Altered planning as a mean for urban complexity: the case of Eixample Master Plan in Barcelona

Abstract

Regarding global trends towards urbanization, Barcelona (Spain) stands as an example of a compact and complex city worldwide. In this regard, Cerdà's Master Plan is deemed the basis of this idealized reality. The grid mesh, the open block, the extended chamfer, or the hierarchy of streets have historically been considered its most relevant contributions to the urban realm and urbanism. However, and as this work assesses, it is its capacity to be altered, in terms of openness of possible states (entropic diversity), that has made possible the compact and complex configuration of today's city. Although the planned grid acts as the main formal support organizing the Eixample district, there is a number of non-planned layers to be considered relevant in the resilient process of cities in terms of adaptive regeneration. The analysis is based on data from the cadastre and the comparison of different blocks within Eixample grid (e.g., 19th century fabric, 20th century fabric, 20th century reconfiguration, superblock case) and their temporary evolution since mid-19th century. As a result, we identify and characterize the variations of the original urban plan in relation to urban compactness and complexity, taking into account the original plot distribution as the bases for a diverse fabric. As a result, we differentiate and characterize real estate (top-down) and individual (bottom-up) initiatives according to their capacity to generate and foster complexity.