Poble Nou

This is the new urban frontier, out in the great northeast beyond the Parc de la Ciutadella. Once, Poble Nou (also written Poblenou) was the busiest part of the city, packed with humming brick factories and workers' tenements. They called it the 'Catalan Manchester', the heart of Spain's modest Industrial Revolution.

In the postwar decades many of those factories became obsolete, leaving the area a messy melange of aging neighborhoods and abandoned buildings. But over the last thirty years Barcelona has poured billions into its redevelopment, intending it to be the new home for everything that is hip and cool.

First, in preparation for the '92 Olympics, they transformed a shabby waterfront into sports venues and the Vila Olímpica. Next came a massive renewal project at one of the nodes of the 1859 Cerdá plan, the 'Diagonal Mar' where Avinguda Diagonal meets the sea. Now, the big deal is something called 22@, a plan to redevelop the old industrial zones and pack them full of high-tech businesses.