Getting to Know Poblenou (All of It): Barcelona’s Arts and Tech Hub

Poblenou is the coolest neighborhood in Barcelona.

That’s not my personal opinion, it’s the tagline that pops up in more than one search result (TimeOut, Tripadvisor, Lonely Planet) when you Google “Poblenou Barcelona.”

The beachside barri is one of Barcelona’s open secrets: not necessarily on the to-do list for tourists who just want to snap a selfie in front of the Sagrada Familia, but increasingly popular with visitors and residents looking for an alternative, authentic Barcelona experience. The area is a magnet for expats, though a number of old Catalan families still make their homes there. The neighborhood has got a much more relaxed vibe than the center of the city, and real estate is still relatively affordable, though who knows if it will remain that way.

It’s also not exactly just one neighborhood. Well, it is—but it isn’t. (Just keep reading.)

Let’s Start at the Beginning: History

The independent village of El Poblenou existed long before it was absorbed into greater Barcelona. Like the neighborhoods of Gràcia or El Barri Gòtic, the town was connected to the rest of the city in the 19th century by the grid-based urban plan drafted by Ildefons Cerdà.

Though “poble nou” means “new village” in Catalan, the area boasts a centuries-long and unique history. The historical center was an old neighborhood called Taulat, meaning “farmland," in the old village of Sant Martí de Provençals which was annexed to Barcelona in 1897. Some of its street names today still reflect the landscape typical of the area two centuries ago: Llacuna (lagoon), or Joncar (reed bed). The flat plains, wetlands and the availability of water allowed people to grow crops and livestock and establish homes for their families.

Once electricity came to Catalunya in the 1800s, those same topographical conditions favored the development of industry: machinery, ceramics, metal, gas, plastics, food production, oils, wine and especially textiles were all produced in abundance in the factories that sprang up. Textile mills were powered by local water sources, and the wide, flat plots of land were ideal for exposing great swathes of untreated fabrics to the natural bleaching powers of the sun before being processed and dyed. By the end of the century, the Poblenou area was the most important industrial and transport hub in all of Spain, earning it the nickname “the Manchester of Catalunya.”

Over the next hundred years, Poblenou grew into an industrial hub and a residential area filled with mostly working-class people who made their livings in the nearby factories, with the Plaça de Prim (built in 1851) functioning as the town’s main square. A pedestrian street crossing all of the Sant Martí district was built starting in 1853, stretching from Av. Diagonal to the sea. It was originally called the Passeig de Triomf, but local residents referred to it as the “Rambla de Poblenou” until the name was officially adopted by the city. This rambla is still the main artery of the region; it is lined with trees and sculptures and dotted with shops, bars and restaurants.

With the emergence of the urban center came makeshift housing by the poor, such as the Somorrostro and Pequín barracas on the nearby beaches. (The last of these still existed until the city gave the area a “facelift” in preparation for the 1992 Olympic Games.)

The 1960s saw a sharp decline in industrialization in the area due to legislation that prevented the city from constructing any more factories in the region. New factories were built in El Clot to the northwest, and later in a new industrial hub in Zona Franca, near what is now El Prat airport. As workers and some local businesses followed, many old factories and large lots in El Poblenou were left essentially empty. These were eventually filled by warehouses, workshops, galleries and more, but for a number of years, the once bustling community was transformed into a peripheral, mostly low-income part of the city.

The Olympic Games marked a significant transformation of the region. After the area’s cosmetic overhaul, space was available, cheap and largely industrial, which meant it was prime real estate for magazine headquarters, rehearsal and recording studios, lofts-turned-apartments, art spaces and galleries, as well as music venues that would have had to contend with noise complaints if they were located in more residential areas.

The area attracted artists, students, immigrants, expats with no family ties and start-ups in search of offices—people with a lot of ideas but few resources—in short, all the usual suspects who always move into so-called undesirable neighborhoods and end up converting them into something cool. In place of textile manufacturers and transport businesses grew coworking spaces and trendy coffee shops; vegan restaurants and independent galleries; digital marketing and graphic design offices and hipster concept stores. In 1994, there was a even a TV3 soap opera called Poblenou, which was set in the area.

Today, the government is betting on the revitalization of the area for a second time with the implementation of the sweeping 22@ plan. It aims to incentivize cultural initiatives and attract local and foreign business investors in the two-square-kilometer area located around the traditional center of the neighborhood, creating a technological and innovation district modeled on the Silicon Valley “industrial cluster model” or “innovation cluster” in the United States.

These days, El Poblenou encapsulates an important part of Barcelona’s past, and also shows us the direction the city is moving towards in the future.

But Where Exactly Is “El Poblenou de Verdad”?

