Territorial, urbanistic and mobility planning follow a multi-layer structure, summarized in Figure A J.1. The top layers have large territorial scope and contain the guiding principles for the mid and lower layers. The top-layer plans originate from the Territorial (1983) (Gobierno de España, 1983[63]) and Mobility Laws (2003) (Generalitat de Catalunya, 2003[64]).
Transforming Catalonia’s Mobility System for Net Zero
Note: Territorial-planning-wise, the Department of Territory develops Partial Territorial Plans (PTP) aimed at guiding urban land use plans at the municipality level and establish infrastructure development provisions. Transport policies are guided by the Mobility Guidelines (DNM after its acronym in Catalan) (Generalitat de Catalunya, 2006[65]), published in 2006 to translate the 2003 Mobility Law into action . The Catalan Transport Infrastructure Plan (PITC) is the strategic framework guiding transport infrastructure development in the region. The Passenger Transport Plan (PTVC) provides the guiding framework for regional public transport services1. The Territorial Mobility Authorities (ATM) develop Mobility Master Plans (PDM) to translate the guidance in the DNM at the territorial level. The Diputacions (sub-regional government) produce Provincial Road Plans, to guide infrastructure development of the road network under their competence (see sub-section Road Infrastructure below). At the local level, municipalities are required to develop a Municipal Land Use Plan (POUM), a 20-year, legally binding plan that regulates the territorial setting and the size of planned transport infrastructures within the municipality. Municipalities exceeding 50.000 people (20.000 for the Barcelona Region) are required to develop an Urban Mobility Plan (PMU), a 6-year plan focused on mobility services.
Source: Department of Territory.
The infrastructure and operation of each of the transport modes is then split across multiple geographical layers. These include: the State Government (Ministry of Transport and Urban agenda, MITMA), the Regional Government (Generalitat de Catalunya, Department of Territori)2, four Provincial Governments (Diputació Provincial), 42 County Governments (Consell Comarcal), and 947 Municipalities (Ajuntaments). In addition, Catalonia features four Mobility Territorial Authorities (ATM) - provincial public consortia with an intermediate regional scope – and the Barcelona Metropolitan Government (AMB), encompassing 36 municipalities surrounding Barcelona. The following sub-sections describe competences in further detail.
Rail
The Catalan rail network, with a total length of 1.867 km, is divided into four sub-networks. The general interest network (1.437 km); the regional network (276 km); the Barcelona metropolitan subway (125,4 km); and the Barcelona tramway, (29,2 km). Figure A J.6 describes rail infrastructure ownership and construction and maintenance competences at different geographical levels. Figure A J.3 illustrates competences in terms of rail operation. At the time of drafting this report, discussions on competence transfers of rail infrastructure ownership and operation are taking place between the State and Regional governments.3
Note: The Ministry of Transport (MITMA, national level) has competences over the heavy Rail General Interest Network and produces the development plan for this network (Pla de Rodalies), which identifies the investments and projects to be executed within a ten-year time span (MITMA, 2020[66]). The Generalitat de Catalunya (Department of Territory, regional level) has competences over interurban rail, executed directly and via the public enterprise Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya (FGC). FGC builds and manages interurban light rail infrastructure and its strategy is summarised in the document Agenda 10/30 (Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya, 2019[67]). The Barcelona metro system’s infrastructure is owned and managed by the Generalitat (Department of Territory). The operator for the subway network (Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona, TMB) maintains the infrastructure. The Barcelona tramway network infrastructure is owned at the regional level, which delegates its competences to the Barcelona Metropolitan Transport Authority (ATM). The trams are managed by a private-public consortium which reports to the ATM (TRAM, 2023[68]).
Source: Department of Territory.
Note: Commuter and Regional service lines (Rodalies de Catalunya), and AVANT lines (medium distance trains) are operated by RENFE, a State public enterprise. Passenger services located in the Barcelona and Lleida Provinces are operated by the public enterprise Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya (FGC). Within Barcelona, the metro lines are operated by Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB), the public metropolitan enterprise tasked with running both the urban bus and metro services of the Barcelona metropolitan area. The Tram service is operated by a private-public consortium reporting to the ATM (TRAM, 2023[68]).
Source: Department of Territory.
