Barcelona is just about Architecture and Urban Design utopia. The old stuff is great, and the new boulevards and plazas are nice w/o trying to replicate 19th century architecure.
It is the textbook definition of the effective use of perimeter blocks, though I found many inside of blocks (whic sould be private space) developed into literally backoffice operations.
The beach at olympic village is entirely man made in 1991, it looks so natural I could not believe it.
Even the area around the FCB stadium (which is pretty low rent) is nice with thoughtful attention to streetscape. I jinx the team though, in 2 visits I saw 2 games and no winner, (don't tell the Catalans.)
The one area I found that was nice but could use fruther development was the area around Mt. Judic, which was great, just underutilized.
In school I attended a lecture w/ the head of planning from Barcelona (this was about a year ago) and the plans for the next ten years look as good as what has been implemented so far. They are planning a cont. of the boulevard that terminates in the harbour from Las Ramblas this will extend east passing by the waterfront and deeper into the city.
Also kick butt Foster TV tower on the edge of town.
Estrella Damn would be tastey right about now.