chose to go for walks and spend their leisure time. In 1854, on the crest of a short spell of progressive government, the walls of the city of Barcelona were demolished, thus satisfying a long-time claim which had underpinned many republican and liberal actions over many years. Even so, a proper planning project for extending the city was not actually accepted until 1859. This project, for which the City Council of Barcelona issues a call for tenders, was awarded to the architect Antoni Rovira i Trias, although it was finally imposed by the central Government, which had convened another call for tenders for the same work at the same time, with the final award made to the engineer Ildefons Cerdà. Work was undertaken in the wake of the reactions opposing this imposition, in what would eventually be regarded as a model development project in the history of European city planning. Cerdà's planning straddled a huge imaginary rectangle of horizontal and vertical parallel streets, which formed an ensemble of square blocks with bevelled corners, honeycomb-like, traversed by streets and three major     Mercat de la Concepció · Aragó, 313-317 · 08009 Barcelona · Telf: 93.457.53.29 / 675 693 616 info@laconcepcio.com · NIF: G58241852