Court orders Barcelona council to undo pedestrianization of city center street

A Barcelona court on Thursday revoked the approval of the so-called "green hub" superblock on Consell de Cent street in the city center. 

According to the magistrates, the council, at the time under former mayor Ada Colau of left-wing Barcelona en Comú, should have modified the city's General Metropolitan Plan (PGM) urban planning regulation in order to carry out the works to pedestrianize it rather than simply approving an ordinary building license.

The court has thus ruled in favor of Barcelona Oberta, a business and tourism association, ordering the council to "return it to the state it was prior to approval."

The 19-page sentence argues that the works on Consell de Cent have substantially modified the street's functions as established in the PGM. 

Vehicles can no longer drive from one end to the other of the street, meaning Consell de Cent can no longer be used to access other streets. 

The ruling states that a street cannot be pedestrianized with an ordinary building license and affects the 9 blocks between Carrer de Casanova and Carrer del Bruc as well as the new square on Carrer d'Enric Granados. The entire "green hub" on Consell de Cent is 20 blocks long. 

The court also sides with Barcelona Oberta in that the council did not apparently carry out studies on potential alternative mobility projects or the works' economic, social, or environmental impact. 

It also ruled that tenders for the works could not be fragmented without justification. 

The council divided the Consell de Cent "green hub" into four parts, which were in turn subdivided into several sections, giving rise to 20 executive works projects.

Barcelona council to appeal ruling

The Barcelona council has two weeks to appeal the ruling before Catalonia's High Court (TSJC) and has already announced its plans to do so. 

The current deputy mayor for urban planning, the Socialist Laia Bonet, said she believed "wholeheartedly" in the municipal legal team and claimed there were "more than enough arguments" to overturn the decision. The politician, however, did criticize the previous administration for moving forward with the project despite the lack of widespread consensus. 

Meanwhile, Barcelona en Comú spokesperson Janet Sanz, a key figure in Colau's council, argued the pedestrianization of the street was indeed legal and said there was a Catalan government report that allowed them to carry out the works without modifying the PGM. 

Superblock detractors blast Colau

Barcelona Oberta, the association that lodged the initial complaint against the former mayor's pedestrianization plans, celebrated the ruling but warned it could also affect the current works on Via Laietana to expand the avenue's sidewalks. 

In a statement issued not long after the decision was made public, it accused the former council of acting based on "ideology" and "authoritarianism" rather than "legality."

Jordi Martí, the spokesperson for the party of Xavier Trias, who almost became Barcelona mayor last June, said the ruling was a blow to "Ada Colau's unilateral and axe-wielding urban planning" but also called it "devastating news for the Eixample district, Barcelona and the municipal coffers."

Similarly, Dani Sirera, a Barcelona politician for the conservative People's Party, explained on X that he had asked Colau last January to stop the project. 

"Who pays for this now?" he asked. 

Filling the Sink podcast

Press play below to listen to the Filling the Sink podcast episode from September 2021 about the city's superblocks and tactical urbanism.