Jaime Maristany [2026]

His early political work focused on the "Right to Housing" movement. He was a key advisor on housing policies during Colau’s first term, helping to design measures like the regulation of tourist apartments and the creation of public housing stock. This dual focus—mobility and housing—is rare, as most politicians specialize in one. For Maristany, the two are inseparable: a transit stop defines where affordable housing is viable, and housing density determines what transit is sustainable. Maristany rose to prominence as the primary defender and explainer of Barcelona’s most famous urban experiment: the superilles (superblocks). The superblock model reclaims street intersections and through-roads, converting them into citizen spaces for play, walking, and greenery while rerouting traffic to perimeter roads.

As the Deputy Mayor for Mobility, Transport, and Sustainability under Mayor Ada Colau (2019–2023), Maristany was the public face of the plan to build 21 new superblocks across the city’s Eixample district. jaime maristany

He has controversially suggested that large infrastructure projects (like metro extensions) must be paired with "anti-speculation agreements" to ensure that new stations don’t simply drive up land prices and displace existing communities. Maristany is not without his detractors. Opposition parties, particularly the center-right Junts per Catalunya and the liberal Ciutadans, accuse him of "urbanism of prohibition"—using the superblock to punish drivers rather than improve mobility. They point to traffic snarls in the Eixample and argue that his policies hurt local delivery businesses and taxi drivers. His early political work focused on the "Right

While the project moved slower than activists hoped, Maristany successfully implemented the Consell de Cent green axis—a 3.5-kilometer linear park crossing the Eixample—proving that the superblock model could work on a massive scale. In June 2023, following municipal elections, Maristany was appointed President of TMB, the consortium that runs Barcelona’s metro, buses, and funiculars. He took the helm at a delicate moment. For Maristany, the two are inseparable: a transit

Currently serving as the President of and a key figure in the Barcelona en Comú party, Maristany has his hands on the two levers that define urban quality of life: how people move and where they live. From Engineering to Activism Unlike many career politicians who study law or political science, Maristany’s foundation is in civil engineering. He specialized in transport infrastructure, a technical background that deeply informs his political approach. Before entering the high-stakes arena of city politics, he worked in the public sector and as an activist in Barcelona en Comú , the left-wing platform that won city hall in 2015 under Ada Colau.