The massive Sant Martí district of Barcelona stretches to the ocean from Plaça de les Glòries—the iconic Torre Glòries (formerly the Torre Agbar) marking the spot like a giant illuminated thumb sticking out of the ground. The Poblenou neighborhood is just one of ten neighborhoods that make up this district.

So where does Poblenou begin and end? When I started researching this article, I realized that everyone I asked had a different answer.

I asked an artist friend who has lived in El Poblenou for the past fifteen years, and he answered, “Quieres decir el Poblenou Poblenou, verdad?” or “You mean the actual Poblenou, right?” (If you speak a little Spanish, you’re bound to hear this kind of expression all the time: by repeating a word twice, you’re emphasizing that you’re talking about the real thing.)

Because the city’s treatment of and investment in the region has so often spilled over from one adjacent barri to another—and as several of these neighborhoods’ names contain the word “Poblenou”—important aspects of the culture and business of these neighborhoods overlap. For example, the Parc Central del Poblenou is actually located in the adjoining neighborhood of Provençals del Poblenou.

When some people say Poblenou, they’re often including up to five of the ten neighborhoods composing the Sant Martí district: El Poblenou, La Vila Olímpica del Poblenou, Diagonal Mar i El Front Marítim del Poblenou, Provençals del Poblenou and El Parc i La Llacuna del Poblenou. Others mean only the first three of those five, which are those bordering the beaches. But the heart of Poblenou—the only area called simply El Poblenou according to official city districting maps—is a small neighborhood, covering the area from Carrer de Àvila to the southwest to Carrer Bac de Roda to the northeast, with the ocean to the southeast, and Carrer de Pere IV and Diagonal to the northwest.

El Poblenou

This historic area is known for its cool bars, restaurants and boutiques, centered around the neighborhood’s main artery: La Rambla de Poblenou. You’ll find everything from traditional spots like the Orxateria El Tio Che, which has been serving traditional orxata and vermut for over 100 years, to modern shisha and cocktail bars just a few doors down.

Bernat Calbó and Plaça de Prim are the two most emblematic squares in the older part of the neighborhood. Many of the modernista façades of the buildings in these squares and along the rambla are protected.

There is the Poblenou Market, as well as the Poblenou Cemetery, also known as Cementiri de l’Est. It’s the oldest one in the city and is famous for its impressive funerary sculptures, such as the gorgeously macabre El Petó de la Mort (The Kiss of Death). A nearby bar is appropriately called El Santet (the little saint).

Next door is the vast green space of el Parc de Poblenou, one of the five large parks built during the pre-Olympic renovations, and slightly further southeast is the ocean. In between lies Bogatell Beach, which is popular with locals for volleyball and sunbathing, as it’s not quite as overrun with tourists as is nearby Barceloneta. Three 23-meter-high towers, called Piscis, Aquari and Taure, watch over the beach from behind the boardwalk.

After the Olympics, a mix of community interest, private initiatives and government financial support continued to influence the transformation of the neighborhood. Former textile factories from the 19th century converted into community spaces include the expansive Can Felipa on Carrer Pallars. It houses the local archives, the Arxiu Històric del Poblenou, and has a theater built into the roof.

Arts and design schools were drawn to the area by the presence of artists, the relatively cheap, plentiful space, as well as grant money. Barcelona Academy of Art, Centro Universitario de Diseño BAU, Escola d’Art Poblenou, Artidi Escuela de Escaparatismo y Visual Merchandising, the Becreative school teaching industrial design and others are all located within a few blocks of each other—though this last one it located just outside of the official Poblenou neighborhood.

To the Southwest: La Vila Olímpica

When Barcelona won the bid to host the 1992 Olympic Games, the government invested large sums of money in the beachfront zone where the Olympic competitors would be housed. Beaches like the Somorrostro, once choked with improvised shacks and shantytowns—it was in one of those shacks that flamenco dancer Carmen Amaya was born—were converted in the La Vila Olímpica (“the Olympic Village”). These same beaches now serve as the backdrop to a manicured pedestrian promenade, as well as large format discotheques like Opium, Pacha, Carpe Diem and Shôko.

One of the most notable landmarks in the Vila Olímpica is the chimney of Can Folch, a former industrial complex that functioned as a flour mill, a distillery, an ice factory and warehouses in the 1880s and 1890s. The chimney is the only part of the construction still standing and forms a part of Barcelona City Council's catalog of protected monuments.

The Parc de la Nova Icària and Nova Icària Beach offer outdoor spaces to relax and play sports, along with the Escuela Nautica Altair and other nautical and sailing schools based along the port. If sport isn’t your thing, the Yelmo Cines Icária is one of the few movie theaters in town that habitually shows recently-released films in their original languages, rather than screening a dubbed version.

