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

Nou Barris · 50

les Roquetes

Les Roquetes is a hillside neighbourhood that its own residents helped to build: in the 1950s they put up houses on land with no services, in 1963 they paid for electricity in the streets, and in 1964 they dug the sewers themselves, on Sundays.[1][2][3]

Walk a stretch of Carrer de les Torres and compare its two sides: above, the streets climb towards Carrer Mina de la Ciutat, named after an old water mine; below, the slope eases and the shops begin.[4]

Les Roquetes lies at the foot of the hill of the same name, between the Ronda de Dalt and the Collserola range, and between Canyelles and la Trinitat Nova; steep slopes shape its character. It grew mostly from the mid-1950s with migrants arriving from other parts of Spain: the Obra Sindical de l'Habitatge built a little over a thousand very small, poor-quality homes there, which were not enough, and many families built their own houses on land with no services.[1][4][2]

After the houses came the services, and they came through neighbourhood pressure: mobilisations by the residents' association, the Associació de Veïns i Veïnes de Roquetes, won public transport and health and education facilities. The metro took until 2008.[2][1][4][5]

les Roquetes (neighbourhood 50) 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

Before urbanisation the area held quarries, some mines and woods of holm oak and pine, which building replaced from the early twentieth century.[1]

How the streets were made

The neighbourhood took shape as self-built houses along steep, unpaved streets. In 1963 residents paid out of their own pockets for electricity in the streets; the following summer, on the initiative of a group of Jesuits, they built the sewers themselves every Sunday, the day of rest, in what became known as Urbanizar en Domingo. Between 1965 and 1968 they repeated the effort to bring running water to the houses: the Operación Agua.[2][3]

Dates that changed it

  1. 1963 residents pay out of their own pockets for electricity in the streets.[2][3]
  2. 1964 a group of Jesuits launches Urbanizar en Domingo: neighbours build the sewers on Sundays.[2][3]
  3. 1965–1968 the Operación Agua brings running water to the houses.[2][3]
  4. 1977 neighbours occupy an asphalt plant on the border with la Trinitat Nova; it becomes the Ateneu Popular 9 Barris.[6][7]
  5. 2008 on 4 October the Roquetes station of line L3 opens.[4][5][1]
  6. 2023 on 31 March a lectern recalling the neighbourhood's self-building is inaugurated.[2][3]
  7. 2026 on 18 March the new Mercat de Montserrat opens.[8][9][10][11]

People and collective life

Rafa Juncadella

A cultural activist closely tied to Roquetes, who died in February 2019. In 2021 some twenty associations asked for the neighbourhood library to carry his name, and it does.[12][13]

Associació de Veïns i Veïnes de Roquetes

Its mobilisations won public transport and health and education facilities; with the Arxiu Històric de Roquetes-Nou Barris and the city council it put up the 2023 lectern.[2][1][3]

Institutions

Mercat de Montserrat

The original market was inaugurated in 1960, the work of the architects Anglada, Gelabert and Ribes. Since 18 March 2026 the neighbourhood has had a new building by ONA Arquitectes at Via Favència 241.[14][8][9][10][11]

Biblioteca Les Roquetes – Rafa Juncadella

The public library at Via Favència 288; it carries the name of the cultural activist Rafa Juncadella.[12][13]

Struggles that left a mark

Light, sewers and water

Demand: A neighbourhood born with no electricity in its streets, no sewers and water to be fetched from fountains.[2][3]

Outcome: Residents paid for the electricity in 1963, built the sewers in 1964 and brought the water between 1965 and 1968.[2][3]

The metro

Demand: A long-standing neighbourhood demand.[4][5][1]

Outcome: The Roquetes station of line L3 opened on 4 October 2008.[4][5][1]

What can still be seen

The self-building lectern

A lectern inaugurated on 31 March 2023 by the residents' association, the Arxiu Històric de Roquetes-Nou Barris and the city council; it tells of the electricity, sewers and water that neighbours provided.[2][3]

What disappeared

Quarries, mines and woods

The quarries, some mines and the woods of holm oak and pine disappeared under building from the early twentieth century.[1]

The neighbourhood today

In 2026 les Roquetes had 17,595 residents, a density of 273.6 people per hectare, a €15,717 mean census-section income in 2023, 64.3 hectares, and 28.9% non-Spanish nationality.

The numbers do not measure extra time imposed by slope, dependence on urban lifts or thermal vulnerability in incrementally enlarged homes.

