ENTRAMADO Urban Regeneration of the district of Sant Martì in Barcelona
The project proposes a strategy for the regeneration of the fragile areas of Barcelona in Spain. The site identified as a fragile area and chosen for the project is the district of Sant Martì, a former industrial area of Barcelona where it is expected to have great interventions in the future. The objective of the project is to regenerate the district of Sant Martì from the urban and sustainable point of view, creating an ecological green network in accordance with the Superilles project.
Local
Spain
Barcelona
Mainly urban
It refers to a physical transformation of the built environment (hard investment)
No
No
As an individual in partnership with other persons
First name: Giorgia Last name: Piccinnu Gender: Female Age: 25 Please attach a copy of your national ID/residence card:
By ticking this box, I certify that the information regarding my age is factually correct. : Yes Nationality: Italy Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Via Caserta 4 Town: Olbia Postal code: 07026 Country: Italy Direct Tel:+39 389 822 4288 E-mail:giorgiapiccinnu1997@gmail.com
First name: Sofia Last name: Longo Gender: Female Age: 25 Please attach a copy of your national ID/residence card:
By ticking this box, I certify that the information regarding my age is factually correct. : Yes Nationality: Italy If relevant, please select your other nationality: Italy Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: VIA QUERCETO 9 Town: Carmignano Postal code: 59015 Country: Italy Direct Tel:+39 327 381 3973 E-mail:s.longo97@gmail.com
The project proposes a strategy for the regeneration of the district of Sant Martì, a former industrial area of Barcelona that has undergone major changes since the 2000s thanks to the 22@ project. The current process of transformation has caused many discontinuities in the neighborhood: redeveloped areas have lost part of their original identity and areas completely free of residential buildings that have caused the slowdown of the rise of local trade. This is the case of the historic Pere IV Street, an avenue that crosses the entire 22@ area that is no longer used as a main road, since it was replaced by Avinguda Diagonal. In the first place, the objective of the project is to regenerate the district of Sant Martì from the urban and sustainable point of view, creating an ecological green network in accordance with the Superilles project. The latter involves the creation of green axes that will divide the city into superblocks of dimensions corresponding to a square of 3 x 3 blocks of Cerdà. In this way, a city made up of green and mainly pedestrian superblocks is created and the number of fully drivable streets is reduced, in favor of a more ecological, sustainable and safe city. Thus, a new model of neighborhood is encouraged through the superblock, in which the green areas act as a barrier to the chaotic city and its traffic, creating a completely public space for aggregation and community life. Secondly, the project aims to give back a central importance to Pere IV Street, creating social public spaces in the changing lots, re-articulating the morphology and thus starting a process to eliminate the inequalities in the neighborhood. These spaces will provide a functional mix in which public spaces, innovative spaces for sharing and social residences coexist. The housing models will be designed for fragile people and to meet their different needs. The development of this new dimension of living will create a new housing model for everyone.
regeneration
fragile areas
superblock
social housing
green network
The urban layout of the city of Barcelona and the strong discontinuity within the former industrial district of Plobenou in the district of Sant Martì, allowed us to think and design a new way of living more sustainable and replicable throughout the city, the model of superblock. The starting point of the project is the desire to experiment with the Superilles model (superblocks model), a model in which lots are related each other through green space. “The green” becomes the strong point to create a new block more pedestrian, safer and more sustainable. The masterplan includes an area of 3x3 blocks of Cerdà, that is an area corresponding to the model of the Superilles described by the Barcelona City Council. With this model people have the opportunity to live among green spaces, to live in a safer space where sustainable mobility is encouraged.
In a context in which transformations have been underway since the 2000s and in which the identity of the neighborhood has been completely lost, our project aims first of all to recover traces of the past.
The concept is developed by the desire to keep the memory of the industrial traces, that characterize this place. Indeed, the design intervention is inserted above the existing lots, like a square that breaks the structure and follows the trend of the industrial tracks. The interior of this rotated square becomes the heart of the project. Within this square, all new constructions are arranged in the same direction, that is the same of industries of the past. The square is divided into a grid parallel to the sides; the buildings are placed on this base grid, so as to create a balanced of green and built spaces. Green space is the main element of the project: “the green” crosses the road and joins opposite parts creating a single large environment, that is divided into several levels and into different types.
The buildings of the project differ between those used for public functions and those used for social housing. Different types of functions are included in order to create a balanced functional mix, which could be attractive for the whole neighborhood.
For these reasons, our project manages to create a place where the well-being of people prevails, both for the variety of green spaces accessible by all and with different functions, and for public access to all the ground floors. This creates a place full of life and sociality that creates a better life for all citizens.
In general, our project aims to create sociality and inclusion within a neighborhood that has lost these characteristics for several years. Everyone will have the opportunity to live in public spaces that include all the ground floors of buildings and green spaces. The Project consists of a wide functional mix that includes commercial functions such as a market of local products, restaurants and bars, a pharmacy etc and public functions such as a library, a playroom etc.
