L’Hospitalet de Llobregat is a municipality to the immediate southwest of Barcelona in Catalonia. By population, it is the second largest in Catalonia and the sixteenth in Spain. By population density, is notable for being one of the most densely populated cities in the European Union.
Its economy has improved recently, as can be seen from the city’s new skyline and relocation of companies to the city’s new financial centre. Urban regeneration and construction have taken place during the 2000s, as well as ongoing work on improving public transportation in the second municipality of the Barcelona metropolitan area.
El Centre is the historical centre of the city, the oldest neighbourhood, where the City Council is, as well as the centre of activities such as La Farga and many of the cultural buildings, such as the History Museum, the Can Sumarro library, the cultural centre Barradas or the Sala Alexandre Cirici. It borders the district of Sanfeliu and Can Serra to the north, Bellvitge to the south, Sant Josep to the east, and the city of Cornellà de Llobregat to the west.
Sant Josep remains framed by the square that is formed by the avenue of the Fabregada and that of Isabella The Catholic (Isabel la Catòlica) to the west, the Torrent Gornal to the east, the railroad on the north side Carrilet to the south. In this area, all the industrial activities that Hospitalet had through the ages left their mark: from the flour mills and the distilleries, up to the different energetic exploitation of the waterfalls of the Canal de la Infanta or the ceramic, textile, metallurgical and chemical industries. In fact, Sant Josep was originally an industrial suburb, but the subsequent disappearance of many factories, as well as the population increase, have given it a residential character.
