Barcelona, barri a barri A living atlas of the 73 neighbourhoods

Nou Barris · 55

Ciutat Meridiana

Ciutat Meridiana is a neighbourhood of blocks raised from 1963 in a steep valley of Nou Barris, where residents have had to press for clinics, schools, a market and even escalators to cope with its level changes.[1][2][3]

Step out of the Ciutat Meridiana metro, whose platform lies 50 metres underground, and notice the level change between the streets les Agudes and dels Rasos de Peguera: it reaches 22 metres, and the escalators there were planned to bridge it.[1][3][4]

Until the 1960s these steep slopes were farmland of the quadra de Vallbona. From 1963 a promoter group that included Joan Antoni Samaranch built large blocks of flats on them, without the most basic facilities or urban services. The first neighbourhood protests were about damp in the flats; clinics, schools and cleaner streets followed.[1][2]

The neighbourhood spreads over a steeply sloping valley of the turó de Roquetes and borders Torre Baró, Vallbona and the municipality of Montcada i Reixac; the land had belonged to the old quadra de Vallbona, part of Sant Andreu de Palomar.[2]

Ciutat Meridiana (neighbourhood 55) highlighted. Other neighbourhoods in Nou Barris: Vilapicina i la Torre Llobeta, Porta, el Turó de la Peira, Can Peguera, la Guineueta, Verdun.

Before the neighbourhood

According to the municipal history of the neighbourhood, a first project planned a cemetery here, but the extreme damp meant the ground could not be consecrated for the dead. That damp later returned in the flats.[1][2]

How the streets were made

The neighbourhood was raised without basic urban services and completed afterwards: since the first democratic council, health, sociocultural and educational facilities have been created, streets renewed and escalators of every kind installed to overcome the big level changes. The L11 station, opened in 2003, connects the upper part of the neighbourhood.[1][3][4]

Plaça Roja, the lowest point of the neighbourhood, was built with the first blocks in the late 1960s; it is where residents go when things do not work and where they organise markets, concerts and festivals, with the health centre, the civic centre, the library and the main market around it.[5]

Dates that changed it

  1. 1963 a promoter group including Joan Antoni Samaranch starts building large blocks of flats on the farmland of the quadra de Vallbona.[1][2]
  2. 1968 the Mercat Ciutat Meridiana opens on Carrer de Costabona.[6][7]
  3. 1971 residents organise a rat-hunting contest to expose the state of the streets.[1]
  4. 2003 L11 and Ciutat Meridiana station open.[4][1]
  5. 2015 residents of Carrer de les Agudes collect signatures to ask for escalators.[8][3]
  6. 2020 November: the opening of the €3.65 million escalators of les Agudes and dels Rasos de Peguera is announced.[8][3][1]
  7. 2023 October: the Mercat Ciutat Meridiana, with five stalls trading, finishes a €213,000 refit.[6][7]
  8. 2025 the 2025-2028 Pla de Barris begins in the Zona Nord; the Casal de Joves de la Zona Nord opens on 21 June.[9][10]

People and collective life

Filiberto Bravo

President of the Associació de Veïns de Ciutat Meridiana; in 2017 he told VilaWeb that the association had stopped about a thousand evictions, and in 2023 he recalled to Tot Barcelona how residents used the pools under the aqueduct.[11]

Institutions

Ciutat Meridiana station

An L11 station opened in 2003, with its platform 50 metres down; it connects the upper part of the neighbourhood.[4][1]

Centre Cívic Zona Nord

A public centre at Carrer de Vallcivera 14, with a ludoteca and the Teatre Zona Nord.[12]

Mercat Ciutat Meridiana

Opened in 1968 at Carrer de Costabona 4-6 to supply the new neighbourhood; reorganised in 2023 with a central square.[6][7]

Associació de Veïns de Ciutat Meridiana

The neighbourhood's residents' association; according to its president, it had stopped about a thousand evictions by 2017.[11]

Struggles that left a mark

Damp, clinics and schools

Demand: The first protests were about damp in the flats; later residents demanded clinics, schools and cleaner streets, as the rat-hunting contest of 1971 showed.[1]

