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

Sant Martí · 71

Provençals del Poblenou

Provençals del Poblenou is a neighbourhood drawn in 2006 along the old industrial axis of Carrer de Pere IV, where a printing works of 1853, a machinery workshop and a park by Jean Nouvel now stand close together, in the part of the neighbourhood that belongs to the 22@ sector.[1][2][3]

Stand at the Carrer d'Emília Coranty entrance to Can Ricart and look for the conical brick chimney and the clock tower that rise above the long naves. Jaume Ricart's textile-printing works dates from 1853 and covers the space of four blocks of the Cerdà grid.[3]

Provençals del Poblenou is one of the ten neighbourhoods of the Sant Martí district. It lies above Avinguda Diagonal and below Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes and has two distinct parts: the strip along Gran Via, and the former factory land that runs down to the Diagonal and belongs to the 22@ sector.[1][2][4]

Carrer de Pere IV, once the road to Mataró, is its historic spine. A factory district grew beside it from the mid-nineteenth century that the Museu d'Història de Barcelona describes as the largest in the western Mediterranean; after three decades of decline it is being turned towards innovation.[5]

Provençals del Poblenou (neighbourhood 71) highlighted. Other neighbourhoods in Sant Martí: el Camp de l'Arpa del Clot, el Clot, el Parc i la Llacuna del Poblenou, la Vila Olímpica del Poblenou, el Poblenou, Diagonal Mar i el Front Marítim del Poblenou.

Where the name comes from

Etymology: disputed[6]

The first part of the name, Provençals, comes from the old municipality of Sant Martí de Provençals, first recorded in 989. The Catalan Wikipedia reports two proposals: the Latin phrase agri provintialis, fields inhabited and farmed since Roman times, which it calls the most learned but least reliable, or settlers from Provence who may have arrived after the Frankish conquest of Barcelona in 801.[6]

Del Poblenou refers to the sector's link with the historic territory of Poblenou. The neighbourhood was delimited in 2006 out of an area that had been counted as part of the traditional Poblenou.[1][2]

Provençals del Poblenou lies between Avinguda Diagonal and Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes. It borders Sant Martí de Provençals, Besòs i el Maresme, Diagonal Mar, Poblenou and el Parc i la Llacuna del Poblenou.[1][2]

Before the neighbourhood

Before the factories this was farmland laced with irrigation channels. In 1853 Jaume Ricart bought plots near the Mataró road, today Carrer de Pere IV, from the farmer Francesc Alsina i Buada, and the architect Josep Oriol i Bernadet laid the works out along the existing channels to use sunlight and water, both essential for bleaching and dyeing cloth.[3]

Another printing works, founded in 1852 by Josep Lucena i Parés and his family, built houses on the Mataró road in 1853 and halls behind them. It is the factory later known as Ca l'Alier.[7][8]

How the streets were made

Can Ricart is a system of naves, streets and squares that, according to the Viquipèdia, has to be conserved as a whole. Inside, a raised wooden bridge joins two naves at first-floor level along the main passage, and the cast-iron columns of the two-storey naves came from Bonshom i Lacoma, a foundry in Sant Martí.[3]

The Parc del Centre del Poblenou, by Jean Nouvel, opened in spring 2008. Its 5.5 hectares lie behind a perimeter wall covered in Mediterranean plants and are divided into three areas. The Viquipèdia records early criticism that the planting suited the climate badly and that many plants were dead within eighteen months.[9][10]

