05-05-2025
Give Barcelona's grid Unesco status, say fans of planning pioneer
The 19th-century grid layout of Barcelona's Eixample district helped give rise to modern town planning and is regarded to be as historically important as Georges-Eugène Haussmann's Paris.
Its creator, Ildefons Cerdà, who coined the term 'urbanisation', was panned by his rivals for producing 'one of the biggest horrors of the world' and for transforming spaces 'into the monotony of an American city'.
However, the 'Cerdà plan', which rescued Barcelona's medieval city centre from collapse, has stood the test of time. A group of architects, town planners and engineers have proposed that Unesco declare Eixample a protected world heritage site, bestowing a fitting status to a district that is home to architectural landmarks such as the Sagrada Familia.
The promoters of the initiative argued that