Road infrastructure
The region’s 11.965 kilometers of roads are structured in three management domains: central state (1.782 km); regional government (5.975 km); and provincial governments (4.208 km) (Departament de Territori, 2023[69]). Figure A J.4 describes infrastructure ownership and construction and maintenance competences for roads at different geographical levels.
Note1: The General Interest Road Network (high-capacity axes) are owned and maintained by the State Government. Trunk roads (regional, provincial and comarcal scale) are owned and maintained at the regional level by the Department of Territory. Local networks (minor interurban roads that cross and connect municipalities) are owned and maintained by Provincial Governments (Diputacions). Internal city streets and avenues are owned and managed by local governments.
Note2: The Ministry of Transport and the Department of Territory have competences over road pricing in their respective road networks. A state law being discussed during the drafting of this report - the Sustainable Mobility Law (Ley de Movilidad Sostenible) (Ministerio de Transportes y Movilidad Sostenible, 2022[70])– may empower municipalities to establish congestion charges within their urban centers, as to enhance local governments' capacity to manage traffic congestion and promote sustainable mobility practices. Currently, most of the roads in the three networks described above remain unpriced for users. Seven regional government roads are tolled, two via barrier tolling, and five via traffic count compensation tolling (shaded tolling, where the user does not pay. Instead, the enterprise managing the concession gets paid as a function of transit). (Departament de Territori, 2023[71]).
Source: Department of Territory.
Bus services
Bus services include international, national (from Catalonia to other regions in Spain), interurban and intra-regional, and local bus lines (Figure A J.5).
Note: International and national bus lines are managed by the Ministry of Transport (State Government). Intra-regional and interurban lines are managed by the Department of Territory (regional government), except for bus lines within the Barcelona Metropolitan Area, which are managed by the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona (AMB). Municipalities exceeding 50.000 inhabitants (20.000 in the case of SIMMB, in Barcelona) manage local bus services. Most bus services are operated by private bus companies via concession contracts.
Source: Department of Territory.
Bike
Interurban bike lanes are planned, built and maintained by the Department of Territory (regional government). Local bike lanes are planned, built and maintained by municipalities (Figure A J.6).
Source: Department of Territory.
Public space management
Public space is primarily managed by municipalities. The mechanisms to allocate or redistribute public space vary, depending on whether the redistribution affects existing public spaces or the creation of new spaces.
In general, small-scale space redistribution can be done without the need to modify land-use regulations. However, when the urban morphology is set to be significantly altered (e.g. new streets or squares, buildings to be demolished, new land plots available for development, changes in roads that cross the cities), the modification of the land-use planning regulation, and the approval of the regional government are needed. The municipality can either modify the Municipal Urban Planning Plan (Pla d'ordenació urbanística municipal) or create a derivative planning document within the Plan, either an Urbanistic Partial Plan (Plan Parcial Urbanístic), Urban Betterment Plan (Plan de Millora Urbana), or Urbanistic Special Plans (Plans Especials Urbanístic) (Generalitat de Catalunya, 2019[72]).
← 1. Additionally, and due to the density of the infrastructures planned within the Barcelona region, the Barcelona ATM develops the Infrastructure Master Plan (PDI), aimed at coordinating, harmonizing and scheduling infrastructure developments in the Barcelona area.
← 2. The Department is organized in four secretariats: a general secretariat, responsible for internal affairs and coordination, and three sectorial secretariats, tasked with policy development: i) Housing policy; ii) Territory, urbanism, and urban agenda (land use planning policies); and iii) mobility and infrastructure (mobility infrastructure and transport policies). Within the mobility and infrastructure secretariat, two directorates develop policy. On the one hand, the Directorate of mobility infrastructure (DGIM) develops plans and oversees the construction and maintenance of interurban and intra-regional roads, railway, bus and bike infrastructure. On the other hand, the Directorate of transport and mobility (DGTM) develops transport service regulations (including the management of concessions) for public transport, taxi, freight services, ports and airports (Departament de Territori, 2023[76]).
← 3. The transfer of the ownership and operation of suburban and intra-regional heavy rail (Rodalies) is being discussed between the State and Regional Governments at the time of drafting this report (September 2024). Discussions are taking place via six working groups, focused on: Rail Operations, Rail Service management, Strategic and Operational Planning (Pla de Rodalies), Infrastructure transfer, Economic Affairs, and Juridical and Administrative Affairs (Ministerio de Transportes y Movilidad Sostenible, 2024[81]).