The forum 2004 complex urban development project Barcelona

The Forum 2004 Complex Urban Development Project Barcelona is the twenty-two article on projects from practice. Before diving into the details of this urban development a background is essential about what is the forum. The World Urban Forum is a global gathering of leaders of non-legislative contexts to discuss the rapid urbanization of the globe and its impact on the economy, society, and environment. The first World Urban Forum was held in Nairobi, and it is held every 2 years since that year. See the map of the previous world urban forum locations by UN-Habitat.  

The forum urban development project in Barcelona was introduced to develop this area and to hold the 2004 World Urban Forum in its conference building. The Forum is a local initiative of the City Councils of Barcelona and Sant Adria del Besos, with the support of the regional government (Generalitat de Catalunya), the Spanish State, and UNESCO.

The Forum urban development project site is located in the East of the metropolitan center, in the municipalities of Barcelona (28%) and Sant Adria del Besos (72%). Geographically it is in the area where the Estuary of the River Besòs reaches the Mediterranean Coast.  The waterfront of the zone is underutilized and undeveloped and the river in the 90’s was one of the most environmentally deteriorated rivers. The project is an investment of 2.8 billion euros reserved to transform this zone into a great park of integrated ecological and cultural zone of green urban space, monumental buildings serving the area. The east seafront of the area was a difficult area to develop and upgrade for various reasons. The presence of industrial factories and social problems in the districts and the level of pollution. See Figure 2,3 sample of the industrial view and the previous social housing in the La Mina area.

It was an important place for Catalans because the majority of the working class lived in the shanty housing of Camp de la Bota on the mouth of the river Besos marking the times of suffering and poverty. During the civil war, 4000 people were living there and it was the location of the Francos execution killing 1500 people.

In the seventies with the historic Catalan gas power plant and the can Girona factory many heavy industries moved in the area to the waterfront. That includes a water treatment plant and numerous council housing estates built near the factories for the working labor to transfer the people from the shanty dwellers. See Figure 4, the ariel view of the Forum 2004 complex urban development showing all parts of the development.

The project is 643 acres of mixed types of lands, brownfield- virgin- reclaimed, where 55 % were reserved for open space. The Forum 2004 complex urban development is composed of housing development (38%), and various metropolitan facilities (27%) like a university campus, congress center, the Forum building, and tertiary activities (27%) commerce, offices, hotels, and an area of (8%) to house the research and development buildings.

In Figure 4 all the development components are marked in red numbering. The sewage treatment plant (1) as per the consultancy of all involved planning and firms to be kept. The development included various green spaces and parks (2) along the waterfront. The largest urban open forum and space (3) with sustainable energy facilities. The power plant kept (4) and an additional recycling plant, photovoltaic plant, heating and cooling plant. The forum building triangular shape (5) was built to hold the World Urban Forum 2004. Adjacent to the forum building is the Congress Building (6). The offices and business district (7) are adjacent to the congress buildings of high-rise towers. Along the curved road connecting Mar Avenue (8) on the waterfront side are the university campus and the technology park buildings. On the other side of the curved road are the new dwelling buildings area. Along the park and green area adjacent to the dwellings are the hotel’s high-rise buildings.

The Diagonal Road connecting La Mina to the waterfront also developed in terms of roads and highway networks adding some roundabouts. Three stations of which two are metro stations and one tram line added to the development in later stages. Figure 5 shows the forum building, the congress center, the business center, office buildings, the commercial center, the two arteries of road development the diagonal road and the waterfront road, and all the urban regeneration of the waterfront of the urban development.