The pandemic has left a desolate landscape on many city streets, especially those where tourists massively transited. Lowered blinds succeed each other and fill with signs seeking new tenants. The Barcelona City Council wants to change the situation by filling these street-level premises with economic activities that now occupy the upper floors. Professional offices where there used to be shops.
This was announced by Barcelona's first deputy mayor, Jaume Collboni, at the inauguration of Barcelona ReAct, a conference that, precisely, aims to help shape the future of the city once the COVID crisis passes. Collboni has estimated that 5,200 commercial ground floors are currently empty. They represent 1.5 million square meters of available space, far exceeding the capacity of areas like 22@, with one million square meters. The city council plans to present this new policy next week, along with its commitment to economic promotion areas (APEU).
Bringing business activity down to street level has been one of the 20 driving projects proposed by the deputy mayor to transform the city's economic model, which are expected to generate more than 100,000 new jobs by 2030 and can be accelerated with European funds. "Barcelona wants to be an engine of economic prosperity for the country, for Catalonia and Spain again. We have the talent, the capacity to innovate, the technologies and global connectivity to do it again. But, above all, we have the vocation and ambition," Collboni defended.
The projects proposed for the coming years include new ones, such as the model for commercial ground floors, but also some that have been promoted for some time. The Zona Franca and La Marina, Montjuïc, the center, 22@ and the Besòs will be the main scenarios of this new economic roadmap for the city.
Specifically, the city council is working to promote new uses in the Gran Via venue of Fira de Barcelona, which will be developed throughout the year and not only when there are fairs, a park of industry 4.0 SMEs, and the transformation of Mercabarna (La Zona Franca and La Marina); to boost the sportech sector in the Olympic Ring and establish a center for the promotion of the cooperative economy in Can Batlló (Montjuïc), and to diversify economic activity in the city center, with the development of the Correos hub and the Ciutadella del Coneixement, and the commitment to the blue economy on the seafront.
Likewise, it foresees an incubator for creative industries in the Palo Alto warehouse and a foodlab in La Escocesa (22@) and to transform the old Mercedes-Benz factory into new industries and housing and to create a building for SMEs, startups and coworking spaces on the Diagonal-Besòs Campus of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (Besòs).
Barcelona ReAct Conferences
The new economic plans for the city have been the starting gun for the Barcelona ReAct conferences, which will be held telematically and in person for four days. Former mayors Joan Clos, Narcís Serra, Jordi Hereu and Xavier Trias have wanted to support the municipal team by attending the inauguration. The Disseny Hub will be the stage where most of the talks will take place, but La Boqueria, Casa Seat, the Olympic Ring and Pier 01 will be other featured spaces.
Urban planner Greg Clark, sociologist Saskia Sassen, UN Special Envoy for the Oceans and blue economy expert, Peter Thomson, entrepreneurship expert, Hila Oren, and director of the ISE audiovisual fair, Mike Blackman, will be some of the international speakers. Also participating will be the founder of Ona Therapeutics, Valerie Vanhooren, the general director of BIST, Gabby Silberman, the director of EIT Urban Mobility for Southern Europe, Daniel Serra, the director of Barcelona Airport, Sonia Corrochano, and the director of CCCB, Judit Carrera.
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The main future projects for Barcelona
La Zona Franca and La Marina
- New uses in the Gran Via venue of Fira de Barcelona
- Industry 4.0 SME park
- Transformation of Mercabarna
- Sportech sector in the Olympic Ring
- Center for the promotion of the cooperative economy in Can Batlló
- Post Office Hub
- Ciutadella del Coneixement
- Blue economy on the seafront
- Creative industries incubator in Palo Alto
- Foodlab in La Escocesa
- Transform the old Mercedes-Benz factory into new industries and housing
- Create a building for SMEs, startups and coworking spaces on the Diagonal-Besòs Campus of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya