A route through poble sec to find the elements that make up the singular and original landscape of barcelona’s public space. Shops, always beacons on the urban visual horizon, have largely contributed to the unique image that we have of the city. With this in mind, we will unveil the contribution of the bacallaneries [cod fish stalls], places selling cooked pulses, and bars where people have a vermut [vermouth and snack before main meal] to the construction of the barcelona landscape.

Cities are places, but they are also landscapes, i.e. visual panoramas built from personal experience, although mediated through stories from the past and images from photographs, cinema, books and even maps. Landscape, as a social construct, is based on elements of the public space that we value for their capacity to represent a supposed way of doing things or lifestyle, despite not being considered as heritage assets and, therefore, with no protection. Traditional shops, emblems of local small commerce, form part of this category of valuable elements in a section of a space loaded with meaning, i.e. they form the significant points of the landscape of our daily lives.