ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

The Cerdá Plan

The Cerdá Plan is a special plan for the city of Barcelona that was made by someone named Ildefons Cerdà. He wanted to make the city better and more organized for everyone who lived there.

Imagine you have a really big room with lots of toys and things scattered all around. It may be fun to play in, but sometimes it's hard to find what you're looking for. The Cerdá Plan is like someone coming in and organizing all your toys and things so that they are easier to find and play with.

In the Cerdá Plan, Cerdà divided the city into a grid pattern, like a big checkerboard. This made it easier for people to move around because all the streets were straight and went in the same direction. It's kind of like putting all your toys and things in neat lines on the shelf so that you can easily see and reach them.

Cerdà also wanted to make sure that everyone in Barcelona had access to important things like parks, schools, and hospitals. So he made sure to include these things in his plan, spreading them out evenly throughout the city. This way, no matter where you lived in Barcelona, you would always have a park to play in, a school to learn in, and a hospital if you got sick.

Another important thing Cerdà did was to make sure that all the buildings in Barcelona looked the same. He wanted them to be the same height and have the same style so that the city would look nice and orderly. It's like having all your toys and things organized by color or size so that everything looks nice and neat.

The Cerdá Plan also included something called "superblocks." Basically, a superblock is a big area that includes lots of buildings and streets. Cerdà wanted to make sure that these superblocks had lots of open spaces for people to enjoy. So he made sure to have big squares or parks in the middle of each superblock. This way, people could have a place to relax and have fun without having to go all the way to a park or square outside of their neighborhood.

Overall, the Cerdá Plan was a special plan made by Ildefons Cerdà to make the city of Barcelona better and more organized. He wanted to make it easier for people to move around, have access to important things like parks and schools, and have a nice-looking city. Just like organizing your toys, the Cerdá Plan helps to make the city better for everyone who lives there.