Sant Martí · 66
el Parc i la Llacuna del Poblenou
El Parc i la Llacuna del Poblenou joins two names, several edges and one of Barcelona’s most intense urban transformations. Beneath campuses, offices, museums and towers lie drained wet ground, factories, workshops, workers’ housing and an unresolved struggle over who can keep living and working in 22@.
Stand at Ca l’Aranyó and take in brick, chimney, university campus and new buildings together. This is not simply a rescued factory: it is a textile machine converted into a campus inside a district that has replaced much of its productive land.
The administrative neighbourhood defined in 2006 combines the Parc sector, connected to Ciutadella, Estació del Nord and Glòries, with la Llacuna, connected to wet geography and an axis of industrial Poblenou. It is not a simple historical unit: housing, reused factories, development plots, campuses, offices, culture, nightlife and infrastructure coexist here.
Poblenou was called the “Catalan Manchester” in the late 19th century. Since the 2000 22@ plan, this area has been a laboratory of land-use change from industry towards knowledge activities, housing, hotels, university and services. The important questions are which production and culture remain, how much affordable housing is actually delivered and who bears the cost.
el Parc i la Llacuna del Poblenou (neighbourhood 66) highlighted. Other neighbourhoods in Sant Martí: el Camp de l'Arpa del Clot, el Clot, la Vila Olímpica del Poblenou, el Poblenou, Diagonal Mar i el Front Marítim del Poblenou, el Besòs i el Maresme.
el Parc i la Llacuna del Poblenou (neighbourhood 66) highlighted. Other neighbourhoods in Sant Martí: el Camp de l'Arpa del Clot, el Clot, la Vila Olímpica del Poblenou, el Poblenou, Diagonal Mar i el Front Marítim del Poblenou, el Besòs i el Maresme.
Where the name comes from
Llacuna refers to low, wet coastal-plain land with seasonal waterlogging before drainage. It survives in Carrer de la Llacuna, without implying a permanent lake.
Parc is an administrative label linked to proximity to Ciutadella and sectors understood alongside Estació del Nord and Glòries. Not all of Ciutadella park lies inside. The compound name is a municipal seam, not one ancient identity.
Between Vila Olímpica, the Poblenou core, Glòries and the approaches to Diagonal.
Before the neighbourhood
Seasonal wetlands, drains, gardens, meadows, farmhouses and Sant Martí routes occupied the plain. Water, sand and the sea shaped cultivation and settlement.
Industry used large plots, water, railway and port access. Textiles, metal, food, chemicals, warehouses and workshops created a productive landscape where housing and shops grew amid pollution and inadequate services.
How the streets were made
Cerdà’s grid was projected over industrial territory that did not always follow it. Factories covered several plots, streets ended at compounds and Pere IV retained an older route. Llacuna and streets towards Glòries moved goods and residents.
The 2000 plan replaced industrial 22a zoning with 22@ activities, facilities and transformation. Towers, offices, campuses and public space followed, alongside façade-only preservation, displaced workshops and waiting plots. The MPGM 22@2022, effective from June 2022, replaced the earlier framework and stated aims of more affordable housing, traditional-fabric protection, compatible production and green infrastructure. Audit outcomes rather than treating aims as accomplished facts.
Dates that changed it
- Pre-industrial period: Wetlands, drainage, cultivation and routes shape the pre-industrial landscape documented in historical maps.
- 19th century: rapid Poblenou industry and railway expansion.
- 1872–1877: The project, English structure and start-up of Ca l'Aranyó unfolded through distinct phases.
- 1897: Sant Martí is annexed.
- 20th century: continued production, housing and infrastructure.
- 1986: Ca l’Aranyó closes.
- 1990s: deindustrialisation and provisional cultural/workshop uses.
- 2000: original 22@ plan approved.
- 2006: current neighbourhood and phased UPF campus consolidation.
- 2009: Can Framis museum opens.