Dates that changed it

  1. 989 the name Provençals is first recorded, for the territory of the old municipality of Sant Martí de Provençals.[6]
  2. 1853 Jaume Ricart gets his licence in June for a steam-powered printing works on the Mataró road, designed by Josep Oriol i Bernadet; the Lucena family builds houses and halls on the site of Ca l'Alier.[3][7][8]
  3. 1911 much of the Ca l'Alier site is demolished; Pere Alier's purchase in 1909 had started the legalisation of buildings that the Cerdà plan's streets cut across.[7][8]
  4. 1920 the machinery firm Fill i Gendre d'Antoni Oliva commissions new naves from the architect Claudi Duran i Ventosa; they become the Oliva Artés workshop.[11][12]
  5. 1922 Can Ricart starts to operate as an industrial park of rented premises; a coconut-oil and soap company takes the naves at the end of the passage.[3][11][9]
  6. 2005 workers, neighbours and artists halt the demolitions at Can Ricart, which still held 34 firms with 240 workers according to a neighbourhood campaigner.[13][4]
  7. 2008 the oldest naves of Can Ricart are declared a Bé Cultural d'Interès Nacional in May, and the Parc del Centre del Poblenou opens in spring.[13][4][9][10]
  8. 2015 the rehabilitation of Oliva Artés by Jordi Badia (BAAS), carried out in stages, is completed; the same year the city cedes 6,800 m² of Can Ricart to the University of Barcelona.[11][12][13][4]
  9. 2018 the rehabilitation of Ca l'Alier, by the architects Jaume Arderiu and Tomàs Morató, is completed.[7][8]

People and collective life

Jaume Ricart i Guitart

Printing manufacturer who bought the land in 1853 and built the works that carry the family name; the company that took over the complex in 1866 was run by his son Frederic Ricart i Gibert.[3]

Josep Oriol i Bernadet

Architect of the first T-shaped works; after his death in 1860 Josep Fontserè i Mestre extended it in brick with cast-iron columns and added the clock tower.[3]

Associació de Veïns i Veïnes del Poblenou

Neighbourhood association whose member Joan Maria Soler lived through the whole campaign to save Can Ricart, which he calls the most important struggle in Poblenou since the transition to democracy.[13][4]

Taula de l'Eix Pere IV

Platform of local groups that promotes debates and participatory processes on the future of the Pere IV axis; it works with MUHBA Oliva Artés and meets in the Casal de Joves at Can Ricart.[13][4][14]

Institutions

Hangar

Visual-arts production centre working in naves of Can Ricart ceded by the city; 3Cat counted about 25 years of activity in February 2023.[13][4][14]

Casal de Joves del Poblenou–Can Ricart

Municipal youth centre in a rehabilitated nave, managed since 2016 by the federation La Xemeneia; its annex nave came into use in January 2026.[13][4][14]

MUHBA Oliva Artés

Space of the Museu d'Història de Barcelona in the former machinery workshop, with the permanent exhibition Interrogar Barcelona. De la industrialització al segle XXI.[11][12]

Fundació BIT Habitat

Foundation for urban innovation, sustainability and smart cities, based in Ca l'Alier at Carrer de Pere IV 362.[7][8]

Struggles that left a mark

Saving Can Ricart

Demand: When 22@ planning put the complex at risk, workers, neighbours and artist groups mobilised to stop the demolitions, defend the firms working there and demand that the heritage be preserved.[13][4]

Outcome: The city agreed to retain many of the historic buildings, and in May 2008 the oldest naves were declared a Bé Cultural d'Interès Nacional.[13][4]

A protected complex without a use

Demand: In 2019 local groups asked for a rethink of the whole Can Ricart area within the 22@ plan, after the Casa de les Llengües and the 2015 cession of 6,800 m² to the University of Barcelona had led nowhere.[13][4]

Outcome: The University of Barcelona then proposed a Campus de les Arts; in February 2023 part of the naves was reported in serious decay and the campus still awaited funding.[13][4]

What can still be seen

Can Ricart

Its oldest naves have been a Bé Cultural d'Interès Nacional since May 2008, the top level of Catalan heritage protection, with the chimney, clock tower and internal streets of a mid-nineteenth-century printing works.[3][13][4]

Ca l'Alier

Catalogued as a building with elements of interest (category C): three adjoining naves with bare-brick façades and a conical brick chimney that is a landmark of the Poblenou skyline.[7][8]

