You are reading: From industries to luxury flats: Badalona completes the coastline you dreamed ofMemory is quite selective and, on many occasions, it is difficult to remember how long a city has been waiting for a major urban project.This summer marks the 10th anniversary of the inauguration of the Paseo Marítimo de Badalona, ​​a stretch of 1.2 kilometers out of a total of 5 of an urbanized coastline between the beach and a set of blocks of flats built on the seafront.It has become a new centrality in the fourth city of Catalonia in number of inhabitants.A promenade full of restaurant businesses and thousands of citizens who walk through it every day.A change in the physiognomy of a coastline that has gone from being full of smoking factories with the sound of sirens that had characterized it so much to becoming a luxury area.But Badalona was waiting for that walk for many years, so many that the mayor of that time, the popular Xavier García Albiol, assured that it was "a historical debt with Badalona".And it is that the money to finance it came from the Ministry of the Environment and the council had to be aware for many years of whether the local project was included in the general budget of the State.For this reason, despite projecting it at the beginning of the century, together with the construction of the port and the houses of the new maritime front, it was not until 2012 that it materialized."It was a milestone that we all achieved, the neighbors and the representatives of the City Council", recalls Aniceto Ramírez, co-founder of the Association of Neighbors of the Maritime Front.The first floors that were built began to be built in 2002 and in 2004 they were already inhabited.It was the year that Ramírez went to live there, moving with his family from the Lloreda neighborhood.The sports and fishing port of Badalona had just been inaugurated, but in front of his house there was a wall that separated the houses from the beach.It was what protected industries from storms."During the first five years we had to live with this wall, wooden stairs were made to go up and down and be able to access the bathing area," recalls Ramírez.Ricard Navarro has also been on the seafront for 18 years.He went to live in one of the first buildings that were built."We had an undeveloped promenade in front of our house, it was all very wild", recalls Navarro, "the construction of the promenade was a great improvement for the area and for all of Badalona".The new neighbors had to live for a long time with their industrial vestiges.The decontamination of the area was one of the most important tasks since among the factories that were in operation was the Campsa, where oil tankers disembarked.From there arose the pontoon that was built to receive the boats, the so-called Pont del Petroli and that in 2009 was opened to the public as a promenade that goes into the sea (and that has been closed since the Gloria storm of 2020 split in two).Now standing, there are only two factories left.One, the CACI, a building that was supposed to house the Museum of Comics and Illustration but which, after years of waiting, is still empty.The other factory is Anís del Mono, in fact the only one that is still active."There were neighbors who did not want it," laments Aniceto Ramírez, who recalls how a group of neighbors fought to defend the continuity of a company that has carried the name of Badalona throughout the country.Even in 2007, when they created the Maritime Front Neighborhood Association, they decided to appoint the manager of Anís del Mono as honorary president to include the factory in the new environment that was being created.These are some of the benefits that the area has drawn from the industrial past.But there are still drawbacks.Across the harbor, Playa de la Marina was unable to open until a year ago due to contamination from the sand.It still contained elements from the industries that had operated in the area.It took many years to decontaminate.Next door, Playa de la Mora, was affected by the Gloria storm of January 2020, as it caused the Llevant collector to break and later polluting elements were found on the promenade."All this caused a crisis that left the area half done," denounces José Antonio Hernández, from the La Mora Neighborhood Association.He has lived in this new neighborhood for 16 years when the first block of flats was built."It seems that Badalona ends up in the port, this area has not improved at all," laments Hernández.Ten years after the inauguration of the Paseo Marítimo, the neighborhood believes that there are still many services to improve.One of them is mobility.A bus that runs along Avenida Eduard Maristany is the only public transport available to residents to move to other neighborhoods in Badalona."It means that it happens every 15 minutes, but sometimes you wait 20 or 25 and it still hasn't happened," says the president of the Maritime Front Neighborhood Association, Eva Castilla.Years ago the extension of the Tram from the Sant Adrià de Besòs station to the Badalona station, passing through the port, was projected.But the city still awaits him.The neighborhood believes that connectivity will improve but they also fear that this will mean a greater avalanche of people in the neighborhood."We don't want this to become an Olympic Port," says Castilla, "we want a family atmosphere, no more bottles or people making noise until 3 in the morning."The increase in bathers and citizens who walk through the area has also increased the range of restaurants.But what has not increased are the containers."The restaurants throw the garbage in the neighbors' containers and it is impossible," says the president of the neighborhood entity.Dirt worries them, and a lot."You will easily distinguish who is a neighbor or who comes from outside because you will see the neighbor constantly picking up papers from the ground," explains Aniceto Ramírez.He assures that on a Saturday up to 70,000 people can pass through a walk that ten years ago only welcomed a few hundred."We need more security and more cleanliness," says Ramírez.He remembers the rules of the community.He remembers the rules of the community.