- 7 June 2022: MPGM 22@2022 enters into force.
- 2026: Transformation remains active; plans, housing and parks differ between proposal, construction and delivered quantities.
People and collective life
Textile workers, metalworkers, chemical workers, carters, railway staff, warehouse workers, shopkeepers and families made the area. Deindustrialisation brought artists, musicians, designers, workshops and venues before 22@ turned them into a city brand.
Residents now share the area with students, academics, office staff, cleaners, security, couriers, hospitality, cultural and construction workers. Daytime population greatly exceeds residential population in places, and morning arrivals, night departures and the ability to remain reveal different relationships to the neighbourhood.
Long-term residents
Mediate both eras
People behind the buildings
Claudi Arañó commissioned Ca l’Aranyó, directed by master builder Josep Marimón i Cot with English structure and machinery. It was also looms, workers, discipline, energy and maintenance. Imported iron and Catalan vaults belong to a productive process.
Campuses, museums and offices also mean cleaners, guards, indebted students, platform workers and displaced former users. A preserved factory may retain structure while losing a productive ecosystem.
Institutions
UPF's Poblenou campus at Ca l'Aranyó, Can Framis, Disseny Hub and Glòries, schools, primary care, cultural spaces, cooperatives and shops form a heterogeneous network spanning neighbourhood boundaries.
Music venues are economic and cultural institutions but also workplaces, night schedules and sources of residential conflict. Labour, access and their relationship to the street are part of their role.
Universities/tech sites
Knowledge
Struggles that left a mark
Demand: Campaigns have defended housing, industrial heritage, workshops, culture, schools, green space and the right to remain. They have challenged expropriation, speculation, missing facilities and offices delivered faster than affordable homes.
Outcome: Ongoing critique and adjust
Demand: The 22@ debate is not technology versus nostalgia. It concerns land, uplift, mixed use, urban production, protected housing and permanence, measured through completed homes, retained activity and displaced people.
Outcome: High pressure
What can still be seen
Ca l’Aranyó retains brick, chimney, iron columns and vaults. Can Framis retains industrial volume. Other sheds, chimneys, passages and walls survive among offices and plots.
Also read vacant edges, inactive corners, façade retention and abrupt jumps between older housing and corporate buildings. Discontinuity is evidence.
What disappeared
Wetlands, visible drainage, factories, machinery, workshops, housing, workers’ bars and supplier networks disappeared. Transitional artistic and craft uses were displaced too.
A chimney does not preserve an ecosystem. Record productive floor area, jobs, rents and uses lost in each operation.
The neighbourhood today
In 2026 el Parc i la Llacuna del Poblenou had 17,639 residents, 157.2 residents per hectare, a 2023 mean census-section income of €26,699, 112.2 hectares, and 31.2% of residents held non-Spanish nationality.
Relatively low residential density is misleading because of large activity sites and daytime population. Residents, workers and students occupy different geographies, as do housing, offices, hotels, vacant land, income and heat.
Non-Spanish nationality (2026): 31.2%
What is changing
Planning, housing, offices, facilities, Glòries and development plots remain active. The 2022 framework provides for housing and protection, but a provision is not a delivered key. Potential, approved, under construction and occupied are distinct states.
Remaining industry and culture, commercial rents, shade, movement, energy, noise and ground-floor use continue to change. A knowledge district depends on substantial material labour.
What the guides leave out
Guides celebrate industrial architecture and technology firms but omit displacement, land, precarious work and the difference between preserving a building and preserving an economy. They present 22@ as a coherent result rather than a succession of incomplete plans.
They also confuse social Poblenou, the administrative neighbourhood and the 22@ planning district. These overlap without matching.