Outcome: Since the first democratic council, health, sociocultural and educational facilities have been created and streets renewed.[1][3]

Mechanical stairs for les Agudes

Demand: In 2015 residents of Carrer de les Agudes, the highest part of the neighbourhood, were collecting signatures to ask for escalators.[8][3]

Outcome: In November 2020 it was reported that the €3.65 million escalators of les Agudes and dels Rasos de Peguera would open soon.[8][3]

Stopping evictions

Demand: In the years of the crisis the Associació de Veïns organised neighbours to stand peacefully at the door of homes facing eviction.[11]

Outcome: In 2017 its president said the association had stopped about a thousand; this is the association's own figure, not an official count.[11]

What can still be seen

Aqüeducte del Vallès

Listed as a local cultural asset, it has six round arches on two alternating types of pier; the canal, finished in 1875, ran until the mid-1950s.[13][14]

Plaça Roja de la Ciutat Meridiana

Built with the first blocks, its name comes from residents' meetings that the regime policed and that gave the neighbours a reputation as “reds”; today it is a square of markets, concerts and festivals.[5]

What disappeared

The aqueduct pools

The pools at the foot of the aqueduct, known as the beach of Ciutat Meridiana, were a meeting place until neglect closed them around the mid-1990s and they were dismantled.[13][14]

The neighbourhood today

In 2026 Ciutat Meridiana had 11,493 residents, a density of 304.9 people per hectare, a mean census-section income of €13,355 in 2023, 37.7 hectares, and 30.5% of residents holding non-Spanish nationality.[15][16][17][18]

Non-Spanish nationality (2026): 30.5%

What is changing

Status as of October 2026, from the most recent documents consulted. Ciutat Meridiana belongs, with Torre Baró and Vallbona, to the Zona Nord of the 2025-2028 Pla de Barris. According to VilaWeb on 25 March 2025, the plan foresees rehabilitating five public schools in the zone, which became instituts-escola that school year; on 21 June 2025 the Casal de Joves de la Zona Nord opened on Avinguda d'Escolapi Càncer with half a million euros from the Pla de Barris.[9][10]

At the Mercat Ciutat Meridiana, only five stalls were trading in October 2023, and the Institut Municipal de Mercats spent €213,000 reorganising it, with a central square in place of an island of empty stalls; the stated aim was to reach nine or ten shops.[6][7]

What the guides leave out

A station 50 metres down

The L11 platform lies 50 metres down, reached by fast lifts or a 264-step stair, and between 2003 and 2008 it was the deepest station of the Barcelona metro.[4][1]

A cemetery that never was

A first project planned a cemetery on this land, but the extreme damp meant it could not be consecrated for the dead; the blocks of flats went up afterwards.[1][2]

Read it on foot

Start: Aqüeducte del Vallès[13][14] · End: Mercat Ciutat Meridiana[6][7]

Walking (excluding stop time): 14 min · 1070 m · Estimated visit (with stops): 56 min

The geometry follows the pedestrian network between the five marked points, but it has not been verified as step-free; the neighbourhood has steep level changes. The approach from public transport is not included in the stated distance.

Ciutat Meridiana (neighbourhood 55) highlighted. Other neighbourhoods in Nou Barris: Vilapicina i la Torre Llobeta, Porta, el Turó de la Peira, Can Peguera, la Guineueta, Verdun.