Tallers Oliva Artés

Also catalogued in category C: one isolated nave on Carrer del Marroc and three parallel naves in basilica plan, with a double-height central nave, now inside the Parc del Centre.[11][12]

What disappeared

Most of the Lucena works

In 1911 a large part of the Ca l'Alier site was demolished, and four fires between 2005 and 2007 caused roofs to collapse; three naves and the chimney survive.[7][8]

The workshops of Can Ricart

In 2005 the complex still held 34 firms with 240 workers, according to a local campaigner; the productive activity had ceased by May 2008.[13][4]

The neighbourhood today

In 2026 it had 22,076 residents, 203.3 residents per hectare, a mean census-section income of €23,093 in 2023, 108.6 hectares, and 22.5% of residents held non-Spanish nationality.[15][16][17][18]

The Gran Via side is a residential area of blocks built in the 1970s. Around Can Ricart, private developers were building about 70,000 m² of offices, more than 600 hotel and student-residence places and two loft developments in February 2023, an investment above €400 million.[4][2]

Non-Spanish nationality (2026): 22.5%

What is changing

As of October 2026, the public space of Can Ricart is being finished in stages. In October 2025 the city completed one phase: squares, the extension of Carrer d'Emília Coranty from Carrer del Marroc to Carrer del Perú and the opening of Carrer de Bolívia between Carrer d'Espronceda and Carrer de Bilbao. It covered 4,390 m² of the 17,923 m² project and cost €2.4 million.[19]

In January 2026 the annex nave of the Casal de Joves del Poblenou–Can Ricart, at Carrer d'Emília Coranty 5-9, came into use after works finished on 9 December 2025. The investment was €972,142 and it added more than 600 m² of multipurpose space.[14]

Tram works also shape the neighbourhood's mobility. Work to double the Trambesòs track and rebuild Gran Via suspended services on the T4, T5 and T6 in summer 2026. The T4, which serves the Pere IV and Fluvià stops, has run normally since 14 September; from 1 October until the works end, expected in spring 2027, the T5 and T6 are cut only between Glòries and Can Jaumandreu.[20][21]

In February 2023 the University of Barcelona still hoped to start its Campus de les Arts in the largest protected naves by September 2026. The works finished in October 2025 and January 2026 concern the public space and the annex of the youth centre.[13][4][19][14]

What the guides leave out

From cotton prints to coconut soap

From 1922 Can Ricart rented its naves to other firms; a company making coconut oil and soap took the halls at the end of the passage, and a chemical-industries company followed in 1923.[3][11][9]

Roman remains under the factory

Archaeological work in 2010 found fragments of Roman pottery at the Hangar, and a 2011 dig for the planned Casa de les Llengües recorded levelled Roman structures, among them a circular one 6 m across.[3][11][9]

Factory naves inside a park

The three parallel Oliva Artés naves once bordered Carrer de Pere IV and now stand inside the Parc del Centre, which Nouvel conceived as sunny in winter, increasingly covered in spring and mostly shade in summer.[3][11][9]

Read it on foot

Start: Pere IV (T4)[20][21] · End: Ca l'Alier[7][8]

Walking (excluding stop time): 11 min · 790 m · Estimated visit (with stops): 63 min

The geometry follows the pedestrian network between the four marked places, but it has not been verified as step-free. The approach from the Pere IV tram stop (T4) is not included in the stated distance.

Provençals del Poblenou (neighbourhood 71) highlighted. Other neighbourhoods in Sant Martí: el Camp de l'Arpa del Clot, el Clot, el Parc i la Llacuna del Poblenou, la Vila Olímpica del Poblenou, el Poblenou, Diagonal Mar i el Front Marítim del Poblenou.

