Barcelona's Parc de L’Espanya Industrial

Just 100 meters south of the Sants railway station, Parc de l'Espanya Industrial covers 4.6 hectares of land in the busy Sants-Montjuïc district. It’s the main meeting point for people from the neighborhoods of Sants, Badal, and Hostafrancs: from parents with small children to amateur dance troupes practicing their routines, and from teenagers playing basketball to working-class folks walking their dogs or smoking on their lunch break, the people who make up an important cross-section of the community from these three neighborhoods overlap in this spot.

The Park's History

When the park was first built, it was a victory for the Sants neighborhood, as the owners of the land saw it as an ideal site for potentially lucrative high-rise apartments. The local residents mounted a fierce protest, and in 1982 the Barcelona City Council eventually gave the go-ahead to build a public park instead.

Inaugurated in 1985, the park is a perfect example of a widespread movement during the 1980s to reclaim former industrial areas and convert them into public spaces, as the name of the park itself refers to the land’s former use.

It is the former site of the very first Spanish textile company in Spain, built in 1847—España Industrial, Sociedad Anónima Fabril y Mercantil—which employed thousands of people until it closed in 1969. Most of the old factory complex was demolished, but a few vestiges still remain. One is the archway over the entrance door on Carrer de Muntadas. Another is the Casa del Mig, one of the original buildings, which was converted into an innovative space that works to promote the multimedia world, robotics, digital fabrication and creative applications within these disciplines.

The Parc de l’Espanya Industrial was designed by architects Francesc Ruis and Luis Peña Ganchegui; it includes facilities such as a dog park, a children’s play area, a basketball court, ping-pong tables and more. The most recognizable of the park’s structures is a 32-meter-long metal dragon sculpture, which also functions as a slide for kids; this work was created by Basque sculptor, Andrés Nagel. A close second are the nine “lighthouses” or towers around the lake, designed by the park’s co-creator, Luis Peña Ganchegui.

The park features sculptures by renowned artists, including Enric Casanovas, Manuel Fuxá Leal, Antoni Alsina, Andrés Nagel, Anthony Caro, Josep “Peresejo” Pérez and Pablo Palazuelo. Several of these works, sculptures, such as the modern-day Venus sitting on a rock near the pond by José “Persejo” Pérez, had been originally created for the 1929 International exhibition; they lay in warehouses for decades until they were retrieved from storage by the city and installed in the park. Other sculptures are more recent, such as the postmodern bronze sculpture Alto Rhapsody (1985) by English sculptor Anthony Caro.

In 1992, a large sports center also called Espanya l’Industrial was built to house the weightlifting competitions for the Olympic Games. This adjacent facility remains an important focus of sports life in the Sants-Montjuïc district.

A Controversial Remodeling Plan

The Parc de l’Espanya Industrial was last renovated in 2009. The passage of the years saw the grounds fall into disrepair, a situation which was exacerbated by the construction works going on at nearby Sants Estació in preparation for the new AVE train. Since then, certain sections of the park are once again the worse for wear, and local residents have advocated for its remodeling for years. Exactly how, and when to remodel the park has been a subject for debate for a long time; it is the culmination of over two years of discussions and votes; works finally got off to a start this week and are expected to be completed in June 2024.

The project has enjoyed strong support within the local community. In fact, in 2022 it was the participative budgeting project (meaning that interested parties and organizations within the community have a say in how the budget is spent) with the most support of any proposed project throughout the entire city. The funds allotted to the project are approximately 1.1 million euros, and will focus on improving certain high-traffic areas of the park, such as the areas used for sports, the dog park and the children’s play zone.

However, some of the most deteriorated areas have been left out of the plans, such as the lake and its surrounding area, the bleachers, and a spiral-shaped space near the entrance to the park, located at the corner of Carrer de Premià and Passeig de Sant Antoni. Referred to as the “helicoid,” this part of the park in particular has a bad rap: it always smells like urine. Many of the locals blame this on the area’s homeless population, who sometimes sneak into the park to sleep at night, but both housed and unhoused seem to view this section of the park as a no-man’s land where anything goes.

The lake—which is the second-largest urban lake in Barcelona and measures 10,000 square meters—once had ducks and offered boat rides, but lately has grown bright green with algae. All the grass in the park is dead. The towers used to offer a (nearly) birds-eye view of the park, but these were closed due to vandalism and safety concerns. 

The official remodeling plan, written by B2B Arquitectes, mentions both the diversity in age groups that tend to frequent the park, as well as the fact that the current facilities (and the state of disrepair they’re in) don’t serve the local community. This is not only a reference to the functionality or the aesthetics of the park’s various zones: the youngest and the oldest members of society in particular often don’t feel comfortable in the current atmosphere of the park. The idea of the remodeling project is to make the park safe, comfortable and accessible to all members of the community. Improved lighting, improved security, the closing of certain access points, the installation of public toilets, and the inclusion of new park furniture are all intended to help, as well as to discourage vandalism.

Plans for the Future

One point of contention that existed from the park’s inception is the general dearth of plants, which some see as cold or unwelcoming. Others appreciate this “modern” park with its emphasis on architecture, sculpture, sports and other activities. The original design did, however, include a small “forest,” which is home to a few native tree species: cypress, red plums, holm oaks, stone pine trees, weeping willows, and of course, Barcelona’s infamous plataneros. The new improvements call for the expansion of the park’s green areas, expanding them to 5,800 square meters, and the planting of shrubs. However, the likelihood of replacing the grass is almost nil, as the country is in a state of drought due to the climate crisis.

The children’s play area will be cleaned, remodeled, and expanded to 820 square meters; it will be outfitted with new swings, a trampoline and other elements. The dog park will also be expanded, though its location will be moved to the other side of the trees, so as to separate it from the children’s area, allowing both dogs and kids more freedom to roam. The current dog park location will be turned into a 250-square-meter calisthenics and exercise area. Improvements will also be made to the area around it: a multipurpose sports court will be built, the ping-pong tables and pétanque areas will be moved, and bleachers will be built around the basketball court. The large “fronton” area will be converted into a 850-square-meter relaxation space that can be used for various activities—including just hanging out.

There is also a second remodeling phase planned for the Parc de l’Espanya Industrial, which will require the investment of an additional 4.2 million euros, and is supposed to take on some of the most degraded sections of the park. Part of this second phase would include the planting of even more plants and shrubs, as well as cleaning up the lake and its surroundings, refurbishing the bleachers, and cleaning up the space around the dragon slide. The troublesome helicoid area will also be dealt with in this second remodeling phase; for the moment, the city has closed this part of the park, to prevent people from staying there overnight and to discourage its further decay.

As of the writing of this article, there is no date set for the start of this second phase of improvements. That the remodeling has finally begun after so many months fighting for exactly this comes as a relief to the residents of Sants and the surrounding neighborhoods; however, that the complete refurbishment depends on a second phase with nearly four times the budget of the current work, and with no start date on the books, continues to make residents nervous.

The Parc de l’Espanya Industrial is located at Carrer de Muntadas 1, and is currently open to the public from 10:00 until midnight on weekdays, and from 10:00 to 23:00 on Saturdays and Sundays.