The urban development of Barcelona over the span of more than two thousand years makes an excellent example of a successful idea of urbanity. For more than 150 years, it has been under the continuous process of the adaptation, restoration and revitalization of its urban space which aims at creating optimal dwelling and working conditions for its inhabitants. The crowning achievement in the urban dimension of industrial city was the extension – Eixample designed by Ildefonso Cerdà in 1859. The orthogonal street grid, which remained decades ahead of similar solutions in other European cities, assumed tenfold extension of the city area and changed its image forever. Similarly to a number of other postindustrial cities, Barcelona must revitalize vast degraded and partially abandoned areas which shifted from the outskirts to the heart of this polycentric metropolis. The 22@Barcelona project changes the urban, social and functional structure of the central areas as well as contributes to the transformation of Barcelona from the City of Industrial Civilization into the City of Knowledge Civilization.

The urban development of Barcelona over the span of more than two thousand years makes an excellent example of a successful idea of urbanity. For more than 150 years, it has been under the continuous process of the adaptation, restoration and revitalization of its urban space which aims at creating optimal dwelling and working conditions for its inhabitants. The crowning achievement in the urban dimension of industrial city was the extension – Eixample designed by Ildefonso Cerdà in 1859. The orthogonal street grid, which remained decades ahead of similar solutions in other European cities, assumed tenfold extension of the city area and changed its image forever. Similarly to a number of other postindustrial cities, Barcelona must revitalize vast degraded and partially abandoned areas which shifted from the outskirts to the heart of this polycentric metropolis. The 22@Barcelona project changes the urban, social and functional structure of the central areas as well as contributes to the transformation of Barcelona from the City of Industrial Civilization into the City of Knowledge Civilization.