Building the Metropolis. Urban Plans and Territorial Reality in the Barcelona Urban Region 1859–2023
Within the framework of Barcelona 2026, World Capital of Architecture, and the UIA World Congress of Architects, Barcelona City Council has commissioned our Urbanism Research Group (GRU) of the Department of Urbanism, Territory and Landscape (DUTP) at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) to produce a major exhibition—scheduled for spring and summer 2026—on the history of how our metropolis was built.
The exhibition will retrace the succession of the main plans and urban actions of the last one hundred and fifty years and will explore their circumstances and proposals, as well as their impact on the territorial and socio‑environmental configuration of our metropolitan landscapes.
Accompanied by a catalogue, the exhibition expects to welcome thousands of visitors—general public, professionals, and academics—also attracted by the anniversaries we will celebrate in 2026: the 150th anniversary of the death of Ildefons Cerdà (1816) and the centenary of the death of Antoni Gaudí (1926), in addition to the fiftieth anniversary of the Metropolitan Master Plan (PGM, 1976).
Opening: May 2026
Curated by: Antonio Font, Carles Llop, Miquel Corominas and Joaquim Sabaté