1
Aqüeducte del Vallès
Carrer del Brull
Count the six round arches and notice that the piers alternate between a wide type with a pilaster and a very narrow one.[13][14]
It carried water from the Vallès to Barcelona (works ended in 1875) and ran until the mid-1950s; below it were the pools that residents called the beach of Ciutat Meridiana.[13][14]
Coordinates
41.45886, 2.17392 · OpenStreetMap
2
Ciutat Meridiana station
Carrer del Pedraforca
330 m · 4 min
Look at the station concourse: the platform is 50 metres underground and is reached only by fast lifts or a 264-step stair.[4][1]
It opened in 2003 with L11 and until 2008 was the deepest station of the Barcelona metro; the City Council stresses that it connects the upper part of the neighbourhood.[4][1]
Coordinates
41.46078, 2.17460 · OpenStreetMap
3
Centre Cívic Zona Nord
Carrer de Vallcivera 14
400 m · 5 min
Look for the two spaces the civic centre advertises, the ludoteca and the Teatre Zona Nord, and notice how many neighbourhood services lie a few steps away.[12]
It is a public centre at Carrer de Vallcivera 14; around Plaça Roja stand also the health centre, the library and the main market.[12][5]
Coordinates
41.46056, 2.17802 · OpenStreetMap
4
Plaça Roja de la Ciutat Meridiana
Plaça Roja de la Ciutat Meridiana
190 m · 3 min
Look at the porch on the south corner of the square, which forms a second, raised level, and remember this is the lowest point of the neighbourhood.[5]
It was built with the first blocks in the late 1960s; its name comes from residents' meetings that the regime policed, and today it hosts markets, concerts and festivals.[5]
Coordinates
41.46149, 2.17895 · OpenStreetMap
5
Mercat Ciutat Meridiana
Carrer de Costabona 4-6
150 m · 2 min
Look inside for the open space at the centre, where an island of empty stalls once stood.[6][7]
It opened in 1968 to supply the new neighbourhood; in 2023, with only five stalls trading, it was refitted for €213,000 to attract new stallholders.[6][7]
Coordinates
41.46168, 2.17796 · OpenStreetMap

Sources for this page

Dates, figures and historical claims are linked to the records used for this page.

  1. [1] Districte de Nou Barris, Ajuntament de Barcelona (2017). Història de Ciutat Meridiana. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  2. [2] Viquipèdia (2026). Ciutat Meridiana. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  3. [3] betevé (2020-11-18). Arriben les escales mecàniques als carrers de les Agudes i dels Rasos de Peguera (18 November 2020). Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  4. [4] Viquipèdia (2026). Estació de Ciutat Meridiana. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  5. [5] Viquipèdia (2026). Plaça Roja de la Ciutat Meridiana. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  6. [6] Institut Municipal de Mercats de Barcelona (2026). Mercat Ciutat Meridiana. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  7. [7] betevé (2023-10-03). Inversió de 200.000 euros per reflotar el Mercat de Ciutat Meridiana (3 October 2023). Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  8. [8] NacióDigital (2015-07-19). Ciutat Meridiana, la lluita incansable per una vida digna (19 July 2015). Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  9. [9] VilaWeb (2025-03-25). Barcelona desplega el pla de barris amb 315 actuacions previstes fins al 2028 (25 March 2025). Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  10. [10] Districte de Nou Barris, Ajuntament de Barcelona (2025-07-21). Informe del Regidor, plenari ordinari del 21 de juliol del 2025. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  11. [11] VilaWeb (2017-06-29). Ciutat Meridiana, no passaran (29 June 2017). Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  12. [12] Barcelona Cultura, Ajuntament de Barcelona (2026). Centre Cívic Zona Nord. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  13. [13] Viquipèdia (2026). Aqüeducte del Vallès. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  14. [14] Tot Barcelona (2023-08-24). La piscina desapareguda: una història del desmembrament de Ciutat Meridiana (24 August 2023). Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  15. [15] Ajuntament de Barcelona — Open Data BCN (2026-01-01). Padró municipal d'habitants (pad_mdbas) — població per barri. Accessed: 2026-07-17.
  16. [16] Ajuntament de Barcelona — Open Data BCN (2021). Densitat de població per barri. Accessed: 2026-07-17.
  17. [17] Ajuntament de Barcelona — Open Data BCN (2023). Renda disponible de les llars per persona. Seccions censals. Accessed: 2026-07-17.
  18. [18] Ajuntament de Barcelona — Open Data BCN (2026-01-01). Població per nacionalitat i sexe. Barris. Accessed: 2026-07-17.

Last reviewed: 3 October 2026 · 18 sources consulted

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