area 100 | changing cities

A city made wholly of monuments, of extraordinary and amazing structures would obviously be impossible to live in, because it would be hostile to everyday life. At the same time a city completely focused on ordinariness may be anonymous and inhospitable, reluctant and lacking an own distinctive image or iconography. For more than twenty years, in the period straddling two centuries and two millennia, Barcelona has fought against the uniformity and density of its urban tissue and an equally rigorous and repetitive town plan, through the design of every free space of land. This ambitious program based on the upgrading of empty areas and consequently of the public space in the form of streets, squares and gardens. A the same time the search for special opportunities has resulted in the creation of the indispensable, and striking, landmarks.