The parks and gardens of Barcelona cover an area of 2,784 hectares.Of the total 2784 hectares, 1795 correspond to the Sierra de Collserola, and the rest to green areas, including public parks and gardens, roadside trees (150,912 units), planters (3,816 units), flower beds and slopes; also included are the 6 hectares corresponding to the beaches of Barcelona (2001 data) (AA.VV., 2001, p. 31). Its management depends on the Municipal Institute of Parks and Gardens of Barcelona (in ), a body under the Barcelona City Council. Since the 19th century —and especially in the 20th century— Barcelona has been committed to the development of green areas in the city, and is currently one of the European cities with the most roadside trees (150,000 units). In 2001 the Institute of Parks and Gardens received ISO 14001 certification for the conservation and management of green spaces and public roadside trees.
Gardening in Barcelona has had an uneven evolution over time: the first significant project, the Labyrinth of Horta park, dates back to the 18th century; the first large public park in Barcelona, the Citadel, was opened in the 19th century; but most of the green areas in the city date from the 20th century, a period in which public gardening in the Catalan capital was given a great boost. In this last century gardening has developed mainly in four phases: the first planning carried out by Léon Jaussely in his plan of connections and by Nicolau Maria Rubió i Tudurí, author of an ambitious plan of concentric green areas throughout the city, from Montjuïc to the Besòs; the post-war period saw a setback in the creation of green spaces, mainly due to real estate speculation that led to an increase in the population due to immigration, as well as the priority given to road traffic due to the increase in the number of cars. With the arrival of democracy there was a new impulse to the creation of landscaped spaces, with a predominance of architectural design and a multipurpose sense of space, which added to the plant element service areas and leisure and recreational facilities for the population; finally, towards the end of the century a more naturalistic trend emerged, more in line with the new ideas of ecology and environmental sustainability, with concern not only for parks and large green areas but also for the placement of groves in streets and promenades of the city.
Depending on their characteristics, Barcelona's parks and gardens are divided into several typologies: "historical", those created before 1950, such as the Parc del Laberint d'Horta, the Parc de la Ciutadella, Parc Güell, the gardens of the University of Barcelona, those of Laribal and those of the Palau Reial de Pedralbes; "thematic", which are dedicated to a certain type of plant species, such as the Parc de Cervantes, dedicated to roses, the Mossèn Costa i Llobera gardens, specialized in cacti and succulents, and the Mossèn Cinto Verdaguer gardens, dedicated to aquatic, bulbous and rhizomatous plants; "urban" are the most common type, parks and gardens located in the city and open to all public, with services and multipurpose spaces for the enjoyment of all citizens; and "forest", green spaces of wide extension generally located in areas bordering the city, such as the Sierra de Collserola and the mountain of Montjuïc.
List of parks and gardens
A YearNameAreaLocationDescriptionPhoto1930Acclimatization Garden of Barcelona0,86 haEstadio Avenue s/n (Sants-Montjuic)It is located on the mountain of Montjuic, between the Olympic Stadium and the Bernat Picornell Pools. It was created in 1930 by Nicolás María Rubió y Tudurí, the year after the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition, on the site where the Italian and Swedish pavilions had been located. Its objective was to create a special protection zone for the acclimatization of foreign species. The main nucleus was made up of species from the five continents that were brought for the exhibition, which were later expanded until 1937, when the Civil War interrupted the work. Later, in 1945, the architect Lluís Riudor and the botanist Joan Pañella resumed the planting work, which continued until the 1980s. This garden houses about 230 species of plants, some of them unique or of scarce presence in the city. Its area is divided into two levels, connected by stone stairs, and next to the flowerbeds are a series of pergolas with vines, connected by paths of sablon.2014Àgora Juan Andrés Benítez0,0662 haCarrer Aurora (El Raval)It is an occupied, community-run garden, situated in the neighborhood of Raval, Barcelona. It is named after a resident of the neighborhood that was killed on October 6, 2013, by the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police). Since 2014, when it was occupied it has hosted various events by at least 400 collectives.https://www.apdnoticies.com/es/barcelona/el-raval-planta-cara-agora-juan-andres-benitez-se-juega-su-desalojo-el-14-de-mayo-pese-a-400-colectivos-y-12-anos-de-uso_11594_102.html1978Parc de les Aigües1,95 haAlfonso X Square (Horta-Guinardó)The origin of this park is found in the old gardens and nurseries of the residence of the president of the company Aigües de Barcelona, designed in the late 19th century by the Swiss gardener Nicolas Chevalier. The residence of the Aigüesvexecutive —known as Can Móra—, in neo-Mudejar style, is currently the headquarters of the district of Horta-Guinardó. The gardens were remodeled by Joaquim Casamor in 1978, who established a series of staggered areas to save the slope of the land, and laid out a central walkway populated with yuccas and palm trees, as well as a pine forest at the top, where a pool for irrigation is located, which protrudes from the ground in the style of the Catalan safareig ("washhouse"). In the upper part of the park is the Mercè Rodoreda Library, next to an esplanade where the sculpture El submarino enterrado, by Josep Maria Riera i Aragó (1991) is located. Among the vegetation, with 44 species of trees, stands out a tulipero de Virginia (Liriodendron tulipifera), declared of local interest.2018Parc d'Antoni Santiburcio1,2 haGran de Sant Andreu Street n.º 484 (Sant Andreu)Dedicated to the socialist politician Antoni Santiburcio Moreno, it was created on the former site of an artillery barracks. After its demolition, it was planned to create a green space next to various facilities for the neighborhood and social housing. The park was built in two phases: in the first, completed in 2018, various differentiated areas were delimited, such as an esplanade, a parterre of aromatic plants, a zone of trees, exercise areas and ornamental fountains, as well as a path that forms small squares and viewpoints. The vegetation incorporates a variety of shrubby plant species, with an irrigation system that incorporates sustainable drainage techniques to take advantage of rainfall. In 2020, in a second phase of the works, the children's play area was inaugurated, with a surface area of 6706 m2.
