Walking through Plaça d'Espanya: how Collboni wants to transform Montjuïc

BarcelonaThat Montjuïc stops being Barcelona's backyard and becomes one of the nerve centres of Barcelona in the next decade. This is the proposal that the mayor of Barcelona, ​​Jaume Collboni, presented this Wednesday at the event The mayor responds, an event that has been organised for decades by the College of Journalists and which serves as an opportunity for the mayor of the Catalan capital to present his plans. "Montjuïc must become one of the central axes of the new metropolitan Barcelona of the 21st century and of 2035," said Collboni, who called for the city to "embrace" the mountain.

Within this transformation, which the mayor said will involve a total investment of 2.8 billion euros, Collboni has listed several projects. The city has had most of them underway for some time now - the remodelling of the Montjuïc Fair, the arrival of the L2 of the metro from Poble-sec to the Zona Franca through the mountain, the construction of a new neighborhood between Poble-sec and Font de la Guatlla, the definitive impulse of the Marina del Prat Vermell with 12,000 new homes or the creation ofa walk English:which connects the Drassanes and Marina del Prat Vermell on foot, by bicycle and by public transport–, but some are new, such as the remodelling of Plaça Espanya, the recovery of the city's Sports Palace or the extension of the Sant Jordi Club so that it can host concerts for up to 8,000 people.

Among these novelties is the transformation of Plaça Espanya, which is now upside down due to the works on L8, but which in the future must become the great entrance to this new Montjuïc. To do this, the City Council's idea is to make the square more permeable and more friendly for citizens who go on foot. Key to this objective is the creation of a central pavement surrounding the fountain, allowing pedestrians – who can now only walk around the square – to cross it using new footpaths linking Tarragona Street with Maria Cristina, the two ends of Gran Via and Paral·lel with Creu Coberta Street.

The timetable for this transformation –which the City Council has a budget of ten million euros– is yet to be defined. First of all, the works on the L8 line of the Catalan Railways must be finished, but also a new underground intercity bus station must be built to help sort out the current chaos. "We want Plaza España to be a square and not a roundabout with a fountain," stressed Collboni.

The new square will be the gateway to a Montjuïc that has been under renovation for years and which will have a large pedestrian avenue in Maria Cristina. The proposal made public this Wednesday by the mayor involves calming the entire central axis of the avenue, while vehicles that have to circulate will do so only on the sides.

The centenary of the 1929 International Exhibition has been the spark to rethink an area that has been in need of a facelift for some time and which in the next decade must see a complete renovation. And not only in terms of facilities, but also residents. The mayor has stressed that with the creation of the new mini-district in spaces now occupied by the Fira and the growth of the Marina del Prat Vermell, up to 100,000 people will live on the slopes of Montjuïc, 30,000 more than currently live there.

Restaurants in the Olympic Ring

In the face of this increase in residents, Collboni has placed public transport as one of the key pillars for the city to be able to give this "embrace" to Montjuïc. The project to extend L2 already includes stations on the mountain to be able to reach the Olympic Stadium or the Palau Sant Jordi by metro, and the mayor announced this Monday that, while the metro is not yet available, a new rapid bus line (the X3) will be launched this summer that will follow the same route that the future L2 should follow between Poble-s.

The mayor has also assured that in this whole process some of the equipment of the Olympic Ring will be updated. With a budget of 370 million euros, the plan includes the extension of the Sant Jordi Club hall, to be able to host concerts with up to 8,000 spectators, the renovation of the Palau Sant Jordi, the modernisation of the Estadi and the transformation of the esplanade. According to Collboni, the idea is to plant cherry trees and create spaces for rest and dining so that it becomes a "new space for public use."