The Aules Artes Escèniques theater school and the Pompeu Fabra University Campus de la Ciutadella are also located in the Vila Olímpica, as is the Barcelona Women’s Prison.

To the Northeast: Diagonal Mar

It’s official name is Diagonal Mar i el Front Maritim de Poblenou. This neighborhood begins below Av. Diagonal and reaches the sea. Bordered on the southwest by El Poblenou and on the northeast by Moll de la Vela and El Fòrum, the area is known for its summer music festivals and the huge Diagonal Mar shopping center.

The Parc del Fòrum is host to the Cruïlla music festival and the Nits del Fórum summer concert series; the adjacent beach is the site of the electronica-heavy Barcelona Beach Festival. The Fòrum also includes the Barcelona Bosc Urbà, an “urban jungle” of adventure circuits, zip lines, bungee jumping and more.

The über-trendy Palo Alto Market—which helped to revitalize the area when renowned artist Javier Mariscal took over an old factory and turned it into a multidisciplinary art space, monthly artisan market, and music festival space—is a prominent fixture of this area. (Though if you ask anyone where it is, they’ll tell you it’s in Poblenou.)

Conferences take place at the International Barcelona Convention Center. The neighborhood also offers green spaces like Parc Diagonal Mar with its whimsical design and water-based theme, numerous smaller parks including the Jardins de Ghandi (the Ghandi Gardens) and educational opportunities at the fascinating Barcelona Natural Sciences Museum.

Each of the neighborhood’s adjoining beaches is known for something specific: The Mar Bella beach is known for being gay-friendly and includes a nudist section and is the site of the Circuit festival summer beach parties; Nova Mar Bella offers a skate park; the Llevant beach is the city’s easternmost beach and includes a dog-friendly section.

To the West: El Parc i la Llacuna de Poblenou

This region extends from Plaça de les Glóries down to Carrer de Llull, and from Carrer de la Llacuna in the northeast to Avinguda Meridiana and el Parc de l’Estacion de Nord to the southwest. Modern corporate architecture is on prominent display in this neighborhood: the Torre Glòries; the Barcelona Design Museum; the Can Framis Museum dedicated to Catalan painters, which is housed in a retrofitted factory space; and Ca l'Aranyó, an impressive-looking former wool factory, is now a multidisciplinary space dedicated mainly to audiovisual production.

Important music venues like Razzmatazz and (until recently) the iconic Rocksound, as well as the bars that always pop up next to music venues—Pepe rock bar or La Sonora Sports Tavern—moved in and helped to revitalize the nightlife in the area. Recording studios and rehearsal spaces did too, including Feelback Studio, where the Grammy-winning band Ojos de Brujo mixed several albums in the 1990s.

Several major television and radio studios are discreetly located in this area, including the Betevé and Radio4 studios. Mondo Sonoro and the now-defunct Rockzone, two of the biggest music magazines in Spain, opened the Barcelona branch of their offices nearby. (Rockzone closed its doors in 2020 due to economic hardship caused by the pandemic.)

The neighborhood is also home to the Poblenou superblock—or superilla as it's known in Catalan—which contains the six city blocks encircled by Badajoz, Pallars, Llacuna and Tànger streets.

To the North: Provençals de Poblenou

Located above diagonal and below Gran Via, this neighborhood is also bursting with educational opportunities, as well as artistic and musical initiatives. The Open University of Barcelona is located here, as is the Barcelona branch of the SAE Institute for the Recording Arts.

Former factory Can Ricart, built in 1855, was an important textile mill that was later converted into studios for artists in residence. Utopia 126 is yet another modernista-era factory that splits its space between studios for advertising and film projects, and cultural and creative initiatives that support up-and-coming artists. It is host to large-format events like the Barcelona Independent Coffee festival. And less conventional but equally visually stunning is La Escocesa, a creative “factory” that is part squat and part urban art space.

Sol de Sants recording studio and the huge musical instrument and sound equipment outlet Alfasoni are located a few streets away from Ca la Vila in Plaça de Valentí Almirall, which is the building that used to be the City Hall for the old village of Sant Martí de Provençals.

El Parc Central del Poblenou isn’t located in El Poblenou, it’s located here, in Provençals del Poblenou. This park was created by renowned French architect Jean Nouvel, also the designer of the Torre Glòries, whose vision was to create an island of peace and nature within the city. Every element of the park, from its statues to its plant life, was planned intentionally for its decorative effect. There is even a square dedicated to the traditional Catalan dance La Sardana. The park also houses the MUHBA Oliva Artés museum. The offices of the 22@ Commission are located not far from the park.

