To sum up

Back to Port Vell, Thirty Years Later

This project involves the redevelopment of public spaces in Barcelona’s Port Vell, thirty years after its major urban transformation and opening to the city. Based on an approach of “urban acupuncture”, the intervention relies on targeted actions designed to strengthen the connections between the port, the city, the sea and citizens, while addressing the challenges of climate change. Building on the characteristics of the existing spaces, the project enhances and complements them through new amenities: shaded resting areas, vegetation, water features, heat-reflective paving materials and adapted street furniture. These interventions contribute to improving environmental comfort, biodiversity and the overall quality of public spaces. The project also incorporates installations that bring back the memory of the former breakwater, “el Rompeolas”, making the site’s maritime history part of visitors’ everyday experience.

Existing Structures, Living Spaces and Memory

This project is part of Port Vell’s strategy to strengthen its role as an active interface between the port, the city and the sea. Following the major urban transformation of the 1980s and 1990s, which opened these spaces to the public, a new approach was needed to address today’s challenges: climate change adaptation, the shortage of nearby public spaces, pedestrian connectivity and the preservation of the site’s maritime identity. Rather than radically transforming the existing environment, the project seeks to reinterpret and modernise it while preserving its port character. The new climate-comfort and cooling spaces are particularly designed to meet the everyday needs of residents in neighbouring districts. By enhancing pedestrian continuity along the waterfront and reintroducing traces of the port’s history into public spaces, the project brings together environmental adaptation, quality of life and the enhancement of maritime heritage.

This project is the result of close collaboration between the Barcelona Port Authority, Port Vell, Marina Vela and Scob Arquitectura i Paisatge, with contributions from Joan Alemany, curator and maritime heritage specialist.

Design by: BSCOB architecture & landscape (Sergi Carulla & Oscar Blasco)ROKKR Studio Architects, VSO Consulting, Íslenskir Aðalverktakar (ÍAV)

Images of the project

About the Gerencia Urbanística Port Vell

Gerencia Urbanística Port Vell, constituted by the Autoridad Portuaria de Barcelona, is driving the transformation of the waterfront as a strategic space of interaction between the port, the city, and the sea. Since its urban opening, this area has evolved as a place for civic gathering, port activity, culture, and innovation. Port Vell promotes interventions that enhance public space, reinforce port heritage, and advance towards a more sustainable and accessible model of port–city integration.

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