EIXAMPLE COURTYARDS

planner: Ildefons Cerdà designer: varies year: 1859~ description: While the original Eixample blocks each contain a courtyard within for public hygiene and health, urbanization and industrialization in the late 19th century to early 20th century had led to the sprawl of architecture vertically and horizontally into the open courtyard. Over time, the city had gradually lost its outdoor public space and was overcrowded with households and factories per Eixample block.

The end of Franco’s dictatorship becomes the beginning of democratization and set off the blooming of thoughts in spatial design strategies that transform the urban environment.

The General Metropolitan Plan was initiated in 1976 with the goal to recover the interior courtyards of Eixample blocks. In 1985, the first recovery is accomplished (Torre de les Aigües). Currently, there are 50+ urban courtyards that serve as part of the public space network and urban green patchwork that plays a key role in maintaining the physical and mental well-being of urban dwellers.

(reference: Journalist, “Miniature Paradises.”)