1
Can Ricart
Carrer d'Emília Coranty 16
Find the conical brick chimney and the clock tower above the long naves, then the raised wooden bridge that joins two naves at first-floor level along the main passage.[3][13][4][19]
The works was built from 1853 for the textile manufacturer Jaume Ricart on a T-shaped plan by Josep Oriol i Bernadet. Its oldest naves have been a Bé Cultural d'Interès Nacional since 2008, and the squares around them were finished in 2025.[3][13][4][19]
Coordinates
41.40868, 2.19939 · OpenStreetMap
2
Parc del Centre del Poblenou
Avinguda Diagonal 130
350 m · 5 min
Follow the perimeter wall covered in Mediterranean plants to the gate, then look for the spiral path of the Cràter-pou del Món and the metal structures of the Nius i Pous del Cel.[9][10]
Jean Nouvel designed the 5.5-hectare park, opened in spring 2008, in three areas with groundwater irrigation. The Viquipèdia records that its planting drew criticism almost at once.[9][10]
Coordinates
41.40741, 2.20045 · OpenStreetMap
3
MUHBA Oliva Artés
Carrer d'Espronceda 142-146
180 m · 2 min
Look at the long naves of basilica plan, a taller central nave between two lower side naves under pitched roofs, where machinery was once built and repaired.[11][12]
Built in 1920 as a machinery workshop, it closed in 2000 and, after a rehabilitation by Jordi Badia completed in 2015, is a space of the Museu d'Història de Barcelona with the permanent exhibition Interrogar Barcelona. De la industrialització al segle XXI.[11][12]
Coordinates
41.40835, 2.20153 · OpenStreetMap
4
Ca l'Alier
Carrer de Pere IV 362
260 m · 3 min
Look for the three adjoining naves with bare-brick façades, a strong vertical rhythm of pilasters and tall arched openings, and the brick chimney behind them.[7][8]
A printing works from 1852, later a net and jute factory, it burned four times between 2005 and 2007. Rehabilitated by 2018, it now houses the Fundació BIT Habitat.[7][8]
Coordinates
41.40986, 2.20349 · OpenStreetMap

Sources for this page

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

  1. [1] Viquipèdia (n.d.). Provençals del Poblenou. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  2. [2] Wikipedia (n.d.). Provençals del Poblenou. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  3. [3] Viquipèdia (n.d.). Can Ricart (Poblenou). Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  4. [4] 3Cat Info (Alonso Carnicer, Sara Grimal) (2023). Can Ricart, un conjunt patrimonial que llangueix enmig de la transformació del 22@. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  5. [5] Museu d'Història de Barcelona (MUHBA) (2018). Pere IV. Passatge major del Poblenou. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  6. [6] Viquipèdia (n.d.). Sant Martí de Provençals. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  7. [7] Viquipèdia (n.d.). Ca l'Alier. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  8. [8] Barcelona Turisme (Consorci de Turisme de Barcelona) (n.d.). Ca l'Alier. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  9. [9] Viquipèdia (n.d.). Parc del Centre del Poblenou. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  10. [10] Ajuntament de Barcelona (n.d.). Parc del Centre del Poblenou (Barcelona.cat). Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  11. [11] Viquipèdia (n.d.). Tallers Oliva Artés. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  12. [12] Museu d'Història de Barcelona (MUHBA) (n.d.). Oliva Artés. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  13. [13] 3Cat Info (Alonso Carnicer, Sara Grimal) (2019). Un Campus de les Arts per revitalitzar Can Ricart. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  14. [14] Metrópoli Abierta (Arnau Raimundo) (2026). Barcelona completa la restauración de una histórica fábrica protegida del siglo XIX tras invertir un millón de euros. 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.
  19. [19] Barcelona al Dia (2025). Finaliza una nueva fase de urbanización del recinto histórico de Can Ricart. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  20. [20] Districte de Sant Martí, Ajuntament de Barcelona (2026). La línia T4 de tramvia recupera la normalitat el 14 de setembre. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  21. [21] Viquipèdia (n.d.). Provençals del Poblenou (parades de tramvia). Accessed: 2026-10-03.

Last reviewed: 3 October 2026 · 21 sources consulted

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