Read it on foot
Start: Glòries / Llacuna (L4) · End: Parc sequences
Walking (excluding stop time): 14 min · 1080 m · Estimated visit (with stops): 49 min
The geometry follows the pedestrian network between the three marked points, but it has not been verified as step-free. Check access conditions, works and opening hours before setting out. The approach from public transport is not included in the stated distance.
el Parc i la Llacuna del Poblenou (neighbourhood 66) highlighted. Other neighbourhoods in Sant Martí: el Camp de l'Arpa del Clot, el Clot, la Vila Olímpica del Poblenou, el Poblenou, Diagonal Mar i el Front Marítim del Poblenou, el Besòs i el Maresme.
el Parc i la Llacuna del Poblenou (neighbourhood 66) highlighted. Other neighbourhoods in Sant Martí: el Camp de l'Arpa del Clot, el Clot, la Vila Olímpica del Poblenou, el Poblenou, Diagonal Mar i el Front Marítim del Poblenou, el Besòs i el Maresme.
Sources for this page
Dates, figures and historical claims are linked to the records used for this page.
- [1] Ajuntament de Barcelona — Open Data BCN (2026-01-01). Padró municipal d'habitants (pad_mdbas) — població per barri. Type: statistical_dataset. Locator: pad-sexe-2026. Accessed: 2026-07-17.
- [2] Ajuntament de Barcelona — Open Data BCN (2021). Densitat de població per barri. Type: statistical_dataset. Locator: densitat-2021. Accessed: 2026-07-17.
- [3] Ajuntament de Barcelona — Open Data BCN (2023). Renda disponible de les llars per persona. Seccions censals. Type: statistical_dataset. Locator: renda-2023. Accessed: 2026-07-17.
- [4] Ajuntament de Barcelona — Open Data BCN (2026-01-01). Població per nacionalitat i sexe. Barris. Type: statistical_dataset. Locator: pad-nac-2026. Accessed: 2026-07-17.
- [5] Joan Busquets (2005). Barcelona: the urban evolution of a compact city. Type: book. Locator: busquets-barcelona. Accessed: 2026-07-17.
- [6] MUHBA / Ajuntament de Barcelona (n.d.). MUHBA — Museu d'Història de Barcelona (publicacions i jaciments). Type: museum. Locator: muhba. Accessed: 2026-07-17.
- [7] Ajuntament de Barcelona / Fabra i Coats Fàbrica de Creació (n.d.). Fabra i Coats — fàbrica i reutilització cultural. Type: industrial_heritage. Locator: fabra-coats. Accessed: 2026-07-17.
- [8] AHCB / Ajuntament de Barcelona (n.d.). Arxiu Històric de la Ciutat de Barcelona — fons i cartografia. Type: archive. Locator: ahcb. Accessed: 2026-07-17.
- [9] Ajuntament de Barcelona (n.d.). Catàleg de patrimoni arquitectònic de Barcelona. Type: heritage_catalogue. Locator: heritage-catalog. Accessed: 2026-07-17.
- [10] FAVB (n.d.). Federació d'Associacions de Veïns i Veïnes de Barcelona. Type: civil_society. Locator: favb. Accessed: 2026-07-17.
- [11] AMCB / Ajuntament de Barcelona (n.d.). Arxiu Municipal Contemporani de Barcelona. Type: archive. Locator: amcb. Accessed: 2026-07-17.
- [12] PAH (n.d.). Plataforma d'Afectats per la Hipoteca. Type: civil_society. Locator: pah. Accessed: 2026-07-17.
- [13] Historiografia de l'habitatge / Ajuntament de Barcelona (1929). Cases barates de Barcelona (política d'habitatge social interwar). Type: housing_history. Locator: cases-barates. Accessed: 2026-07-17.
- [14] Ajuntament de Barcelona (n.d.). Nomenclàtor dels carrers de Barcelona. Type: gazetteer. Locator: nomenclator-bcn. Accessed: 2026-07-17.
- [15] TMB (n.d.). Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona — xarxa de metro. Type: transport. Locator: tmb. Accessed: 2026-07-17.
Last reviewed: 17 July 2026 · 15 sources consulted