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As the cities urbanised in the 19thCentury a major extension, or ‘enlargement’called Ensanche was added. Ensanche means "widening" in Spanish. It is used to name the development areas of Spanish cities around the end of the 19th century, when the demographic explosion and the Industrial Revolution prompted the tearing down of the old city wall and the construction of neighborhoods under grid plans. It is also found across much of Hispanic America for expansion of the cities beyond the traditional city walls.
 

Background......The programme of city extensions in Spain began simultaneously in 1860 with the plans for Barcelona by Ildefons Cerdà and Madrid by Carlos María de Castro, influenced by Haussmann's transformation of Paris from 1852 (and, in turn, have been said to have influenced Haussmann's later projects). Those ensanches extended cities beyond their traditional limits by demolishing city walls, transforming riverbanks and subdividing the extramuros – rural land outside the city walls. Ensanches were generally based on principles articulated by Cerdà.[2] These included reserving significant open space by requiring mid-block open space and whole block parks. The height of buildings was set by reference to the width of the adjacent street. Many of these requirements were modified, and the building volumes increased, by later amendments beginning in 1864 (Madrid).

It was specifically used for......the Eixample (Catalan for ensanche) of Barcelona, planned by Cerdà and the Eixample of the city of Valencia,  as well as many other cities and towns in Hispanic America.The term is widely used for the planned expansion of some cities across Hispanic America. such as Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic which used the term extensively as a prefix for the expansion of neighborhoods beyond its traditional old city......read on   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ensanche#:~:text=Ensanche,end%20of%20the%2019th%20century   

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The wider metropolitan region of Barcelona has a population of 4.3 million. It is the capital of Catalonia, and has a culture all of its own. In 1992 Barcelona hosted the Olympic Games and Seville held the World Fair and this thrust Catalonia and Spain on to the world stage. Geo Factsheet Jan 21 2003 Number142   In preparation for these two events, Spain spent upwards of US$ 3.5 billion on infrastructure and regeneration projects. 
 
This Factsheet examines the impact of urban regeneration projects associated with the Olympics, as well as how Barcelona has dealt with urban problems since. Firstly though, it examines some of the history of urban planning in Barcelona. As Fig. 1 shows, Barcelona consists of ten districts, centred on Ciutat Vella – the historic core area. As the city urbanised in the 19thCentury a major extension, or ‘enlargement’called Ensanche was added. Newer, more suburban districts have spread out into the countryside of Catalonia. Barcelona is a major port. The coastal part of Sants-Montjuic has extensive port facilities and a major industrial area (the Zona Franca) lies to the south of this. Fig. 1 Barcelona’s urban structure. Planning In the 19thCentury planning meant large-scale development. Usually it was the vision or ‘dream’ of one individual who persuaded city authorities that their ideal view of the city should prevail. The urban horrors of the industrial revolution, slum housing, outbreaks of disease like the Cholera epidemic in London in 1831 and fears of urban unrest persuaded many people of the need for ‘model’or ‘utopian’urban areas. The boulevards of Paris were set out by Baron Haussman and Vienna’s medieval walls and glacis (undeveloped area beyond the walls) were transformed into the sweeping Ringstrasse. Barcelona did not escape the fashion for great urban projects. The problem of how to house thousands of people in a rapidly expanding industrial city was dealt with by Ildefons Cerda in 1860. Cerda extended Barcelona from its medieval core creating a gridiron road pattern (see Case Study 1)which allowed the city to grow.  
 
Planning.......In the 19thCentury planning meant large-scale development. Usually it was the vision or ‘dream’ of one individual who persuaded city authorities that their ideal view of the city should prevail. The urban horrors of the industrial revolution, slum housing, outbreaks of disease like the Cholera epidemic in London in 1831 and fears of urban unrest persuaded many people of the need for ‘model’or ‘utopian’urban areas. The boulevards of Paris were set out by Baron Haussman and Vienna’s medieval walls and glacis (undeveloped area beyond the walls) were transformed into the sweeping Ringstrasse. 
Case Study 1.....Built between 1860 and 1890. Its designer, Ildefons Cerda, planned to enlarge Barcelona using a gridiron plan. On the surface this would seem to produce a very boring city of square blocks and little variety. Cerda’s grid is clever, as it is actually three grids superimposed (Fig. 2). The blocks themselves also have unusual features (Fig. 3). Cerda’s plan created an open, tree-lined district with a feeling of space. In subsequent years virtually all of the garden areas and open sides of the blocks have been filled in – rents are high in this desirable part of the city. Perhaps Cerda’s masterstroke was to create a city in 1860 that can still cope with the traffic of 2002. Population density in Ensanche is 33,000 people per square kilometre, the highest of any district, and double the Barcelona average of 15,000......read on   chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.draytonmanorhighschool.co.uk/download/142-barcelona-urban-planning.pdf 
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City Climate Intelligence: Addressing the Urban Emissions Information Gap RMI Zach Clayton, Emma Loewen, Rushad  Nanavatty, and Fiona O’Brien  REPORT 2025  How a new, near-real-time GHG estimation methodology can help cities monitor, analyze, and act on emissions data. More than ever, local governments are committing to bold and ambitious greenhouse gas emissions reductions. Although setting targets is an important first step in the fight against climate change, cities find it hard to mitigate what they cannot estimate. To support these local efforts, Carbon Monitor, Hestia, IG3IS, NEXQT, and RMI collaborated to develop City Climate Intelligence (CCI). CCI is the world’s first near-real-time, high-resolution urban greenhouse gas monitoring methodology that combines local data sets and advanced analytics to deliver better emissions data awareness and insights. The

