Cerd� was born in Centelles, Catalonia, Spain, in 1815. He
originally trained as a civil engineer at the Escuela de Ingenieros
de Caminos, Canales y Puertos, in Madrid. He joined the Corps of
Engineers and lived in various cities in Spain before settling in
Barcelona in 1848 and marrying Clotilde Bosch. After the death of
his brothers, Cerd� inherited the family fortune, and left the
civil service. He became interested in politics and the study of
urban planning.
When the government of the time finally gave in to public pressure
and allowed Barcelona's city walls to be torn down, he realized the
need to plan the city's expansion so that the new extension would
become an efficient and livable place, unlike the congested,
epidemic-prone old town within the walls. When he failed to find
suitable reference works, he undertook the task of writing one from
scratch while designing what he called the Ensanche or Eixample,
borrowing a few technological ideas from his contemporaries to
create a unique, thoroughly modern integrated concept that was
carefully considered rather than whimsically designed.
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