Why Barcelona Is Built In Squares

If you look at an aerial view of Barcelona, you'll notice that much of the city is built in these square-shaped blocks. It's an iconic design for an iconic city, with a pretty interesting past. And today, I'll be telling you why Barcelona is built like this.
Sources:
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[@cembal5024]

Barcelona's traffic problem is spread around a couple of key streets and avenues and only during day time. Taxis, delivery vans, public busses and tourists in cars clog up the roads, making it impossible to locals to user their private car. In fact, Barcelona has the lowest level of personal car usage of all large Spanish cities and the number one form of personal mobility here is the Moto. But when one makes a video on Barcelona and talks about pollution and only mentions the cars but not the cruise ship terminal, the Mega Yacht Port, the major seaport, the LNG and Chemical Terminal; and the major Airport, that is a transport hub for millions of tourists, it becomes a bit biassed.

[@iandavidvillaloboswong5180]

Pretty cool city if it has all of that

[@cembal5024]

@@iandavidvillaloboswong5180 It does. It also has mountains surrounding the city and even taller ones outside, it is Spains Tech Capital and an important Tech Hub in Europe, a Formula One Race Track just outside the city and one of the highest crime rates in Spain.

[@sriramp5934]

You should watch this video to the end. Seems like you didn't. He was referring to the past by mentioning air pollution and traffic problem in Barcelona. It changed after when the urban planners selected groups of blocks and merged together into superblocks. It increased the greenspace and reduced reliance on cars.

[@Dark_Aeon]

Barcelona is my favorite place I ever visited.

[@unanec]

They are not known as manzanas, they are known as "illes", that's why the fusion of 9 blocks are called superilles and not supermanzanas lol

[@Acteaon]

Funny enough in Cancún México they are called manzanas. 😂

[@lgo10]

@@Acteaon because in spanish is manzanas, in catalan is illes

[@Acteaon]

@@lgo10 great

[@batmariostar1818]

Yes, they are know as manzanas.

[@batmariostar1818]

@@lgo10 So manzanas.

[@thehighwayman8214]

The old fortess by the city wall was actually built to shoot towards the city in case of a rebelion happened.💀

[@anacasanova7350]

Eso pasa por portarse mal 😂

[@krono5el]

talk about knowing how disgusting and corrupt you are to always expect a rebellion :D

[@Ocell728]

@@krono5el @anacasanova7350 gracias por ejemplificar tan bien con vuestros mensajes la mentalidad opresora hacia los catalanes que pudo llegar a concebir la ciudadela militar. Lo habéis dejado muy claro.

[@89itis]

I was in Barcelona for 2 weeks, the best part is Gracia, it’s quiet, very narrow streets, hardly any cars, a lot of little squares. You don’t see tourists there, just locals and long term expats. Hidden gem of Barcelona.

[@bobm2421]

You’re either lying or can’t spot tourists. Gracia is a tourist hot spot. Pay attention next time

[@89itis]

@@bobm2421 LOL

[@VOLightPortal]

Thanks for the tip now everyone will know and just jam pack the place

[@smartkitville7167]

Thank you expats and tourists, for driving us out of our neighborhood.

[@DrMcMoist]

Surely you mean long term immigrants.

[@Solo_Traveling]

Not all of Barcelona is built in square. 'Eixample' is just 1 district in Barcelona, and it has 10.

[@Solo_Traveling]

@@Izanagi057 I live in Barcelona so I know how it looks like and don't need freaking Google Earth.

[@armandocapellan2308]

Mr Ildefonso Cerda was a Roads, Channels, Ports Engineer (named in Spain, same than Pont et Chaussees Ingenieur) with a rational mentality formed as engineer and worried about the human conditions of the persons living in a city. He started applying parameters for the design of the city, and after copied by other urban developers.

[@katherandefy]

Good on them for rectifying the traffic and noise. Do it!!!!! 🙏🏼

[@enricm]

Only the district of l'Eixample, one of the ten in the city, is built in this manner. The rest of the city grew by absorbing nearby towns and hamlets in the plane of Barcelona which already had existed for centuries.

[@rauxablaugrana]

Manzanas?? 😂😂 This is not Madrid, here in Barcelona the blocks are called Illes ( illa in singular).

