Barcelona, February 10 – The Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB), which encompasses the Catalan capital and 35 surrounding municipalities, has initially approved its new Urban Master Plan (PDU). This updated version of the General Metropolitan Plan (PGM) from 1976 outlines strategic guidelines for the region’s development until 2050. The plan addresses an anticipated population increase of 184,000 inhabitants, reaching 3.6 million people, necessitating 131,000 additional homes, along with corresponding facilities and public spaces.
Rebalancing the Territory and Creating New Centralities
The document aims to rebalance the territory, moving away from a ‘Barcelona and the rest’ model by creating new “centralities.” These new hubs will improve the balance between housing and economic activity. Areas where the economy dominates will see an increase in housing, and vice versa. Examples of these nodes include Porta Garraf, Delta-Gran Via, Morrot, Cruïlla Sant Boi, Diagonal-Llobregat, Quatre Camins, Porta Maresme, Besòs Central, Torrassa, Quatre Camins, and Baricentro.
Key Figures and Red Lines for Sustainable Growth
The plan sets specific targets and limitations, including the construction of 220,000 new homes, the protection of open spaces, and a commitment to avoid consuming new land. Furthermore, it proposes the reclassification of 1,850 hectares of developable land. A significant focus is placed on more sustainable mobility, with metropolitan avenues and a drastic reduction in car usage, aiming to halve it. However, the document does not specify a timeline or funding mechanisms for these interventions.
Second Approval After Extensive Feedback
This initial approval marks a unique situation, as it is the second such approval for the document. The first version, released in 2023, garnered over 5,000 objections and reports from individuals, companies, city councils, and public entities like Civil Protection and the Catalan Water Agency. This extensive feedback led to a complete redrafting of the plan.
Damià Calvet, Vice President of Urban Policies at the AMB, expressed satisfaction with the initial approval and the prospect of the PDU receiving provisional approval before the end of the current municipal term in 2027. Calvet emphasized the AMB’s role as the country’s largest concentration of population and home to crucial infrastructure like the port and airport. He stated that the AMB must lead in a context where urban and metropolitan areas are gaining importance, as they can foster cohesion and sustainability, leading to progress. Calvet also noted that the update of the planning is mandated by the 2010 law that established the Metropolitan Area.
Incorporating Modern Perspectives: Sustainability and Gender Equality
The drafting process for this document began over a decade ago, in 2015, and aims to incorporate issues that were not on the public agenda in 1976, such as sustainability and gender perspective. In contrast, planning in 1976 often prioritized cars. Calvet highlighted the “five layers” of the document:
- Protecting Open Spaces: The AMB has more than half of its land as non-developable, and the PDU protects these areas while also planning for their improvement.
- Consolidating a Polycentric System: This involves creating the aforementioned new development nodes at the intersections of metropolitan avenues.
- Rethinking Mobility: Focusing on “more and better public transport” and increasing active mobility through walking and cycling.
- Ensuring Cohesion: This layer includes rebalancing residential and economic uses, planning for housing growth, and ensuring that 10% of primary residences are affordable. It also covers the growth of 3,150 hectares of facilities and almost 5,800 hectares of public space.
- Metabolism and Natural Resources: Aiming to preserve territorial resources through savings, reuse, circular economy principles, and local sourcing. The plan anticipates a 12% reduction in domestic consumption and a 19% reduction in economic activity consumption.
Increased Urban Planning Competencies for the AMB
During the PDU presentation at the AMB headquarters, Damià Calvet also explained that with the future document, the AMB, which already holds competencies in waste, public transport, and water, will also gain “urban planning competencies.” He stated that the director plan will be endowed with urban planning authority, allowing it to regulate development. This will materialize through the creation of a new Generalitat urban planning commission for the metropolitan area, similar to the existing one between the Government and the Barcelona City Council. This new commission will review significant urban plans, such as the one for the Tres Chimeneas del Besòs.
Formally, the new areas of centrality, or nodes, are referred to as “metropolitan interest areas.” These are divided into approximately eighty Metropolitan Opportunity Areas (AOMs), which have growth potential and aim to improve mixed-use development, and Open Space Regeneration Areas, for intervention in concrete-free spaces. The AMB law stipulates that these strategic objectives set by the PDU will be implemented through a more concrete tool, the POUMet (Metropolitan Spatial Plan), for which no date has yet been set.
