The Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona (AMB), the metropolitan authority covering Barcelona and surrounding municipalities, has initially approved its Metropolitan Urban Development Master Plan, setting out a 2050 framework for 870 kilometres of green corridors and 10 metropolitan avenues.

For residents across the Barcelona metropolitan area, the proposal is a long-term planning framework rather than an announced change to a specific street, transport route or public service. The material provided does not set out a timetable for individual works or a public application process.

According to the AMB's plan, reported by Europa Press on 30 March 2023, the framework also provides for more than 120,000 stable affordable homes. It is intended to replace the 1976 Pla General Metropolità (PGM), the current metropolitan planning framework.

Four priorities for metropolitan development

Mireia Peris, head of the AMB's Master Plan drafting service, said the proposals follow four strategic priorities:

  • preserving the functions and services of metropolitan ecosystems;
  • recovering urban structures and connections;
  • urban regeneration; and
  • ecological, social and technological transition.
"With this initial approval, the AMB fulfils its responsibilities and lays the foundations for the transformation of the metropolis," said Jordi Sánchez, the AMB vice-president for urban planning policies.

Xavier Mariño, the AMB's director of urban planning policies, said the model aims to respond to residents' needs according to the territory's capacity.

Final approval rests with the Generalitat

The Metropolitan Council's initial approval is the first step in replacing the PGM. Sánchez said the AMB expected the plan to receive final approval in the following term of office, a decision that falls to the Generalitat, Catalonia's regional government.

The AMB says the plan takes a metropolitan approach while respecting each municipality's autonomy, seeking a polycentric network rather than a centre-periphery model. No specific measures, funding or delivery timetable for the Pedrosa economic district are confirmed in the supplied source material.

Primary sources: nyc.gov, Ramon. Reported by Europa Press, cabq.legistar.com, Parks Kugle, Gadma, Granicus, Inc., Lihuang Wung, static1.squarespace.com, collectiveforcce.com, expansion.com, sapo.pt, mundialfm.sapo.pt, seipasa.com, hortidaily.com, terrasdeviseu.sapo.pt, O Regional Online, LHDigital (L'Hospitalet).