Barcelona's innovation district, known as 22@ since 2000, occupies the well-known industrial area of the capital that was named the "Catalan Manchester" for its activities in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The textile factories of that time now coexist with modern office and housing buildings forming a unique urban ecosystem, an ideal place for creative professionals or any restless young person.

This meditated urban renovation was an original idea orchestrated in 1999 by the then mayor of the city, Joan Clos, who bet on integrating the previous housing to the urban plan and on the construction of official protection blocks. It accommodated companies of all kinds, new technologies and media, through publishing groups and even universities and student residences. This "island" served as a laboratory to promote other urban development experiences that could later be developed in other areas of the city.

Javier Bernades, international partner and director of Business Space at the real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield in Spain and president of the Urban Planning and Territory Committee of 22@Network, points out that "everything that is included from a marketing point of view is called the 22@ district, but from an urban planning point of view there are a number of plots that are included and others that are not. Everything that is in front of the sea, even if it is not 22@ from an urbanistic point of view, is included under the same umbrella".

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