CCI methodology analyzes emissions information at three spatial scales: Tier 1 (the metropolitan area level), Tier 2 (the neighborhood level), and Tier 3 (the building and street level). The insights generated by CCI can support a cycle of awareness, action, and accountability that engages everyone involved in the city climate ecosystem. The CCI methodology and data are intended to be used by anyone who contributes to this collaborative cycle, including city managers, community-based organizations, citizens, journalists, the climate finance community, and others. This framework provides a foundation for understanding local climate progress. The City Climate Intelligence: Addressing the Urban Greenhouse Gas Emissions Information Gap report explains how and why we developed the CCI methodology, shows how communities and local governments can leverage its insights, and provides case studies of how cities can leverage CCI data in their work.How City Climate Intelligence (CCI) Uses an Integrated Bottom-Up and Top-Down Approach to Estimate Urban Greenhouse Gas Emissions.....download the report   https://rmi.org/resources/addressing-urban-emissions-information-gap/

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Building Smarter: How Investing in More Transportation Choices Cuts Infrastructure Costs. RMI Miguel Moravec  Nov 26, 2025 At a time when decision makeres are struggling to balance state budgets, new research demonstrates that multimodal infrastructure investments can reduce transportation xpenditures in the long run by more affordably serving urban travel demand.How much would your state save by building out a complete network of buses, active transportation, and passenger rail? RMI partnered with the ITDP study authors to localize the study’s results to each of the 50 US states. The state-level lens is key, because, as demonstrated by Illinois, state decision makers have significant influence over how both federal and local transportation dollars are spent in their community. Projected savings by state, which also assumes smart co-location of housing and mixed-use development near the new mobility networks. How much your state could save in public transportation expenditures by building out specific amounts of bus rapid transit, passenger rail, and protected bike lanes that then would reduce the need to pay for urban roadway construction and maintenance.  

The extent of the multimodal networks called for may appear ambitious, but they are feasible given the long-term time horizon of the analysis (2015-2050). For example, in the two decades since 2003, Washington state built 47 miles of Link Light Rail from scratch. Looking forward, the state has funded plans to double the system’s length to 116 miles by 2044, or by approximately the same amount analyzed in our study, proving that constructing these cost-saving, multimodal networks is feasible given planning foresight. But these infrastructure savings don’t happen by accident — they are activated by bold, target-driven policy frameworks. Whether you’re solving for fiscal responsibility, climate goals, or traffic reduction, states have multiple tools available to unlock the benefits of expanded transportation choices

Virginia reimagines transportation spending to be more multimodal, attracts $2.5 billion Amazon investment. Virginia, which is considered the number onestate in the country for business and enjoys below-average taxes, redesigned its Department of Transportation (DOT) planning processes in 2014 to prioritize the highest “return on investment” infrastructure projects. The program, called SMART SCALE, scores projects on a range of priority factors, including land use and economic development. The scores are weighted differently in different regions, reflecting the unique needs of urban, suburban, and rural areas......read on https://rmi.org/resources/building-smarter-how-investing-in-more-transportation-choices-cuts-infrastructure-costs/

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Spain lives in flats (apartments): why we have built our cities vertically.     A project of elDiario.es, with data from the Spanish Cadastre......Keep on scrolling and explore a graphically amazing planning survey of Spain's Urban Centers.     https://especiales.eldiario.es/spain-lives-in-flats

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  3. Transforming Existing Buildings from Climate Liabilities to Climate Assets.
  4. Bringing Long-buried Streams to Light a part of Urban Renewal in Vancouver.

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