Barcelona's Eixample district, inspiration for America's "next big city"

BarcelonaAmerica's "next big city" will resemble Barcelona. This, at least, is the idea of the promoters of the California Forever project, who have long been promoting the creation of a new city north of San Francisco. The CEO and founder of this real estate company, Jan Sramek, made his project public on Tuesday through a series of posts on his X account, in which he emphasized that one of the cities inspiring his project is Barcelona and, more specifically, the Eixample superblocks.

With the goal of making the city "most walkable" in the United States, Sramek detailed that the project will combine the traditional linear design of American cities with similar projects in the superblocks of Barcelona and Tokyo or the woonerfs Dutch, who are also committed to street calming. "As with Californian fusion cuisine, we draw inspiration from the best designs from around the world to create something charming," he argued.

From 30,000 inhabitants to 400,000

Sramek maintains that well-planned expansions like Ildefons Cerdà's Eixample neighborhood demonstrate that "the magic happens when you connect the old with the new." In the case of the California Forever project, the goal is to transform the municipality of Suisun City, an hour from Silicon Valley. The company's plans—which received initial municipal approval this week—involve annexing its land to the city's, increasing the population from its current population of fewer than 30,000 to almost 400,000.

Among the project's priorities is preventing the expansion from becoming a kind of dormitory town. Hence, Sramek insists on the commitment to creating a walkable city with housing, jobs, commerce, entertainment, and green spaces in each neighborhood.