The English physicist Sir Isaac Newton stated in his third law of motion that for every action there is an opposite and equal reaction. This has proved to be true not only in the physics realm, but true to the choices encountered throughout life. Consequences are inevitable when making decisions, whether they are beneficial or detrimental. When applying this “law” to Barcelona’s harbor you can view how society’s decisions have shaped the way the city has interacted with the sea as well as initiated urban changes within itself in order to improve the aesthetics of the city. Looking back throughout Barcelona’s history the harbor has played a significant role in connecting the coastal city to the rest of the world. During the Late Middle Ages Barcelona was the vessel between two medieval worlds: Islam in the south and Christianity in the north. Because of its location between the two worlds Barcelona rapidly grew as the trading point between the them, and soon became the greatest maritime power of the Mediterranean. But Barcelona gained this worthy title despite not having a port to house sea vessels. Because of this lack of a port the ships that anchored in the city were greatly exposed to storms that destroyed ships right off the city’s coast. These storms not only sunk ships but also inhibited the city’s ability to build a harbor to provide shelter and facilitate the loading and unloading of cargo supplies because of the large amounts of sand and sediment that were deposited damaged any work that was in progress and/or completed (Port de Barcelona).
The first successful work on the harbor began in 1477 and the plan was to extend a dock reaching the Maians Islands 100 meters off the coast. In order to create this dock, large amounts of sand were deposited on the beach to the southeast of the Ciutadella. This helped create Barceloneta, a seafront neighborhood for the refugees of the Ribera neighborhood. Another problem the harbor encountered was the shallow depth it held which ultimately caused ships to become stuck. In order to fix this problem, work commenced in 1816 to extend the breakwater so ships could remain afloat. One of the most important consequences of the harbor project was the creation of the Port of Barcelona Board of Public Works in 1869. A year previous Barcelona authorities requested permission from the Development Ministry to create this board in order to decentralize the power. The board remained active until 1978, almost a century after it was created. Under the Board of Public Works the problems with sand and storms was finally settled due to the construction of the first “transversal dock” in 1882. This dock later housed the Jaume I cable car, which was built for the 1929 Universal Exhibition (Port de Barcelona).
After years of repression under Franco, Barcelona was ready to reinvent itself in the post-Franco era. In the midst of a deep economic crisis in 1980, the movement to transform Barcelona into a modern city was in motion. When Barcelona won the bid to host the 1992 Summer Olympics, it put this movement into full swing. Barcelona is now seen as an international success story for transforming itself from a “grey” industrial city to a sprawling metropolis sought out by tourists from all over the world (Marshall). It is important to note how quickly Barcelona was able to complete its metamorphosis and market itself as a reinvented city, all in just over one decade. A main priority of the city planners and developers was to open the city to the sea. This required a full-scale operation on the sea front. For this, Barcelona had a huge amount of industrial space with great potential for urban renewal (Marshall).
Capitalizing on the 1992 Olympic Games, Barcelona drastically transformed its harbor. One of the main ideas for change in this area was to open up the seafront and make it accessible (Nel-lo). In order to open the Port up to the city, the area’s infrastructure had to be altered. The restructuring of the railway system, some place underground, and the sewage system removed barriers to coastal access (Essex). Also, a new highway system was built underground (Nel-lo). This highway system allows for high traffic flows without hindering access to the coastline. A pedestrian bridge, Rambla de Mar, now spans across a section of the sea to an area filled with several new coastal activities. The restructuring of the transportation systems removed the physical barriers that previously prevented the coastline to be developed for public use.
The opening of the coastline to public access allowed for additional development along the harbor. The Olympic Harbor was constructed in the freed space. It has a capacity for 700 boats in the water and 300 on the shore (Nel-lo). A large portion of the Olympic Harbor was built for public spaces, such as: bars, restaurants, and shops. A 30 meter wide seafront promenade was built (Nel-lo). The promenade houses restaurants and commercial spaces. The rundown beaches were rehabilitated, adding 18 Ha of beaches with piers protecting the sand from being washed away by the currents (Nel-lo). Across the Rambla de Mar, coastal activities were located to draw tourists and locals. A shopping mall, aquarium, and I-Max theater are the main attractions placed across the bridge. New hotels, office, and commercial spaces were also opened up with the construction of two 100 meter high towers (Nel-lo).
The 1992 Olympic Games were the catalyst that sparked the greatest change to the city’s harbor. Since the 1960s, Olympic Games have been used to trigger large-scale urban improvement (Essex). The city needed to be cleaned up and rejuvenated prior to the games. The main objectives of the rejuvenation were: to open the port to the city, to introduce the recreation and leisure activities, and reutilizing the port area, which could house more activities in accordance with its present needs without compromising the harbor character (Wang). Prior to the Games the beaches of Barcelona were littered with empty warehouses, industrial sites, old fish markets, army barracks, a women’s jail, and in general the beaches were dumping grounds for household rubbish and industrial waste (Oriol Nel-lo). Consequently the redevelopment of Port Vell has changed many people’s perceptions of the waterfront. Facilitated public access has allowed people to enjoy the new urban frontier and reshaped the harbor. Not only did Barcelona consider the technical issues coupled with the renovation, but the aesthetic ones as well when it designed the Rambla de Mar; a pedestrian walkway sprouting from the shore and extends into the water (Wang). It is necessary to recognize that neither the old beaches nor the local district of Barceloneta had the minimum urban infrastructure required to classify them as safe public areas. Rather, they were marginal urban spaces, deprived of social and economic investment, despite their lively, popular image. Today, walking through the public areas of the new seafront and Port Vell one can see proof of the popularity of these newly created urban environments in the increasing numbers of children, and of young and retired people using them. These places are symbolically justified as collective spaces where individuals co-exist despite their social, sexual, ethical, and political differences (Sanchez).
Essex, Stephen: Olympic Games: catalyst of urban change. Devon, UK: University of Plymoth, 1998. 12-14.
Marshall, Tim: Transforming Barcelona. London, UK: Routledge, 2004.
Nel·lo, Oriol: The Olympic Games as a tool for urban renewal: the experience of Barcelona’92 Olympic Village. Barcelona: Centre d’Estudis Olímpics UAB, 1997.
Sanchez, Antonio: Postmodern Spain: A Cultural Analysis of 1980s-1990s Spanish Culture. Switzerland: Peter Lang, 2007.
Wang, Chunsong: Waterfront Regeneration. Cardiff, UK: Cardiff University, 2008.
