Strategies for CITY-SEA Relationship in Barcelona

The Barcelona City Council has developed the document "Pla Litoral" with the aim of organizing and visualizing the urban spaces of the waterfront with a unified perspective, which had never been considered before. In the context of the climate emergency declared by the city of Barcelona (January 15, 2020), in addition to the opportunities identified by the Litoral Plan itself, a radical environmental reflection must be added, taking into consideration the fragility of this space and the relationships between the city and the sea. This space can no longer be treated in the same way, as it is necessary to generate environmental transition and risk management zones, as well as functional exchange spaces (which have historically been the ports). The present study aims to highlight a strategic vision of the coastline from the perspective of climate change adaptation and the resilience of the systems that shape it.

The liberation or vacating of certain spaces along the port-coastal front opens up the possibility of creating new ways of connecting the city with the sea, incorporating both new uses and new infrastructures and urban spaces.

The study aims to exemplify, at the scale of urban public space, concrete actions that have the resilience of the entire waterfront as their design driver. For these proposals, the area of the waterfront between the Moll de Barcelona, where the World Trade Center is located, the beach of Barceloneta to the east, and the Ronda Litoral has been chosen. An area where it has been possible to verify through various studies conducted by the Maritime Engineering Laboratory of the UPC, Barcelona Regional, and the AMB, that the extent of the variation in coastal dynamics due to the effects of climate change can be perceived, specifically the increase in intraport agitation and the rise in mean sea level.

[Resource 1] Current management model of infrastructure and sanitation and its relationship with the marine edge.

[Resource 2] A new holistic city model through water infrastructure and public space, both forming the new waterfront.

[Resource 3] Moll de la Fusta. New urban scenes in symbiosis with ecology and the beach.

[Resource 4] The construction of ecological infrastructure to create new habitats.

[Resource 5] Moll de Drassanes. The review of the urban sewer overflows and discharge points could lead to the insertion of filtering and drainage elements for the water before it comes into contact with the sea.

[Resource 6] These "sponge" devices would be part of the structure of sustainable urban drainage systems and would increase the ecological variability of species found in urban public spaces along the coast.

[Resource 7] Various remedial and climate change adaptation devices that can be implemented in the port areas of Barcelona and that catalyze various ecosystem services are studied.