Urban Planning, Ecological Transition, Urban Services and Housing

Moving into the New Year, we highlight some of the urban planning and mobility changes set to shape the city in the coming months.

Eixample Superblock

The Barcelona Superblock Plan continues to move forward and 2023 will be the year when people in the city will be able to enjoy the transformation of L’Eixample. Consell de Cent, Rocafort, Comte Borrell and Girona will become green streets which meet in four large squares. The result will be large spaces for local people, with areas to meet up in, children’s games and street furniture taking centre stage.

The new Via Laietana and its digital hub

Barcelona will continue the public works on Via Laietana in January. The project is intended to make the street greener, more sustainable and pedestrian-friendly, with wider pavements to connect neighbourhoods better, help local retailers and reduce noise and pollution.

This year also brings the start of the project to transform the main post office building into a centre for business, innovation and socio-cultural activity. These works will turn the historical building into an ecosystem of 27,000 square metres for entrepreneurial projects in the digital world. The initiative is expected to generate 1,200 jobs and boost the city centre economy.

Reinvention of the Olympic Port

The bulk of the large revamp to the Olympic Port comes in 2023. The new spatial and use plan backs nautical activity, the blue economy and restaurant activity as the mainstays here. This also includes the construction of a “gastronomic balcony” at the Moll de Gregal wharf, the promotion of nautical training activities, recreational and outreach activity and the presence of more entrepreneurs and companies in his sector, as well as greater accessibility at the port.

T-mobilitat

TMB continues to make progress on consolidating T-mobilitat . This year will see T-jove become the first ticket to stop being sold on card and go over to the new format. Users will be able to choose from two options to get the T-jove in T-mobilitat: the PVC card sent to people’s home address or the mobile card for devices with Android and NFC operating systems.

Public transport prices

Public transport prices are unchanged this year. To help people tackle the current economic crisis, the Metropolitan Transport Authority (ATM) has agreed to maintain the 50% discount on the T-usual and T-jove tickets for 2023 (a 20% discount on top of the State’s 30%). Tickets for single-parent families, large families and the unemployed will also be half price.

AMBici

The new metropolitan bike-sharing service, AMBici, will come into operation early in the year in Sant Feliu de Llobregat, Sant Joan Despí and Cornellà de Llobregat, and then be rolled out in a further 12 municipalities in the next three months. The service will make 2,600 electric bikes available at 236 different stations, with an annual charge of 25 euros. A metropolitan ticket integrated with the Bicing service will also be created.