargo ...

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

Poblenou ; ) is an extensive neighborhood of Barcelona’s Sant Martí (district), 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 ...

, 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 abbrevi ...

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

References

External links