ABSTRACT
Modernization put the planning practice center stage. Ildefonso Cerdà is presented as a pioneer within urban planning who tried to come up with technical and architectural solutions to the effects of the opening and expansion of the modern city. Chapter 18 gives an account of his extension plan and the role of city squares in this plan, discussing two important literary reflections of and on the Barcelona created by Cerdà: Goytisolo in Recounting and Eduardo Mendoza in The City of Marvels.
