Eixample+district



The city of // BARCELONA  // (Spain). It is considered one of the most successful cities in urban planning innovation because since its foundation in 1859, it has stood the test of time maintaining its old architecture and integrating the new one. Barcelona is administrative divided into 10 different districts. Name as follows:
 * // Why is Barcelona considered one of the most successful cities in urban planning innovation? //
 * // How's the city of Barcelona administrative divided? How many districts does it have? What are their names? //
 * 1) //Ciutat Vella// ("Old City")
 * 2) Eixample
 * 3) Sants–Montjuïc
 * 4) Les Corts
 * 5) Sarrià-Sant Gervasi
 * 6) Gràcia
 * 7) Horta-Guinardó
 * 8) Nou Barris
 * 9) Sant Andreu
 * 10) Sant Martí

The cataln word means ¨ extension ¨. It was designed by Ildefons Cerdà. There are five administrative neighborhoods:
 * // One of the districs's name is __Eixample__, what's the meaning of this Catalan word? //
 * // Who designed this district? //
 * // How is this district divided into? //
 * 1) L'Antiga Esquerra de l'Eixample
 * 2) La Nova Esquerra de l'Eixample
 * 3) Dreta de l'Eixample
 * 4) Fort Pienc
 * 5) Sagrada Família
 * 6) Sant Antoni

Essay about The Eixample district Video: Barcelona street life in Three parts: Morning, evening, night. __ //Place Reial// __

Description of the place: The Royal Plaza is a square in the Barri Gothic (Barcelona) that lies next to La Rambla. Purpose of the place: Touristic attraction, especially at night. Characteristics: It is a continuos row of buildings up to four floors tall. They are set in a rectangle with open galleries in the first floor to sit and order food in the day (restaurants) and to have fun at night (night clubs). Advantages brought to the city: Being an open space, it offers relaxation to visitants. Typical happenings: It is a popular outdoor area to make concerts and meet people. It is also known to be a place for celebrating new year's eve. Urban design characteristics: The square is outstandingly designed to be a wide open space with the capacity to receive a great amount of people. It also integrates nature with long palms that offer a fresh ambient to the people passing by. The urban equipment like chairs, light poles and trash cans is well covered. And finally the fountain in the center of the square improves the esthetics and importance of the whole place. Important or curious elements: It is very interesting to see the structure of the buildings with its colonial touch. The long and continuos cornices, with balconies that face the entire plaza, and then last but not least this great arches that are each one next to each other forming a gallery platform along the border of the square.

// Chat about The Eixample District // DaNi ...dice: Hello Gaby how are you!? GABY dice: Hey Dany! Fine and you?? DaNi ...dice: Just fine! I was just looking through some interesting information about Barcelona's Eixample district. DaNi ...dice: you know...that great project carried by Cerdà. GABY dice: I was in Barcelona two years ago.. But I didn`t hear about this project... What it is? DaNi ...dice: Well it was a extension of 520 blocks regularly settled... the project is recognized by the innovative design of reticular blocks that connected the old city with the surrounding neighborhoods... GABY dice: When that project began?. I knew that Barcelona had a big change of development when the Olimpics Games took place in 1992 DaNi ...dice: Yes... that was the second part of the city's transformation but the first one was definitely this expansion project. GABY dice: This expansion talks about a big garden they build, isn`it? DaNi ...dice: Well yes it was conceived as a garden city expansion... I suppose that was because the city was going to expand on what was its garden before. GABY dice: ok.. But if the new city took place of the old garden area.. There are still zones of recretion? GABY dice: Well... Maybe there is not a city with so much squares... But definetly is a city with a lot of visitors! GABY dice: Because of its architecture.. Like Gaudi and Josep Domènech i Estapà`s desingns! DaNi ..dice: He considered mainly the traffic, ventilation and sunlight. Leaving the public spaces a bit behind I guess… I will look over on the internet to see what it says about the public spaces. DaNi ...dice: I found that he was a Catalan engineer... and urban planner. But he didn't win the contest carried by the Barcelona's city council... GABY dice: Really? jaja Quite interesting! GABY dice: So, how he finally did the project? DaNi ...dice: Well it seems that the Central Government of Madrid by real decree ordered Cerdà’s design to be the winning one... DaNi .. dice: Anyways, its grid pattern with long straight streets crossed by long avenues was a great advantage for the growing old city. GABY dice: Yes! Making a connection between different sectors as La Mina DaNi ... dice: Absolutely! And today it is a great place to visit... and its main landmarks are the illes or what's called in Spanish //__MANZANAS__//. DaNi ...dice: Also I found that the district counts with five neighborhoods that are L'Antiga Esquerra de l'Eixample, La Nova Esquerra de l'Eixample, Dreta de l'Eixample, Fort Pienc, Sagrada Família, Sant Antoni DaNi ...dice: Which one of them did you visit? GABY dice: La Sagrada Familia of course! and I wanned to visit a very weir place named The Gay Neighborhood DaNi ...dice: LOL Barcelona has for everything a little space.... DaNi ... dice: I love Gaudi's church GABY dice: Is a very turistic place! DaNi ...dice: Yes... and it is definitely a landmark for urbanism history.. GABY dice: What other important point of this city is that has very parking places, waht shows the good urban planing the did GABY dice: Taking into account the growing rank of the city and the millions of visitors this city have each year GABY dice: rank* rate.. DaNi ...dice: Yes and then with the Olympics the renewal of the city brought great advantages like lowering delinquency. DaNi ...dice: Well Gaby I got to go... I hope to get to know Barcelona's Eixample district as you did... face to face GABY dice: Jeje I hope that for you too! GABY dice: bye bye!!

__//My Essay//__ //__ The eixample as an example. __// Generally, cities are the reflection of their citizens. When we analyzed the case of Barcelona, we can notice how the city altogether represents an evolution that maintains the old and includes the modern. Particularly, the district that marks this relationship in a better way, is the Eixample District. Meaning ¨extension¨ the word //eixample// talks about the demand or necessity of a walled growing city to spread out. The solution to that problem was the Eixample district that connected the old medieval city with the surrounding towns.

It is divided into five different neighbourhoods ( L' Antiga Esquerra of l' Eixample, the Nova Esquerra of l' Eixample, Dreta of l' Eixample, Fort Pienc, Sagrada Family and Sant Antoni). They all shelter a population of approximately three houndred thousand people. Each neighborhood has its own particularitities but as a whole the district represents a landmark of Europe’s most modern cities. Its architecture is very modernist, especially with the designs of constructions by famous architects as Gaudi and Dómenech which heightens its wealth in cultural patrimony.

The district’s history overcomes the 19th century, when the main council of Madrid ordered Ildefons Cerdá’s project to be the one executed. Cerdá, as an urban planner, proyected an egalitarian, comfortable city. With his proposal he tryed to solved hard-traffic problems and the congestion that it broguht to citizens in the old city. In order to do so, he designed a grid pattern of illies that at the same time, generated ample and long avenues with wide boulevards. This public spaces are landmarks of the city today, and they receive a great amount of tourists from all parts of the world.

Another characteristic of the city plan made by Cerdá is the consideration of ventilation and sunlight for each one of the 520 illies. This was a great innovation backday and still continues to be an example for all urban designers.

Basically we can consider the Eixample as a district that unites the old gothic Barcelona with new and modern one, maintaining and integrating both outstandingly. What was considered an example past in the 19th century, had stood the test of time giving an example of a effcient city nowadays.

Listen Here! media type="custom" key="4899341"