Among the big cities of Catalonia (Spain), Terrassa is one of the few growing in inhabitants and jobs; it's located 20 km north of Barcelona. The population of Terrassa is about 185.000 inhabitants, with a hinterland area of 260.000, and some 110,000 vehicles. During the 1970s and 1980s increasing motorization and the third economic sector strong demand for space in the historical city centre caused a continuous decrease in residents and the abandon of the traditional commerce. In order to stop the phenomenon and to regenerate the city centre the local government ordered to draw a plan up for historical city centre comprehensive reform. The plan stressed on two bases: return of residents and the encouragement of the traditional commerce to the area. To turn into practice these targets the plan used the following technical management instruments: a comprehensive urban planning of the 35 streets and 10 squares which constitutes the area of the medieval centre of Terrassa; 35 specific urbanisation projects for total or partial pedestrian changes; a comprehensive archaeological prospecting plan; four subterranean parking facilities, to help both the housing rehabilitation and demands of commerce; the use of social marketing techniques to ease the acceptance of the pedestrian principles; housing renewal general plan; alternative traffic circulation plan; promoting means for public transport to the centre of the city; promoting particular normative to load and unload needs, with specific timetables; and creation of a Historical Centre Management office as the instrument for the tourism and commerce promotion. The aims of the plan have proved successful: the centre of the city is the actual meeting point of the citizens, and commercial expectations have been fulfilled more widely than expected. There has been a 2-fold increase in new commerce licences in pedestrian zone commerce compared with the rest of the centre. 1215 new subterranean parking places have been created. There has been a 5.6% increase in passengers on public transport going to the city centre and 86% of the private traffic has been diverted to other city lanes. For the covering abstract see ITRD E126595.
Samenvatting