The 22@ Plan and the Urban Creative District

For the second time since the Olympics, the city has invested heavily in El Poblenou and the surrounding area. Called the 22@ plan, the large-scale investment and renovation project is designed to convert the former industrial neighborhood into the city’s arts and technology hub, as well as provide upscale residential housing and leisure activities. It was approved by the City Council in the year 2000 and calls for sweeping changes in infrastructure as well as in marketing the newly re-branded district. The combination of creative initiatives, business growth, housing and technology is designed to encourage networking, attract and retain talent as well as create jobs.

The plan for the 200-hectare district repurposed approximately 70% of El Poblenou’s unused industrial properties, built parks and offered incentives to innovation and technology companies through collaboration with nearby universities and start-up incubators. The resulting area is called the “Urban Creative District,” reflecting the Barcelona tendency to give things English names to reflect when they’re supposed to be cool and forward-thinking. It seems like this approach is working, as the past decade has seen approximately 4500 companies start up, relocate or open a branch office in the area.

On the Urban Creative District’s website, there is an impressive list of nine advertising agencies, 13 artists’ studios, 23 events production studios, various graphic design and animation schools, digital fabrication centers, theaters—like the beautiful Aliança de Poblenou, Centro Moral i Cultural de Poblenou and Sala Beckett—countless cultural centers and coworking spaces, The Barcelona Design School, the Cerveseria Alternativa and other craft beer breweries and more. It also includes L’Auditori, Teatre Nacional de Catalunya and other cultural institutions and businesses that are located just beyond the borders of the Poblenou area. The site also features a list of artistic events and programs offered on a year-round basis.

The district hosts the Urban District Arts Festival and the Poblenou Open Day and Night to showcase the creative spaces, artistic projects and other businesses that form a part of the district.

While the 22@ plan has given a formerly peripheral neighborhood a huge shot in the arm, has fomented a number of projects that might otherwise never have gotten off the ground and has added to the growth of city's economy, some long-term residents of El Poblenou complain that the downside of the project is that the area’s second major facelift comes at the expense of some of the local “character.” The substitution of local workshops or businesses for trendy startups, loft-style apartments or expensive hotels, as well as the influx of tourists and immigrants, have caused some of the neighborhood’s original residents to see the plan as a problem rather than a benefit.

Some members of the local government, especially Mayoress Ada Colau and her supporters, have generated tension with the fans of continued expansion in the district after hinting it might be time to slow the boom.

The Future of the “New Village”

Now you see why I couldn’t just write the typical “profile of a neighborhood” article about El Poblenou. The past, present and future of the historic El Poblenou is intrinsically tied to the regions surrounding it. To use an imperfect analogy, New York City isn’t just Manhattan: each of the five boroughs (Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx, Staten Island) is its own community, yet all are linked by certain geographical, cultural and financial considerations.

What will happen to El Poblenou and its surrounding areas in the future? On one hand, the neighborhood is booming. It’s Barcelona’s new hot spot, and Barcelona is one of the trendiest cities in the world. The city is pouring money into the area, with an eye on art and technological advancement. The future looks incredibly bright.

On the other hand, the potential downsides of an area becoming “the coolest neighborhood in Barcelona” are the same side effects that any up-and-coming region experiences. Continuing with the NYC analogy, an area called Williamsburg in Brooklyn used to be full of students, artists and young professionals who couldn’t afford to live in Manhattan. They did what they could with what they had outside the center of the city. They opened art spaces and unique bars. They made the region “cool,” which meant that people with money also wanted to live there. Rents rose, and the people who had transformed the region were no longer able to afford to stay. Gentrification and the effects of trendiness caused the community to lose some of its character.

El Poblenou has seen some of the same: a glut of expats has been drawn to the “hip” factor of the area, creating an English-speaking bubble. The rich and famous, such as pop singer Rosalía, have built spectacular homes inside of former industrial complexes.

The aforementioned music venue Rocksound, which brought in world-class artists who you’d never see in a mainstream concert hall, fell victim to the combined pressures of gentrification, property speculation and the economic impact of COVID.

The artist friend I mentioned had to move out of the apartment he shared with his wife and two children near the Rambla de Poblenou because the rent went up significantly at the end of 2019. When I asked him how he felt about the changes happening in the neighborhood, he said that he was concerned, but would watch and wait to see what the future holds. He doesn’t want to move out of the neighborhood because his kids’ school is nearby, as is the cultural center he works out of and uses to teach.

The city prioritizing economic progress above all else is perhaps understandable: scholars call what’s happening in El Poblenou “productive gentrification.” It means that the area and the city as a whole will certainly continue to benefit, but this doesn’t ensure that everyone who helped make the area what it is will reap the reward of these benefits.

As a fan of the local arts scene, I can only hope that the local government will continue to support the area’s growth with emphasis on its creative element, while simultaneously protecting the unique qualities that made El Poblenou an attractive investment in the first place.