25 m 21 m
3m
7m
18 m
7m
3m
Street Section, 1:500
Las Ramblas, located in Barcelona, offers interesting scenery for the public. Las Ramblas is a pedestrian boulevard that takes up more than half of the total width of the street. This boulevard is located in the middle of the street, lined on both sides with one-way car lanes. Las Ramblas once used to be a riverbed with the city wall. In the 16th Century, a university was built along the riverbed. In 19th Century, the city wall was torn down and more buildings were constructed along the dried riverbed – now called Las Ramblas. The street is about 1.5 km long and the width is approximately 38 meters. Rows of trees line the edges of the boulevard to create a buffer between the car lanes and the pedestrian “island”, providing a sense of enclosure. (Barcelona.de)
City: Barcelona Country: Spain Built Year: 1856 Street Type: Pedestrian boulevard Length:1.5 km Building Height: 5 to 7 stories Block Length: ~126 meters Building Use Along the Street: Commercial P.O.I : Museu del Modernisme Català, Columbus Monument, Waterfront Catalunya Subway Station, Liceu Subway Station
The buildings along the street are five-to-seven-stories and the main floor is commercial with street-level display windows. In terms of the street section, the boulevard is about 18 meters wide and the actual sidewalk lining the buildings is only 3 meters wide. This encourages pedestrians to walk in the center of the boulevard, rather than on the actual sidewalk. The street is constantly occupied by pedestrians, regardless of the time of the year. Most of the buildings along the street are traditional retail shops and restaurants; additionally, there are numerous museums and cultural institutions in Las Ramblas. Las Ramblas is certainly one of the most successful pedestrian streets in the world, it is a place for people to be on, to walk, to meet, and to talk. (Jacobs, 1995)