The Fronts Urbans proposal addresses the transformation of the Besòs Central area as a strategic metropolitan-scale operation aimed at reversing its current condition as an urban void and border territory between the municipalities of Barcelona, Badalona, Santa Coloma de Gramenet and Sant Adrià de Besòs. The project is based on the recognition of the strong urban, functional and topographic discontinuities generated by the Besòs River, the Ronda Litoral ring road and existing transport infrastructures, as well as on a context of high social vulnerability that requires integrated responses.
The planning strategy is grounded in the creation of new urban fronts as the main tool to re-stitch the territory in two directions: longitudinally, structuring a linear centrality linked to the river, and transversally, strengthening connections between both riverbanks and across different topographic levels. This multiscalar approach enables the articulation of metropolitan relationships—through a new mobility network prioritising public transport and active modes—while simultaneously improving accessibility and everyday living conditions at neighbourhood scale.
The project redefines key infrastructures such as the Molinet Bridge, conceived as a civic axis, and the Besòs Avenue, understood as a new urban continuity capable of triggering the regeneration of adjacent industrial fabrics. In parallel, new structuring public spaces are created—Salvador Dalí Square, Molinet Park and the Estadella Green Corridor—reinforcing the urban identity and environmental quality of the area.
Finally, the proposal integrates the Besòs River as the backbone of a metropolitan green infrastructure, incorporating climate adaptation, renaturalisation and urban health criteria, and combining new facilities, public housing and mixed uses to consolidate an inclusive, permeable and non-self-referential centrality capable of overcoming existing administrative and territorial divisions.
