The heart of the city

If you type the words "town square" into the Wikipedia search engine, the resulting article comes accompanied by a photo of a public square in the city of Sabadell. It is no coincidence that it is a Catalan town that has been picked by the on-line encyclopaedia to portray a typical square. Catalonia is rich in places, which ever since the Romans built forums as a central communal location in towns, have served a variety of functions. From meeting places to festival venues and from centres of commerce to sites of political rebellion, public squares have always played a full role in the collective life of towns and cities. (Full story in printed edition).