The face of Barcelona is about to change, with the transformation of an old industrial plot into a 22,000-square-meter urban park, where greenery, community spaces, and affordable housing will come together.
Up for redevelopment is the former Illa Citroën site in La Bordeta, Sants-Montjuïc, an automotive facility more recently occupied by Stellantis España. The project, greenlit by the city in January 2026 and now under consideration by Catalan authorities, would see over half the area (54%) given over to a new park, serving the densely populated neighbourhoods nearby.
Some old buildings will be demolished, making room for accessible walkways that will link the park to Rambla de Badal and Sants Gardens, and offer a green bridge to the suburb of Hospitalet. Existing metro and railway connections will also be improved.
On Rambla de Badal, the developers will create 104 social housing apartments, plus 110 private residences with underground parking on Riera Blanca. The ground floor of the new residences will include 1,800 m² of commercial premises. Unusually, the project, which features new facilities for a local school and 14% of the area dedicated to community usage, is being entirely financed and maintained by the private sector.
Some community groups have protested strongly at cuts to the amount of green space in the project, which they have branded as urban development in disguise. Among them, critics have called it part of an “urban continuum,” and one local councillor said the plan is a “coup in one of the most tense areas of Europe.”
Others note that creating recreational spaces, parks, and protecting schools aligns with the city’s “Plan for Play in Barcelona’s Public Spaces,” a strategy that aims to make the Catalan capital “playable” by 2030. The goal is to “improve and diversify opportunities for play and physical activity in public spaces,” and ultimately “achieve a paradigm shift, becoming a city with specific play areas that are more diverse, creative, accessible, and inclusive.”
The Plan for Play promises to double the number of play areas that provide recreational activities and diverse and creative play by 2030, including ten new urban sports parks, twenty zip lines, fifteen giant slides, and twenty play elements with height-related challenges.
With approval from the Catalan government still pending, work could start on the Illa Citroën park development as early as 2027 and has a four-year deadline for completion, though details of the timeline are yet to be confirmed.
