Barcelona's Seafront Transformation: Urban Renewal Since 1987

Barcelona's coastline appears timeless—sand, palm trees, a long promenade, restaurants, shops, and modern hotels—but this was not always the case. Until the 1980s, the city's maritime facade was an active barrier of railway tracks, factories, and informal housing, with wastewater flowing directly into the Mediterranean. From 1987 onward, Barcelona began continuously creating large promenades and corridors between the city and the sea, shaping an environment many today might mistake for a previously empty space. In reality, it results from decades of infrastructure and social complexity, alongside a municipal effort to transform the city's territory and its relationship with water. Analyzing this transformation raises three questions that structure the article: who was displaced to open the seafront, who benefits from it, and what tensions remain in this renewed urban landscape.