Its back to the sea: the relationship between Barcelona and its port during the long 19th century – Eduard Page Campos and Jordi Ibarz

This paper examines how Barcelona, despite its coastal location, failed to develop a strong urban identity closely tied to the sea in the 19th century. The port gradually became an importer of coal and other industrial inputs rather than the central axis of an integrated economy. Central government trade policies often conflicted with local economic interests, further hindering development. Investment in port infrastructure was mostly extractive, relying heavily on public funds without yielding proportional returns. At the same time, as the city expanded inland, its economic development increasingly turned away from the sea. The influence of maritime actors, both the elite and the workforce, diminished in social and political life, gradually contributing to the physical and cultural separation between the city and its port.