The Axis Macià and Park of Cataluña, Sabadell

Abstract

Sabadell (186.000 inhabitants) is capital of the Comarca del Valles Occidental (700.000 inhabitants) and it is situated 20 km away from Barcelona, in its metropolitan area. In the seventies. the citizens claims requiring a n w urban arrangement of the city, in accordance with the needs of its inhabitants, coincide with the approval in 1978 of the Regional Plan of Sabadell, in application of the Law of the ground of 1975. In spite of the popular claim to a new big urban park, the plan maintained a residential zone in the almost 50 ha. It was the first democratic Town Council, in 1979, who began to buy properties and, at the same time, proceeded to modify the General Plan. It was a unique chance to improve the city. The purpose was to open an avenue that connected the north and south of the city, to built a big urban park open to al1 the city and, in the third place, to create a centre of regional services, situated inside of the city. All that was possible thanks to the collaboration among public institutions (Town Council and the autonomous government Generalitat de Catalunya), to the co-operation between private and public initiative and to the investment o/ the benefits coming from the urban development zones for the execution of the park and avenues. Chronology: 1984. ideas competition for a new area; 1988. constitution of the Town Council and Generalitat de Catalunya Consortium; 1988-1990. park and new centres building; 1992 Inauguration of the first phase of the park; 200 1 end of the park building, inauguration of the amphitheater and the longitudinal path.