Barcelona Metropolis

An excavator now dominates the site. In one corner of the plot, which was a market for decades and has served as a car park for years, just a few metres from the zoo, a sign sums up and announces its near future: these are the construction works for the new Mercat del Peix research and innovation hub. The scheduled completion date is December 2025.

The sign may not indicate it, but the works are part of a larger scientific and urban planning project known as La Ciutadella Knowledge Hub. The initiative takes its name from the adjacent park, which is the focal point of the entire project. This is La Ciutadella Park, built in the 19th century on the site of a military fortress ordered by Felipe V. Shortly after its inauguration, it hosted the Universal Exposition of 1888. The new facility already encompasses five lines of action and has a budget nearing 300 million euros. Alongside the construction of the Mercat del Peix facility, the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)’s Bioscience Hub will be established. In addition, iconic buildings within the park are undergoing restoration, such as the Centre Martorell d’Exposicions and the Hivernacle [Greenhouse], both of which are already up and running. Efforts are underway to give renewed impetus to the zoo’s research activities. Moreover, adjacent to the nearby Estació de França, construction will begin on the State Public Library, making it the largest in Catalonia.

“If a metropolis like Barcelona aspires to be a global leader and avoid becoming merely a tourist destination, it must focus on knowledge”, asserts Francesc Subirada, director of the initiative for La Ciutadella Knowledge Hub at Pompeu Fabra University (UPF). For the former director general of the Generalitat Government of Catalonia’s Secretariat of Universities and Research, the project’s location serves several purposes: “Situated in the heart of Barcelona, the area boasts both a scientific ecosystem and services, and it also holds historical and symbolic significance: it hosted the Universal Exposition of 1888, which showcased knowledge advancements”.

The scientific ecosystem is evident in the presence of university campuses such as UPF, the University of Barcelona and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, in research centres such as the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park (PRBB) and the Pasqual Maragall Foundation, and in research groups from the CSIC and the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST). The initiative began in 2019 under the leadership of its main promoters: Barcelona City Council, the Generalitat Government of Catalonia and UPF. When the foundation stone of the Mercat del Peix facility was laid in January 2023, representatives from all the scientific institutions in the area were also present. The signing and its evolution over time, despite involving different political forces and changes in representatives, demonstrate that “agreements can be reached” according to Subirada.

New research institutes

In 1888, where the excavator is now working at the site, different tools could be seen. There stood the Machinery Gallery, a building from the Universal Exposition primarily showcasing railway locomotives. Then, between 1931 and 1983, it served as a fish market, and since 1996, it has been used as an outdoor car park. In 2026, there will still be an underground car park, but above it, the Mercat del Peix research and innovation facility will be constructed, its name being a clear nod to its past.

In the new spaces, the CSIC-UPF Institute of Evolutionary Biology will find its new home. Despite being scattered across different locations since its inception, it had been “promised its own facilities since 2008”, according to Subirada. “By 2026, they will finally have them”. Furthermore, BIST will have its own dedicated building, an institution that brings together seven centres of excellence. Groups from the Biomedical Research Institute (IRB), the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), the Institut de Ciències Fotòniques (ICFO) and the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2) will either move or be integrated into its new headquarters. This expansion will accommodate a growing number of researchers – up to 1,200 will work in the new facility – as well as the available facilities. “The spaces are being designed by architects in dialogue with the researchers themselves. That’s crucial”, Subirada explains.

Also slated for construction is the Centre for Studies on Planetary Wellbeing, an UPF initiative based on the concept of one health, which holds that human health is inseparable from animal and planetary health. According to Subirada, the new facility will focus on social health, aiming to “integrate the experimental aspect with the humanistic and social, and use this to drive transformative innovation”. In a nod to history, the UPF explained that remains of a 12th-century agricultural settlement were discovered during the excavations to begin building the centre. In the basement, sacks containing a type of potato previously unknown were found, challenging the idea that potatoes originated from America. From these remains, its DNA has been extracted, the species recovered, and now a spin-off of UPF is considering selling it as snack. The news story was a hoax, but it demonstrated the scope of the future new research centre’s areas of activity.