Arxiu Municipal Contemporani de Barcelona

This section includes the documentation generated by promoting, managing and monitoring the transformation of the municipal area through urban development and building activities. It therefore contains documents referring to urban planning and management, the layout of the city, public works, urban discipline, housing, the artistic-historical heritage and so on.

Q101 - Urbanisation and redevelopment (1863-1957)

Documents generated by the Urbanisation and Redevelopment Board with regard to planning, managing and carrying out certain public works, both in Ciutat Vella and Eixample, as well as the old municipalities annexed by Barcelona. This is now a closed record series, covering the period from 1863 to 1957.

Q102 - Planning (1887-2015)

Documentation generated by the processes of programming and planning the urban transformation of the city by means of various planning instruments: general plans, partial plans, special plans, subsidiary regulations, detailed studies, urban planning projects, urban development programmes and programmes for demarcating urban land, among others.

Q109 - Gazetteer (1907-2015)

Documentation generated to give names to the city’s streets and squares. It also refers to the register in which the names of public roads are entered.

Q110 - Street signs and numbers (1939-1980)

Files and documents generated by the processes of numbering and renumbering urban properties and putting up street signs in the city.

Q118 - Urban management (1821-2002)

Files referring to the transfer of lands, roads, parks, gardens and public buildings, to forced expropriation and administrative eviction, to the transfer of plots of municipal heritage and other legal and administrative actions derived from municipal urban planning actions. Also files referring to urban planning, such as general urban development plans, special and partial urban development plans, subsidiary and supplementary regulations, and so on.

Q119 - Gran Via A internal redevelopment (1908-1922)

Documents generated by the process of expropriating properties affected by the opening up of Gran Via A (Via Laietana) and the auction of the resulting plots of land. This is now a closed record series, covering the period from 1908 to 1922.

Q125- Urban planning discipline. Inspection (1836 -1996).

Documents generated by the City Council’s control of building and land use within the municipal boundaries. Control exercised by means of the building permits required for any construction work or land use, as well as coercive powers and penalties in cases where individuals infringe one of the regulations. [Restricted consultation]

Q122 - Activity licences (1876-1999)

Documents generated by the municipal permission required for opening any commercial, industrial or service establishment, or for starting up various industrial facilities and apparatuses. The purpose of these permits is to ensure that any premises and facilities meet suitable peace, health and safety conditions in the area where they want to locate, and that their activity is in line with authorised uses in that area. [Restricted consultation]

Q127 - Major works (1836-1989).

Files generated for getting the municipal permission required by private individuals wishing to carry out any kind of building work. Such work may involve new builds, expansion of or addition to existing buildings, interior alterations, renovation or restoration of façades, modification of use and so on.

Q128 - Declaration of ruin (1978-1991)

Files generated by actions designed to find out the extent of a building’s deterioration and decide, if applicable, it is in a ruinous state. [Restricted consultation]

Q132 - Previous permits (1900-1989)

Dossiers prepared as an auxiliary and supplementary archive of the municipal building permit services, containing a selection of the main documents from the various building permit files for the same site.

Q134 - Municipal public works (1833-2011).

Documents generated by the plans, project, management and performance of any type of municipal building work: lighting, paving, sewers, construction and arrangement of municipal buildings, opening up and developing streets and squares, construction of avenues, parks and gardens, installation of urban furniture, construction of railway networks, etc.

Q138 - Cuitadella Committee (1869-1892)

Documents generated by the Ciutadella Committee regarding the performance of infrastructure and development work on the site of Parc de la Ciutadella. This is now a closed record series, covering the period from 1869 to 1892.

Q139 - Special Committee on the Columbus Monument (1881-1889; 1904-1932)

Documents generated by the work of the committee set up to promote the construction of a monument to Christopher Columbus for the Universal Exposition in 1888. This is now a closed record series, covering the periods from 1881 to 1889 and 1904 to 1932.

Q140 - Junta per a la Construcció d'un Palau de Justícia a Barcelona (1885-1912)

Documents generated by the body set up to promote the construction of a court in Barcelona. This is now a closed record series, covering the period from 1885 to 1912.

Q141 - Junta Municipal d’Urbanització i Aquarterament - Minutes (1927-1950)

Administrative and management documents generated by this body, which includes files on the expropriation and acquisition of land for the construction of military buildings, port establishments and other buildings. This is now a closed record series, covering the period from 1927 to 1950. [Restricted documents]

Q142 - Servei de Construccions en Parcs i Palaus de Montjuïc (1931-1968)

Documents referring to the maintenance and preservation of municipally owned buildings, monuments and urban elements that belong to the city’s artistic and monumental heritage, especially those on Montjuïc. This is now a closed record series, covering the period from 1945 to 1968.

Q147 - Work on the artistic and environmental heritage (1888-1989)

Documents referring to the maintenance and preservation of municipally owned buildings, monuments and urban elements that belong to the city’s artistic and monumental heritage. This is now a closed record series, covering the period from 1888 to 1981.

Q130 - Infrastructures (1884-2006)

Documents generated by sewer, lighting, paving and piping work.

Q145 - Piping (1866-2012)

Files on the supply, maintenance and exploitation of drinking water and water from mines, springs, irrigation channels and rivers, as well as water and property deeds. It also includes documents referring to the work carried out on building the water, gas and electricity systems by the companies awarded the contracts for these services.
[In part, this is an artificial record group created with files taken from the documents of the Governance (A183) and Finance (A182) committees]

Q152 - Promoting housing (1916-1922)

Documents referring to the planning, building, promotion, rehabilitation and award of social (HPO) and affordable housing managed by the City Council, for example, the housing promoted by the old Institut de l'Habitatge Popular.