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Architects
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Bios
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Ildefons Cerdà i Sunyer, Catalan engineer, town planner and also politician, was born in 23 December of 1815 in Centelles.
At the age of 18, he moved to Barcelona and studied in the Junta de Comercio. The effects of the industrial revolution especially in the city marked his interest in the study of urbanism of the Catalan capital. Between 1835 and 1849 he was set up in Madrid, where he studied in the Escuela de Ingenieros de Caminos (School of Civil Engineers) and later on worked as an engineer of the State.
He then returned to Barcelona and in a short amount of time due to his political activism, he was converted in a Member of Parliament in Cortes for Barcelona.
In 1854 the demolition of the Barcelonan walls were approved and five years later, projected the urban work of which he would create history: the well-known Plan Cerdà or Proyecto de Reforma Interior y Ensanche de Barcelona (Project of Interior Reforming Extension of Barcelona). This plan, produced from a statistic study of the life conditions of the Barcelonans, tried to better the quality of life and the fluency of movements.
The Project was approved in 1860 and Cerdà participated actively in its development.
In 1867 he publicised his Teoría General de la Urbanización (General Theory of Town Planning) that supports and continues insisting with the necessity of lightening the excessive demographic concentration that suffered in the cities.
En la última etapa de su vida regresó a la actividad política y llegó a presidir la Diputació de Barcelona. Más tarde, con la caída de la República y el inicio de la Restauración tuvo que retirarse.
In the last phase of his life, he returned to his political activity and reached to the Diputació (County Council) delegation in Barcelona. Later on, with the fall of the Republic and the commencement of Restoration he had to retire.
He passed away on 21 of August of 1876 in Las Caldas del Besaya (Cantabria).
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