B YearNameAreaLocationDescriptionPhoto1995Jardins del Baix Guinardó1,79 haMarina Street, 372 (Horta-Guinardó)It is located in the old central courtyard of the Gerona Barracks, a former military cavalry barracks whose building is now occupied by municipal offices in the district of Horta-Guinardó. It was created in 1995 with a project by Jordi Farrando. The landscaped area is structured around a large square pond, which is the center of the park. Around it, there is a wide esplanade of sablon, and plant elements are combined with leisure areas (a children's area, a bar, a picnic area, ping-pong tables and a series of fitness equipment). On a slope of the terrain there are terraces with shrub species.1996Parc de la Barceloneta3,21 haPasseig Marítimo de la Barceloneta, 15-21 (Ciutat Vella)It is located in the neighborhood of La Barceloneta. It was inaugurated in 1996, with a design by Jordi Henrich and Olga Tarrasó. On this site there was formerly a factory of the Catalana de Gas company, in operation until 1989, of which remain a water tower and the metal structure of a gasometer, designed by the engineer Claudi Gil Serra in 1868. The tower is a work of modernist design by Josep Domènech i Estapà, from 1905. The office building, built in 1907 by Domènech i Estapà, which now houses the Fábrica del Sol, headquarters of the Barcelona Sostenible Resource Center, dedicated to environmental education, is also preserved from the old factory. The park area comprises several areas with grassy parterres and sablon spaces, punctuated by plant areas dominated by regular plantings of trees such as pines, tipuanas, palms, bellasombras and taray trees. Next to the promenade, which overlooks the Barceloneta beach, there is a Monument to Simón Bolívar, a work by Julio Maragall (1996).2004Parc Fluvial del Besòs115 haBesòs With a length of 9 km, this park runs along the course of the Besòs river from Montcada i Reixac —at the confluence with the Ripoll River—to the mouth of the river in Sant Adrià de Besòs, passing through the municipalities of Barcelona and Santa Coloma de Gramenet. There are ten bridges along its route: Moncada, B-20, Vell de Santa Coloma, Can Peixauet, Molinet, Guipúzcoa, A-19, Cristòfor de Moura, Ferrocarril and Maristany. The park is divided into three areas: a wetlands area, located in Moncada (first 3 km); another for public use (5 km), with 22 ha of lawns; and the river mouth (450 m), restricted to the public. It is managed by the Diputació de Barcelona. This area suffered from the 1960s a strong degradation due to industrial discharges into the river. Since the 1980s it has undergone environmental recovery, until it became a green space dedicated today to leisure and sports, in addition to the preservation of its natural habitat. The park is home to some two hundred species of birds, as well as other animals such as mice, weasels, turtles and frogs.1999Jardí Botànic de Barcelona14 haDoctor Font i Quer Street, s/n (Sants-Montjuic)It is located on the mountain of Montjuic, and was created in 1999 with the aim of being the main botanical garden of the city, since the previous one —henceforth known as the Historical Botanical Garden— was of small dimensions. The authors of the project were Carlos Ferrater, Artur Bossy, Joan Pedrola and Bet Figueras. This garden was dedicated to Mediterranean climate species from all over the world, grouped in five phytogeographic zones: California, Chile, Australia and South Africa, in addition to the Mediterranean. There are also some homoclimatic species from China and Japan. In total, some 7,000 species are catalogued, grouped on triangular platforms arranged in terraces to overcome the unevenness of the terrain. The garden also has nursery areas, as well as a botanical laboratory, an auditorium, a library and a bar-restaurant. It also houses the Salvador Museum, which conserves 800,000 specimens of botanical species collected since the 17th century.1930Jardí Botànic Històric de Barcelona1,92 haMuntanyans Avenue (Sants-Montjuic)This is the original botanical garden, which was replaced in 1999 by the new Botanical Garden; however, it can still be visited, and has the advantage of having the tallest trees in Barcelona. It was created in 1930 at the bottom of a quarry located behind the National Palace of Montjuic, with a great collection of exotic plants compiled by the botanist Pius Font i Quer. Due to the conditioning works of the Montjuic site for the 1992 Olympics, in 1986 its grounds were affected by several earthworks, which affected the stability of its surface and forced it to be closed to the public. It was reopened in 2003 after restoration work. Among the species preserved are plants from Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and the Pyrenees, as well as a group of medicinal plants. On its grounds is located a farmhouse built for the International Exposition of 1929.
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