Barcelona vs. Granada (Southern Spain)

            Our tour of Southern Spain took us thought many smaller cities such as Granada. These smaller cities have tiny streets that are not organized, and have not grown since the end of the 19^th century. This seems very different when compared with a city like Barcelona, which is larger and has wider streets that are laid out in a grid plan. It is clear to see why Barcelona was able to enter the 20^th century with its modern plan whereas Granada remains mostly historical since it has only an ancient city plan.

            The organized growth of Barcelona was because of Ildefons Cerda’s plan for the Eixample. This organization for the city allowed for infrastructure to be laid out, public transportation to be put in as well as other necessities that would be needed for a city in the 20^th century, which would be able to support a large population that would be working in factories, plants and shops. Granada’s city plan on the other hand, does not quite allow for such infrastructure. The streets grow in random directions because they were expanded when needed, this leads them to rarely be oriented in a straight line. This makes it very hard to build the infrastructure that would be needed for the city to grow, since they would have to tear down so much of the old city to build a new city.

            These two different city plans have thus given two different results. The organized city plan of Barcelona allows the city to develop past its ancient city plan into a modern layout whereas Granada’s ancient plan has kept the city on a much smaller scale.

Barcelona City 

Granada City