[@pcongre]

Nowadays yes, but not originally: Cerdà called them Mançanes/Mansanes in Catalan (from Latin mānsiō =~ home); the word later caught on in Spanish, but not in modern Catalan (...so what the video says at 01:43 is wrong, it definitely did not mean 'apple' originally ^^)

[@anacasanova7350]

Se dicen manzana en castellano e illa en catalán. Indistintamente, actualmente. Hace 5o años nadie decía illa.

[@HollyNikole]

No it’s not! They’re Manzanas!

[@aritztg]

We call it manzanas as well, we do not only speak Catalan, you remember? Source: born and living in the city.

[@kseniamatos2158]

I live in Barcelona for a long time and I've never heard manzana being called illa, the only illa I know is a shopping mall

[@being.prince]

Love ur videos

[@saras3632]

What a Documentary!!! Thank you for the references

[@californiaplant-basedeater2761]

What's up with those buildings INSIDE of the squares? Talk about corruption... Someone got paid off.

[@manelbosqued273]

El més trist és el menyspreu que persisteix encara cap a la figura d'Ildefons Cerdà per part del catalanisme més radical i ridicul. No ha hagut mai un reconeixement com es mereix. L'admiració urbanística de l'eixample que transmet Barcelona a nivell internacional avui en dia es deu gràcies al pla de Cerdà que va ser adjudicat des de Madrid, pesi a qui li pesi.

[@Furtivo95]

Been considering moving to Spain. Knowing Barcelona highest density of vehicles per sq km and least green space, I'd never move there. Thanks for doing the research for me.

[@max-mx6xd]

Hi, I've been to Spain and it's wonderful. However, I do enjoy Madrid more than Barcelona. The city has more green spaces and less cars, if compared to Barcelona. Another reason why I personally enjoyed it more is because Madrid doesn't have Barcelona's square-shaped blocks. There are too many traffic lights in Barcelona and the square-shaped blocks make the streets feel monotonous as every street feels too similar or the same.

[@Furtivo95]

@@max-mx6xd I’m from Los Angeles, most cars & smog in the US. I need to find a city that has excellent metro, walk ability, green space, but also easy airport access to fly to US every other month.

[@89itis]

@@max-mx6xdcheck Valencia, it’s a wonderful city. On the coast, not as busy as Barcelona, historic, great beaches, a park that goes through the whole city, a hidden gem if you ask me…

[@89itis]

@@Furtivo95check Valencia, that city has it all, thank me later 😉

[@Furtivo95]

@@max-mx6xd Madrids pop is 3.5M. That density maybe too much for many reasons. Target - Sub 1M but greater than 100k pop is my target. It’s must have airport access too.

[@danielsac6316]

Green gentrification is due to its remarkable difference among other cities or places to live. If we want to avoid it, every city or at least most cities should do the same as Barcelona, so massive multitudes don't see the necessity to move to Barcelona, for instance, to have the same benefits. It's the kind of problem no one has it solved until everyone has it solved.

[@nairda55555]

Reminds me of the video game Anno 1880

[@christat5336]

Beautiful

[@fdk7014]

I love Barcelona, been there 4 times and I would love to go back again

[@Tpmc9fq]

503???? How is this possible? How many blocks are there in Barcelona?

[@pizzaipinya2442]

A lot xd

[@totttrax]

0:30 take a look at this what???

[@kseniamatos2158]

I do not think that anything that they are trying to do has worked so far, traffic just moved to other streets making them noisier than before. I used to love walking along Consell de sent street, now because of superilla it turned into another rambla, filled with crowds where you can't even walk freely because of people and cars that are still passing pretty regularly, so it's not like you can walk in the middle of it carefree. As for Gracia neighbourhood, it became over populated and overcrowded, I used to enjoy this neighbourhood, but not anymore

[@physicals]

I’m happy European nations care about noice pollutions. Americans love their cars more than their ears.

[@ub3rfr3nzy94]

"Green gentrification is a rproblem that is still being researched" blah blah. People still haven't figured it out? If you increase land value, the landlords will increase rent and wealthy foreigners move in, that's how it works. The only way to prevent this is to put rent caps, or to ban foreigners from moving in, which would prevent the rent from increasing as well. The problem is landlords raising rent because they can. It's not regulated.