The project in particular aims to eliminate the serious problem of the lack of social housing in Barcelona that creates an increasing number of evictions and homeless. For this reason the main function of the project, in accordance with the urban plan, are social housing.
Specifically, the buildings are social housing because of the problem of gentrification in Barcelona. The desire to design innovative social housing compared to current events has forced us to think about the Post-Pandemic situation. Starting from this situation we thought of an uncommon housing model, that is a model without the division into traditional rooms, but where the rooms are interchangeable and where the walls are replaced by mobile panels and smart walls. Green spaces and Vertical farming are also included in the social housing models, inspired by point 8 of the 2030 agenda, which argues that we must create productive employment for everyone. These principles are applied to two different models of social housing: one traditional, with houses of different sizes; one cooperative, where some spaces, such as the kitchen and the living room, are for everyone.
Our project is part of the transformation process that began in the 2000s thanks to the 22@plan. The new projects realized are mainly characterized by tertiary functions, mainly big offices and in few cases private residences for students. This is why the main stakeholders will be workers who will probably not live the neighborhood in all its facets. Our project, which fits into this context, aims to expand the range of stakeholders and rethink the neighborhood as a place that can be lived at all hours of the day. The decision to design social housing, in accordance with the new urban plan, will allow to create a new social center in the neighborhood and to push others to live it. All residents or only workers in the area will have the opportunity to experience all the public space, well connected by green axes and bike paths to the rest of the neighborhood.
Talking about the large scale of the project we joined the project of the Superilles of Barcelona that allowed us to understand the importance of creating a new green network very lacking in the city and go to regularize traffic to allow citizens to live in a cleaner and more sustainable city. For this reason we used the principles of the superblock to regenerate also the quarter of Plobenou in the district of Saint Martì.
We studied in depth the deficiencies and needs of the neighborhood that, as a result of the many transformations, has lost its identity and its vitality. This is why the residents of the Plobenou helped us to understand that the new tertiary functions did not allow the local economy, which instead, in the other districts of the city is of fundamental importance. For this reason, thanks to the citizens, we realized that to create an entirely public place where the main function was social housing and not private residences, would be the best choice. A choice that involves all citizens as they too will be able to live this new social center in the district that promotes sustainable mobility as the main functions for a citizen are located within it.
Our Project is a regeneration project at 360°. It starts from the urban project that includes the whole city up to the architectural scale and then the interior design to create a new way of living. Moreover, linked to architectural disciplines there is a strong social footprint as the project to be sustainable must think first of the citizen. These disciplines together allow to create a project that realizes a new way of life of the city, sustainable and inclusive.
Our project goes hand in hand with the Superilles project, a plan devised in the 1980s by urban planner Salvador Rueda to tackle the acoustic problem of the city of Barcelona. To reduce the use of cars, Rueda devised the superilles, a set of 9 small blocks of Cerdà that created a space for pedestrians and cyclists only. This plan has been carried out by successive governments but there are still few examples of superblocks in the city that are located in the most central areas. In recent years, a pilot project has been launched in the Plobenou district, our project area.
We can consider our project very innovative because in the city there are still no examples of a superblock built in an area subject to a subsequent transformation and above all, where there is the great prevalence of green spaces that unite the various lots. It is a trial of a project for a better and more sustainable city, which could be an example for the rest of the city of Barcelona but also for other cities in Spain or Europe.
The Superblock Project is a project that has been conceived in particular for the city of Barcelona thanks to its urban layout, given by the expansion plan of Illdefonso Cerdà, composed of all the same blocks where you can group them in a large block to encourage sustainable mobility and in our case also the increase of green areas. Our project in fact can be an example for the whole city and replicated in all areas in transformation of the city. In addition, the type of superblock, which also follows the principles of the city of 15 minutes can be replicated in many cities, both in new neighborhoods under construction and in existing neighborhoods.
Our project has immediately posed the problem of addressing the global objectives and in particular the objectives of the 2030 agenda. Objective 2: 'Ending hunger and promoting sustainable agriculture' and Objective 8: 'Encouraging sustainable, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, decent work for all', are objectives that we also set ourselves in our project. In fact, the green areas of the project provide arable areas that can be taken care of by the residents of social housing, to give work to those who do not and create a circular economy within the neighborhood.
The Objective 11: ‘Making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, sustainable and sustainable’ and Objective 16: ‘Promoting peaceful and more inclusive societies for sustainable development’ are two other key points for our project. Inclusiveness is a fundamental aspect, In fact, the idea of creating a totally public and accessible space reflects this objective and the fact of designing social housing and not private residences is a choice that reflects in our opinion the inclusivity and sustainable development of a society.
