Pere IV street

Pere IV Street is an old vital trace of the city of Barcelona. It was the city’s entrance from France, and was turned into the access road for the city’s supplies.

Today, the street has lost its purpose. The neighborhood and its surroundings need to be reactivated. The historic trace of the street, which ties different districts, green areas and city spaces, needs to be put again in contact with the different parts of the city.

A citizen-involved urban plan is presented, through a test with paint in a 1:1 scale. The project suggests drawing a new urban section on the street, cutting down the circulation lanes from 5 to 1. That way, it is possible to widen the sidewalks temporarily, and to generate new possibilities. Conflict, change and transformation are all necessary in a contemporary city.

The painting project helps to discover new urban situations, allows citizens to interact with it and enables the quick modification of urban conditions. After a two-year period, we will collect all the needs expressed by the users, the various technical opinions and our own conclusions, in order to proceed with the writing of a definitive urban project.

The contemporary city and this project must be organized an ethic pragmatism. Therefore, the system’s porosity and the project’s incomplete/open form will always allow it to be adjusted depending on its necessities.