[@dhm7575]

Shut Up comunist

[@genxmamabear5965]

This looks, sounds and smells like a WEF Program.

[@marti5935]

great video!

[@metacosmos]

Because its architect called Cerda, was a fanatical positivist who believed that men are ants and bees.

[@skullkidzz589]

bro duolingo taught me manzana was apple 💀

[@DoritoBot9000]

It is both. Same thing in English with a block being a geometric cube of material, versus a bunch of houses in a neighborhood

[@lumisahayaraj3371]

Only some areas in square remaining all are normal like other buildings

[@benjamingutiepadil]

So as every other city

[@kekinho44]

0:03 that premise is just straight up factually false. Not even 40% of the city is shaped as l'eixample. L'eixample is just a district. Nice spread of missinformation.

[@pango-y8j]

Green space. Now I know why didn't enjoy Barcelona

[@leahmakhafola4689]

quality video👏

[@messianic_10]

Good

[@guidedmeditation2396]

They should simply redevelop each block one at a time by building a high or higher rise main structure and reserve the rest of the area for greenspace, cafes and small shops. The old saying about not biting off more than you can chew would make sense here. Just do one block at a time with competing visions and as each additional blocks redevelop, incorporate what was learned in the previous attempts. City wide uniformity is a recipe for city wide mediocrity. One size does not fit all. It may look cool from an aerial photo but on the ground humans enjoy more diversity and unique spaces.

[@framazz7575]

You don't tear down precious modernism buildings to build anything else, Barcelona is wonderful as it is

[@pizzaipinya2442]

When building taller, prices tend to skyrocket. We've got examples in Barcelona itself, where the new highrises near Diagonal Mar or near Fira at L'Hospitalet are more expensive than normal housing or they're simply turned into hotels. Besides, high limits exist to make sure natural light gets to the streets, and the majority of houses are already heating that limit.

[@MOVIDTEAM]

🧒: Kamu dimana? 🧑: Aku menunggu di perempatan. 🧒: wtv 😑

[@elmercarmelo4507]

nice planning i like it

[@mrgod5139]

Because barcelonians believe the human brain is born squared originally and then we evolved 😊

[@llesquites4835]

It is known as illes. Not manzanas

[@Jardermorder]

Se llaman illes y manzanas

[@rsnankivell1962]

Fins fa 40 anys, ningú a Barna les anomenava "illes"/ Hasta hace 40 años nadie en Barcelona las llamaba "illes"

[@golgumbazguide...4113]

Explore Golgumbaz

[@sergiosantiagojalao4071]

¡Yeah! They are known as manzanas, the Spanish for 🍏 hehe. But they're also known as illes, which is the catalan for 🏝️ Those would be the equivalent to blocks. The overall difference between using one nomenclature or the other corresponds to the fact that there's a lot of people (as me) who are descendents of migrants from other parts of Spain; and who tend to speak in Spanish more than we do in catalan. Anyways, technically and in the particular case of Barcelona, it is more appropriate to say illa. See you guys. I hope you get the blissful opportunity to visit our city someday. I'll definitely visit yours 🛫 ajajajaja

[@uhadme]

There are "Birds Eye" view of cities all over the world. All show the same perfect grid... it cannot be seen or made from ground level. There is a thing called terrain.. I imagine they surveyed with hot air balloons or something. Everywhere was perfect 1000 years ago... we walk on the same paths today, same stones in many places

[@Bantallas]

The Designer played too much Sim City on Super NES

[@lerpesdog1]

Just look at Argentine cities on the map

[@enriqueo5390]

"Manzanas" és un terme incorrecte perquè és en castellà. El terme adequat és "illes" en català, que és l'idioma propi, oficial i nacional de la ciutat de Barcelona i de Catalunya. Illes i Superilles. 👍

[@smartkitville7167]

pero de no de Tabarnia.

[@tacolover105]

El termino manzanas es correcto ya que en Barcelona también se habla castellano.

