Barcelona has completed the Marina Street regeneration next to the Sagrada Família, adding public space and improving the link between the basilica and Gaudí Square. The eight-month project cost €2 million and creates a continuous double block in front of the temple, with a circular layout that moves traffic away from the façade.
The design follows Rubió i Tudurí’s 1977 project. It also gives more room for community activity, including events organised by the Coordinadora d’Entitats Sagrada Família, which the city says will strengthen the area’s civic use.
The Marina Street work is part of the Sagrada Família High-Traffic Area Action Plan, which is being rolled out in the Eixample district. The plan has a budget of €15.44 million for 2024 to 2027 and sets out 37 measures to improve coexistence, organise public space use, and support local, commercial and urban activity around the temple.
Barcelona deputy mayor Jordi Valls said the Marina Street completion improves public space and supports the city’s work in high-traffic areas. He linked it with more civic agents, the expanded news coverage on local civic measures, the “Juguem a les places” programme, and the Bus 4.0 zone as part of efforts to reduce tourist overcrowding.
About 80% of the action plan’s measures have already been implemented. The city says the basic civic agent team around Sagrada Família has been increased from March to December, with four extra agents in the morning shift, taking the total to eight, and two more in the afternoon, taking that shift to six.
Other measures include the “Juguem a les places” family activity programme, which will run every Saturday morning until 15 November in the Sagrada Família area, plus a scientific storytelling series with a feminist perspective and a film forum at the Sagrada Família Civic Centre and Library. The council is also backing local commerce through subsidies from the Municipal Institute of Urban Landscape, the “Impulsem el que fas” programme, and Barcelona Activa’s “Comerç a punt”.
Further changes include the Bus 4.0 Zone for tourist coaches, updated licences for artisan stalls in Sagrada Família and Gaudí Squares, and a reduction in the number of pitches from eleven to seven. Those stalls have been moved to Provença Street between Sardenya and Sicília, while local produce stalls on Gaudí Avenue have been shifted to ease congestion near Provença. The city is also remodelling irrigation systems in Sagrada Família Square and Gaudí Square as part of its Municipal Investment Plan.