Barcelona's mayor, Jaume Collboni, presided over a civic recognition event on Saturday for architect Josep Antoni Acebillo for his contribution to the city's transformation, in a tribute that also recalls his role as a driving force behind the legal offensive against Ada Colau's superblocks.
Barcelona's mayor, Jaume Collboni, presided over the civic recognition event on Saturday for architect Josep Antoni Acebillo for his "decisive contribution to the transformation of Barcelona." In his speech, Collboni described Acebillo as "a great architect, a great urban planner, and a great Barcelonian" and asserted that "without him, today's Barcelona would not be what it is."
During the tribute, Collboni highlighted Acebillo's projects and the legacy of his generation. "He believed and believes in the transformative capacity of urbanism," the mayor stated, adding that "thanks to Acebillo and his generation, Barcelona regained its pride and looked to the future with ambition." He also described him as "a passionate advocate for Barcelona," a person who "feels the city, loves it, and lives it with passion."
"Without him, today's Barcelona would not be what it is"
Beyond his contributions to architecture, Acebillo was the public face of the legal offensive against the flagship project of Ada Colau at the helm of the City Council: the superblocks and green axes of the Eixample. In 2022, alongside lawyers Francesc Jufresa and Ferran Grasas and the platform Salvem Barcelona, he filed a complaint with the Prosecutor's Office regarding the redevelopment of the streets Consell de Cent, Rocafort, Entença, and Diputació.
The complaint was archived in February 2023, but just a month later, and only two months before the municipal elections, they filed a new lawsuit against Colau and her Deputy Mayor for Urbanism, Janet Sanz, for urban crime and embezzlement. The 26th Instruction Court admitted the lawsuit for processing.
In December 2023, the Barcelona Court of Appeal upheld the appeals of Colau and Sanz and archived the case. The judges considered that the facts did not reach the level of a crime and noted that an urban infraction does not automatically imply embezzlement or subsidy fraud. Acebillo appealed to the Supreme Court, which definitively closed the case in September 2024.
The recognition event, held in Barcelona, represents a public endorsement of Acebillo's figure at a time when the city's urban planning remains a topic of debate. For residents, the legal dispute over the superblocks marked the daily life of Eixample neighbourhoods for years, and its judicial outcome has not settled the political differences regarding the city's model.
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