Parks and gardens of Barcelona

[1] In 2001 the Institute of Parks and Gardens received ISO 14001 certification for the conservation and management of green spaces and public roadside trees.

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.

[7] In relation to each specific area of the city, vegetation can vary according to climatic conditions, water resources, altitude, sun exposure, erosion levels, rainfall and wind action.

[8] The city's tree grove is composed of a total of 140 species, of which the most common are: London plane (Platanus × hispanica), honeyberry (Celtis australis), elm (Ulmus pumila), Japanese acacia (Sophora japonica), acacia (Robinia pseudoacacia), rosewood (Tipuana tipu), "bottle tree" (Brachychiton populneum), Lombardy poplar (Populus nigra 'Italica'), Japanese privet (Ligustrum lucidum), chinaberry tree (Melia azedarach), black maple (Acer negundo) and bitter orange (Citrus aurantium).

The choice of catalogued species is made by means of a series of parameters that analyze each specimen according to aspects such as age, measurements, history or aesthetic qualities (see here the list of trees of local interest).

[12] Plant species are cared for according to their typology: in trees and palms, work is focused on pruning, whether it is formation, cleaning or raising the crown, or cleaning dry leaves in the case of palms, in addition to phytosanitary treatments in all these specimens; grass is the one that requires more continuous treatment, mainly mowing, as well as trimming the edges to maintain its structure, and more sporadically the aeration, priming and fertilizing of flowerbeds; as for ground cover and perennials, the former are pruned in winter, early spring and late summer, while the latter require pruning and trimming, as well as a replacement by division of bushes every two or three years; hedges need formation pruning, and maintenance with trimming in early winter and autumn; shrubs are pruned twice a year, in early summer and winter; flowers require constant care, the planting soil is usually prepared first —during the months of April, August and November—, the soil is weeded every month to aerate it and, three times a year, dried flowers are removed; In addition, general maintenance work is carried out throughout the year, such as weeding, repairing the paths and repairing or replacing street furniture, as well as general cleaning and emptying of litter garbage cans.

In terms of urban planning, this period saw the opening of promenades in many Spanish cities, inspired by the French boulevard typology, as in the case of La Rambla in Barcelona.

[29] Its main exponent was Antoni Gaudí, who in addition to being an architect was also an urban planner and landscape designer, with a personal style based on the observation of nature.

[33] With the arrival of the 20th century, the Barcelona City Council organized a competition for a plan of connections between the Eixample and the municipalities recently added to the city, won in 1905 by Léon Jaussely, who designed a plan that foresaw large road infrastructures (promenades, diagonals, promenades), parks, rail links and service areas.

In the first decades of the 20th century, thanks to the impulse of a new exhibition, the 1929 International Exposition, the Montjuïc mountain was developed with a project by the French landscape architect Jean-Claude Nicolas Forestier, author of the Maria Luisa park in Seville, where he brought into fashion the so-called "neo-Sevillian style", characterized by the use of brick and tile, and where water and the use of elements such as pergolas and trellises, as well as stairs and terraces to dynamize the grounds, are essential.

[34] In Montjuïc he had the collaboration of Nicolau Maria Rubió i Tudurí, architect and landscape designer, with whom he created a complex with a markedly Mediterranean character and classicist taste, centered on the Laribal (1917-1924) and Miramar (1919-1923) gardens.

On the other hand, the Botanical Garden of Barcelona was established in 1930, located at the bottom of a quarry behind the National Palace of Montjuïc, with a magnificent collection of exotic plants compiled by the botanist Pius Font i Quer.

In 1926 he proposed with the text El problema de los espacios libres —presented at the XI National Congress of Architects— the placement of a series of green spaces in the form of concentric semicircles between the Besós and Llobregat rivers, all along the Siera de Collserola, with small enclaves in the inner part of the city in the style of the London squares; unfortunately, the project was not executed, except in small portions.

[36] The Civil War brought the city's landscaping projects to a halt, and in the post-war period the actions focused more on the maintenance and restoration of existing areas than on the creation of new green zones.

At this time, gardening was closely linked to urban planning, with a concept that combined aesthetics with functionality, as well as recreational aspects, sports facilities, services for certain groups such as children —children's playgrounds— or the elderly —pétanque courts as the most recurrent element—, or even the commercial vision —food and beverage establishments—.

In this sense, green areas were usually subordinated to the architectural layout of the complex, losing to a large extent the naturalness of the vegetation, which on many occasions had a certain artificial appearance.

On Montjuïc, the epicenter of the Games, a new 14-hectare Botanical Garden was installed, dedicated to Mediterranean plants from all over the world, the work of Carlos Ferrater and Bet Figueras, and the Sculpture Garden was established next to the Miró Foundation, with works by sculptors such as Tom Carr, Pep Durán, Perejaume, Enric Pladevall, Jaume Plensa, Josep Maria Riera i Aragó, Erna Verlinden and Sergi Aguilar.

In 2003 the Joan Brossa gardens were inaugurated, located on the land formerly occupied by the Montjuïc Amusement Park, with a remodeling carried out by Patrizia Falcone in landscape style.