[@enriqueo5390]

@@tacolover105 Sí. Es parla castellà, comes parla xinès mandarí, romanesa, ameziq, italià, francès, anglès, i més d'altres 200 llengües estrangeres. Però la llengua pròpia de Catalunya i comuna de tots els seus hàbitsnts és el català, com el seu nom indica, és el català. Així doncs el terme virrecteyi adequat per a les illes de cases de l'Eixample de Barcelona és "illes".

[@tacolover105]

@@enriqueo5390 La diferencia entre el castellano y cualquier otro idioma es que el castellano es la lengua oficial de Cataluña y de Barcelona igual que el catalan, así que el termino ''manzanas'' es igual de adecuado que el termino ''illes''.

[@enriqueo5390]

@@tacolover105 La llengua pròpia de Barcelona és exclusivament el català, com ho és a tota Catalunya, excepte a la Val d'Aran, on la llengua pròpia és l'aranès. A Catalunya el castellà només és la llengua coofial, juntament amb el català i l'aranès. Però la llengua pròpia i oficial de Barcelona és el català, com el seu propi nom indica. Punt.

[@claudermiller]

I stayed in Las Ramblas. I thought it was absolutely awesome. Seemed like plenty of trees etc to me.

[@krono5el]

Wow, they didn't figure out city planning till 1859! that's just crazy to think about :O

[@mrx0088]

The use of cars decreases.... in these green areas. It means that cars are channeled into the other streets, creating traffic jams and inconvenience. It's a woke disgrace.

[@Ninochew]

20 meters by width every block, but became a superblock with 400 meters by width merging 3 blocks? So simple math: the width of the road/ inter streets between 3 blocks in a single superblock are 170 meters each 😂 Btw, a 4 lanes US interstate highway with a 10ft median is just 106ft in width, which is less than 33meters. You can fit in 5 4-lanes highways within the inter streets of Barcelona superblocks😂😂😂

[@joon-young9589]

damn

[@Iso0202]

Cant believe Barcelona named their city blocks after Apples.

[@gm2407]

Gentrification: You make an area more desireable, the people with the most resources buy it. This is why we often don't have nice things.

[@bobm2421]

This is a bad video and the creator clearly spent no time considering the negatives. I live in Barcelona part-time inside a so-called superblock and almost all residents hate it. It forces people to take inefficient routes with their cars - which they need to transport themselves from work or school or wherever. There have been protests about this that you completely ignored. All of your lame statistics look good for the bike/walk/green space crowd but when you play it out in real life it makes all of our lives harder.

[@diegordi1394]

Gracias por contarme de qué trata el vídeo. Vivo también en Barcelona y estoy harto de tener a imbéciles glorificando la clara estrategia de propaganda para las elecciones. Ya desde la pandemia metieron las bolas de hormigón y las calles pintadas.

[@Merpersefone]

All residents who? All your friends? 😂 Well most of mine love it, and i believe we are more. In a week we will see. You DONT need a car in Barcelona. Ive been living here 35 years and never needed a car, and i live in the center of Eixample. Hate pollution, hate cars and noisy drunk tourists, as i also hate all the shitty people that come along with all the tourism such as thieves.

[@nataliekhanyola5669]

Then use public transport, you chose to limit your transport options so it's your problem. No one is forcing you to drive everywhere you want/need to go. Cars are a huge problem in most cities, especially Barcelona. Car pollution, be it noise or fumes, have a devastating effect on the environment. I don't blame city officials for wanting to limit their use.

[@seatyourself7082]

are you able to have a video idea of your own?

[@PAHDIJDFFDL]

They are called "illes" (islands) not "manzanas"!!

[@carkawalakhatulistiwa]

Soviet microdistrict vs USA Suburbia

[@hello-zy2oi]

3rd

[@DavidLorenzana]

It is the worst big city in europe by far.

[@yang2010yang]

Jajajjajajjajajaj claro claro , seguro que te has dado like a ti mismo anda acuéstate

[@DavidLorenzana]

@@yang2010yang La ciudad con más contaminación del aire, contaminación acústica, colegios en barracones, suciedad, meados por la calle... Anda Sergi, descansa.

[@johnadams5245]

please more videos on barcelona

[@rainbowonthemoon8450]

CE IT IS SPAIN! THE GREATEST! MEN! BRAVADO IS SEXY!