This district is located north of Barcelona, it was sparsely populated but during the decades of the 1950s and 1960s it received a strong influx of working-class migration from other regions of Spain in search of job opportunities.
Real estate speculation favored by the Francoist dictatorship stimulated the occupation of the area for the construction of popular housing, not always within good urban conditions. Since the arrival of democracy, administrations have undertaken various projects for urban renewal and improvement and the construction of popular housing.
The neighborhoods in the district correspond to three types: self-construction (Torre Baró, a part of Les Roquetes and Vallbona), built by the public administration (Trinitat Nova, la Guineueta, Canyelles, el Verdúm and a part of Les Roquetes), and promoted by private real estate companies (Trinitat Vella, La Prosperitat, and Ciutat Meridiana).
The architectural configurations are diverse as they include various types of popular housing, from single-family homes with gardens, through large blocks of mass housing proposed by modern architecture to more contemporary solutions.
NEIGHBORHOODS OF NOU BARRIS:
Can Peguera, Canyelles, Ciutat Meridiana, La Guineueta, La Prosperitat, Les Roquetes, La Trinitat Nova, El Turó de la Peira, Porta, Torre Baró, Vallbona, Verdún, Vilapicina i la Torre Llobeta.
Points of Interest and References:
- Santuary of Santa Eulàlia de Vilapicina: 18th-century chapel in the Turó de la Peira neighborhood. It is part of an interesting complex of historic buildings, along with Ca n'Artes, an old inn built between the 15th and 16th centuries, and Can Basté, an 18th-century farmhouse. (Passeig Fabra i Puig 260)
- Nou Barris Central Park: a contemporary public space built between 1999 and 2007 and designed by the Catalan architecture firm Arriola i Fiol. It is part of the urban reform project of the peripheral areas of Barcelona. (Passeig d'Urrutia 89)