Barcelona’s Gràcia district is at the centre of a new planning setback after the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) annulled the metropolitan general plan for urban and environmental improvement.
The plan was approved in February 2022 by the previous city government. It was challenged by the property sector, and the court said several measures linked to new construction and rehabilitation were not viable.
This is the second ruling this month against the same plan. In the earlier decision, the court said the city had failed to request a report from the Catalan Water Agency on the eight water mines in the neighbourhood. It also said the modification had major shortcomings, including an insufficient economic and financial study.
The TSJC accepted an expert judicial report submitted by the property sector. That report said the planned measures would cause significant performance losses and would be practically unviable. The plan required 30% of new buildings between 400 and 600 square metres to be set aside for protected housing, while homes larger than 160 square metres had to be split 50% market-rate housing and 50% protected housing.
The court said these proposals “present significant performance losses and make the planned actions unviable”. It added that, from the point of view of economic viability, it did not seem possible to meet the plan’s main aim of recovering residential and service use for residents, because the measures could increase homes in already built areas without offering an economic incentive.
The appeal was brought by the Association of Property Developers and Builders of Catalonia, the Barcelona Urban Property Chamber, the College of Property Administrators Barcelona-Lleida, the Official College of Real Estate Agents of Barcelona and Province, and the Association of Real Estate Agents of Catalonia. The groups said the ruling does not question the plan’s goals, such as more affordable housing and urban improvement, but the method used to reach them. More Catalonia news
They also said housing policy must be legally sound, economically viable, and shaped through dialogue with the agents who have to carry it out. The organisations warned that poorly analysed measures could slow real estate activity, hinder rehabilitation of existing homes, reduce investment, and delay new housing reaching the market. For the original court context, see the Spanish Judiciary and the Catalan Government Justice Department.
