A walk through the streets of Barcelona's Eixample is a walk through one man's utopian dream. This article traces how engineer Ildefons Cerdà transformed an overcrowded 19th-century city into one of Europe's most admired urban grids — and how the 1888 Universal Exhibition turned that blueprint into the Modernista neighbourhood you see today. From the chamfered corners of Cerdà's octagonal blocks to the architectural treasures of Carrer Girona, the story of the Eixample is sti