Living in Poblenou
Both Poblenou and the Olympic Village have an essentially agricultural and industrial past. The fields were gradually converted to industrial uses, until between the 40s and 60s this change took place at a faster pace. Thus it went from an industrial area to one of the most powerful in Catalonia.
In 1992 and in the context of the reconversion of several areas of Barcelona for the Olympics, a change of the entire waterfront was generated and about 200 blocks were converted to residential uses, in what was the Olympic Village. The Olympic family was largely housed in this area.
But it took a lot of effort for the people of Barcelona to come to live in this area. Few knew it. For many years it had been a deteriorated and humble area. Apart from the industrialists in the area, it was only known by those who came down in the 80s and 90s to eat at the beach bars that were located on the sand of the Somorrostro beach.
For the first time Barcelona looks out to sea!
In the year 2000 an urban requalification took place, changing industrial uses to tertiary uses, essentially offices. This led to the creation of the 22@ technological district, on what was known as Manchester Català, due to its industrial architectural wealth.
At that time the consolidated office areas of Barcelona were highly valued and few were the pioneers in investing here.
This neighborhood is located in the San Martí Provençals district.
The neighborhood comprises two large units. On the one hand, we find the sea side of the Gran Via between Plaça de les Glòries and the boundary of the term, which is occupied by high-rise blocks of apartments. On the other side, we have the territory in deep transformation that extends to the Diagonal. This part corresponds to one of the two large development sectors.
The power of the urban axes that cross this neighborhood in a transversal sense give it a good accessibility. The vertical axes still have some weak points in the intermediate zone of the neighborhood, especially due to the still pending opening of Llacuna street.
The neighborhood also has a good structure and communications by metro, red and yellow lines.
The large park at the intersection Diagonal-Pere IV, which was designed by Jean Nouvel, which has remained as a great outstanding reference of the time.
It should be noted that next to the next park is located the old industrial complex of Can Ricard that after several negotiations with the owners, citizens’ organizations … The City Council, maintains much of the original structure of the complex.
This is because every effort has been made to maintain some elements of the industrial past of the district, preserve the heritage value and in some cases be able to allocate it to collective or public uses.
Why the name Poblenou?
Before, the land was bigger because the adjacent neighborhoods were part of this territory. In 2006 they made a revision of the administrative division project in Barcelona and the toponym “Poblenou” appeared in these neighborhoods: El Parc i la Llacuna del Poblenou, La Villa Olímpica del Poblenou, Diagonal Mar i Front Marítim del Poblenou and Provençals del Poblenou.
In the industrial past of the neighborhood there were many factories that were abandoned and later recovered for the use of lofts, studios and headquarters of different entities and companies dedicated to the technological fields.
The current public library of the neighborhood was the old Can Saladrigas and Ca l’Aranyó was an audiovisual campus.
Finally, this neighborhood is ideal for living due to its views, stores and its great history that provides a great peculiarity. If you want to live in it you can find lofts, apartments, duplexes… on our website:
