The Old Town of Barcelona: A Past with a Future

La ciutat vella de Barcelona: un passat amb futur, El centro histórico de Barcelona, un pasado con futuro

The book you are reading presents the model of the city that we defend. It is a model that understands the city as a space of co-habitation between persons, beliefs, cultures and languages, of which Ciutat Vella is the best example. Barcelona is open, diverse and participative; it is a cosmopolitan city, open to new ideas, new persons and new projects. This exemplary co-habitation is one of our main attractions.

Cities are places of exchange and this exchange occurs in the public space. It is a Mediterranean metropolis, in which the city is measured by the quality of the public space. This is why we are creating more meeting places to facilitate contact between citizens, more streets, more pavements and more places where the people of Barcelona can stroll, walk and enjoy their city.
Barcelona is being transformed according to a general scheme. Each and every action carried out in the neighborhoods corresponds to this model of the city. Behind each scheme there is a concept, and the services that are offered to the citizens respond to an idea of how we want to live and function.

Behind each new store that we lay in Ciutat Vella there is the spirit of our city—the pride of making Barcelona, of showing our capacity for enterprise and our ambition to be up-to-date and to allow everyone to develop their full potential and exercise their citizenship.
We maintain and foster te social cohesion of Barcelona by responding to the new needs and legitimate requirements of the citizens, turning every part of the city into the city centre, in order to create a friendly Barcelona in which everyone can enjoy quality of life.

—Joan Clos
Mayor of Barcelona

Ajuntament de Barcelona, UPC, 2003