News
Nou Barris approves a key redevelopment in the Aiguablava triangle
Nou Barris has taken an important step towards transforming the Aiguablava triangle, a key area between Trinitat Nova and the mercado de Montserrat. The redevelopment will allow for the construction of a larger sports centre with a swimming pool, as well as 70 social housing units in an area where residents have been calling for more facilities and public housing for years.
The District Council has approved the amendment to the General Metropolitan Plan, the procedure that opens the door to urban planning change. The project provides for a 2,000-square-metre sports centre, double what was initially proposed, within an operation that also includes green areas and new housing.
The operation forms part of a broader transformation, with 140 homes planned in total. Of these, 70 will be social housing, an important figure for a district where access to housing remains one of many families’ major concerns.
The future sports facility is another of the plan’s strengths. The expansion will make it possible to design a space with greater capacity and better services for surrounding neighbourhoods, instead of a small sports centre that could prove inadequate from the first day.
The project also leaves room to adapt if technical difficulties arise. The presence of an underground sewer collector could require the facility to be moved within the development area, but the intention is to maintain the planned function and not reduce the project’s ambition.
Parking remains the most delicate point. The space currently functions as a temporary car park and the redevelopment may mean the loss of up to 320 spaces, an issue that concerns residents and political groups. Among the alternatives proposed is studying an expansion of the nearby Montserrat market car park.
For those living in Trinitat Nova and the surrounding area, the change may be felt on several fronts: more protected housing, a more complete sports facility, new green spaces and the reorganisation of an area that has been awaiting a definitive solution for some time.
The redevelopment of the Aiguablava triangle will not solve all the neighbourhood’s problems at once, but it does mark a clear priority: using one of Nou Barris’s last major land reserves for services, public housing and neighbourhood life, although the debate over where to leave the car will remain very present.