Urban Planning, Ecological Transition, Urban Services and Housing

The municipal government has initially approved an amendment to the General Metropolitan Plan (MPGM) to conserve the singularity of these two neighbourhoods, maintaining their traditional make-up and facilitating the construction of new affordable housing.

The preservation and protection of heritage and the promotion of protected housing in the neighbourhoods of El Clot and El Camp de l’Arpa will be assured with the initial approval of an amendment to the General Metropolitan Plan by the Commission for Ecology, Urban Planning, Mobility and Housing.

The previous heritage protection for both neighbourhoods was set out in the Protection Plan for the Architectural, Historical and Artistic Heritage of Sant Martí, approved in the year 2000. Nearly a quarter of a century later, an update was needed to the heritage protection regulations for the character of the two neighbourhoods, their historical memory, urban landscape and environment. The update was also needed for defining measures to foster new protected housing.

In April 2022, a suspension was introduced on permits for new buildings and major renovations so that the new urban planning could be drafed. The document now presented updates the regulations to ensure that both neighbourhoods conserve their identity.

Heritage and urban planning protection

In terms of heritage protection listings, the amendment to the plan proposes 13 new heritage sets and 12 new individual elements. In all, 149 new plots are being proposed for heritage protection, bringing the overall number to 204 protected plots.

The amendment to the plan also introduces rules that determine the urban protection of various corridors, settings and traditional façades with heritage value. The proposal includes 589 plots where any work or change would have to take into account the aesthetic and compositional criteria of buildings to integrate the architectural project into the landscape and identity of their façades.

Of the 2,664 plots in the areas covered by the MPGM, the proposal includes protection for 793 of them, meaning that practically a third would get some sort of protection.

Boost for protected housing

One of cornerstones of the new urban planning is to favour public housing. It combines measures such as expropriation, quotas reserved for protected housing on unconsolidated urban land and the general classification of protected housing.

The plan is for a potential volume of between 1,000 and 1,500 new protected homes, 436 of them on the initiative of the City Council to guarantee that local people continue living in these neighbourhoods.

Revision of effects for current urban planning

The document revises the effects for current urban planning and sets out a series of criteria for addressing these. The criteria refer to the relationship between the element and the façade, the heritage interest and consolidation of the element and the presence of party walls in relation to the façade.

Plots given over to green space will gain another 3,000 square metres, while there are another 11,000 square metres for facilities. The project also promotes sustainable mobility and commerce and applies environmental criteria to increase greenery and biodiversity in urban interventions.

Extensive participatory process

An extensive participatory process was involved to create the document for initial approval, with 157 people taking part individually, along with the main organisations in the neighbourhoods. Four sessions were held with members of the public, along with five sectoral meetings to work on areas such as facilities, heritage and housing. There were also two feedback sessions and two exploratory walks.

A monitoring commission has also been set up with the presence of the local residents’ association for the two neighbourhoods, the Ateneu del Clot, the Orfeó Martinenc, the Federació d’Entitats and the Taller d’Història del Clot – Camp de l’Arpa.