Non-Spanish nationality (2026): 28.9%

What is changing

As of October 2026 the most visible change is the new Mercat de Montserrat on Via Favència: it opened on 18 March 2026 and replaced the 1960 market, which had served the neighbourhood for more than sixty-five years. The council's plan is to demolish most of the old building, keeping its arcades, and to lay out the Jardins del Pare Manel around it, a green square meant to join Roquetes, la Trinitat Nova, la Prosperitat and Verdun. When the new market opened in March 2026 the demolition was only starting; its present stage is not on record.[8][9][10][11]

What the guides leave out

The Ateneu is just across the line

The Ateneu Popular 9 Barris, known for its circus school, was born in 1977 from an occupied asphalt plant on the border between Roquetes and la Trinitat Nova. Its address, carrer de Portlligat 11-15, already falls in la Trinitat Nova.[6][7]

A station that used to be called Roquetes

Until 1999 the L4 station now called Via Júlia, between Verdun and la Prosperitat, was named Roquetes. Today's Roquetes station is on L3 and opened in 2008.[15][5]

Read it on foot

Start: Roquetes (L3)[4][5][1] · End: Biblioteca Les Roquetes – Rafa Juncadella[12][13]

Walking (excluding stop time): 5 min · 370 m · Estimated visit (with stops): 35 min

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

les Roquetes (neighbourhood 50) highlighted. Other neighbourhoods in Nou Barris: Vilapicina i la Torre Llobeta, Porta, el Turó de la Peira, Can Peguera, la Guineueta, Verdun.

1
Carrer de les Torres
Carrer de les Torres
Walk a stretch of the street and compare its two sides: above, the streets climb towards Carrer Mina de la Ciutat; below, the slope eases and the shops begin.[4][5][1]
This street splits the neighbourhood in two: above, Carrer Mina de la Ciutat, which recalls an old water mine; below, the gentle slopes where commerce and leisure gather. At the corner with Carrer de Jaume Pinent is the vestibule of Roquetes station, with a shaft 18 m wide and three lifts that drop to platforms at an average depth of 56 m.[4][5][1]
Coordinates
41.44705, 2.17832 · OpenStreetMap
2
Mercat de Montserrat
Mercat de Montserrat, Via Favència 241
190 m · 2 min
Find the new market's entrance on Via Favència and see what stands beside the 1960 market: of the old building only part of the structure, with the arcades of the upper floor, is meant to stay.[8][9][10][11][14]
The new market, by ONA Arquitectes, opened on 18 March 2026 after an investment of 20 million euros: 16 food stalls, a supermarket, a bar and a pharmacy, in the block between Via Favència, Carrer d'Aiguablava, Carrer de les Torres and Camí Vell de la Pedrera. It replaces the 1960 market and is the first step towards a green square, the Jardins del Pare Manel.[8][9][10][11][14]
Coordinates
41.44648, 2.17886 · OpenStreetMap
3
Biblioteca Les Roquetes – Rafa Juncadella
Biblioteca Les Roquetes, Via Favència 288
190 m · 3 min
Read the library's full name: it joins the name of the neighbourhood to that of Rafa Juncadella, a cultural activist tied to Roquetes.[12][13]
About twenty Nou Barris associations asked in 2021 that the library carry the name of Rafa Juncadella, who died in February 2019. He had defended culture and the right to education and, among other causes, the burying of the Ronda de Dalt where it passes Roquetes.[12][13]
Coordinates
41.44551, 2.17716 · OpenStreetMap

Sources for this page

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

  1. [1] Ajuntament de Barcelona, Districte de Nou Barris (2026). Història de les Roquetes. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  2. [2] Ajuntament de Barcelona, Programes de Memòria (2023). L'autoconstrucció a Roquetes durant els anys 50. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  3. [3] Ajuntament de Barcelona, Districte de Nou Barris (2023-04-03). Nou Barris reconoce la lucha vecinal a favor de la vivienda en Roquetes. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  4. [4] Viquipèdia (2026). Les Roquetes (Nou Barris). Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  5. [5] Viquipèdia (2026). Estació de Roquetes. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  6. [6] Ajuntament de Barcelona, Fàbriques de Creació (2026). Ateneu Popular 9 Barris. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  7. [7] Viquipèdia (2026). Ateneu Popular de Nou Barris. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  8. [8] Ajuntament de Barcelona, Info Barcelona (2026-03-20). The new Mercat de Montserrat opens. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  9. [9] betevé (2026-03-21). El Mercat de Montserrat inaugura les noves instal·lacions amb una gran festa multitudinària. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  10. [10] betevé (2026-03-21). Èxit de públic a l'estrena del nou Mercat de Montserrat. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  11. [11] Ajuntament de Barcelona, Pla d'acció de govern 2023-2027 (2026). Nou Mercat de Montserrat. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  12. [12] Ajuntament de Barcelona, Biblioteques de Barcelona (2026). Biblioteca Les Roquetes – Rafa Juncadella. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  13. [13] betevé (2021-05-10). Reclamen el nom de Rafa Juncadella per a la biblioteca de les Roquetes. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  14. [14] Ajuntament de Barcelona, Mercats de Barcelona (2026). Mercat de Montserrat. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  15. [15] Wikipedia (2026). Roquetes station. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  16. [16] Ajuntament de Barcelona — Open Data BCN (2026-01-01). Padró municipal d'habitants (pad_mdbas) — població per barri. Accessed: 2026-07-17.
  17. [17] Ajuntament de Barcelona — Open Data BCN (2021). Densitat de població per barri. Accessed: 2026-07-17.
  18. [18] Ajuntament de Barcelona — Open Data BCN (2023). Renda disponible de les llars per persona. Seccions censals. Accessed: 2026-07-17.

Last reviewed: 3 October 2026 · 18 sources consulted

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