IN-PERSON Barcelona Livable Cities. Section A
Abstract
Faced with the challenges of urbanism in recent decades, collaborative urbanism is presented as an alternative that allows a more direct approach to the needs and wants of the inhabitants through processes that combine citizen participation and the expertise of the discipline. However, its practice entails the expansion of the operational scope of urban planning professionals, who are forced to redefine their tasks from a design and normative framework to others of a more social nature, including the facilitation and mediation of decision-making processes that affects the inhabited space. In this context, it is important to identify the objectives behind the residents’ contributions to these participatory practices, so that urban planners can systematize them. This would allow for the strengthening of relevant contributions in some cases, or, in others, the identification of overlooked aspects that need to be incorporated into the planning proposal to address additional needs. This paper details the contributions of the residents of the Vallcarca neighborhood in Barcelona to a participatory process that culminated in 2018 with a modification of the urban plan originally approved in 2002. Methodologically, a proposed framework of five categories aims to cover all different dimensions of the lived space: Memory, Nature, Urban Form, Programme and Involvement. As a result, it is observed that the neighbors’ priority objectives relate to both the functional and symbolic aspects of the space, with the aim of preserving the continuity of the bonds between residents and the built environment through concrete measures that affect the form and program of the urban project.
Angel Martín Cojo is an architect, PhD candidate and holds a Diploma of Advanced Studies. He is an associate professor in the area of Representation at the School of Architecture La Salle-URL. His research activity for 17 years focuses on various lines of research such as participatory processes in architectural design, the right to the city and the construction of sustainable and standardizable housing. His professional experience includes collaboration in architectural firms at national and international level. Since 2005 he runs his own studio obtaining different recognitions for his work.
Anna Martínez Duran is architect (1989) and PhD (2008), with “The architect’s house”, from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC), where she has taught in the graduate, postgraduate and doctoral programs. Since 1998 she has been teaching at the School of Architecture La Salle, Ramon Llull University (URL) in some courses in the Architectural Composition area. She has been co-founder of the research group IAM (Mediterranean Architecture) since 2008, now integrated in the HER (Human Environment Research). The work of the research focuses on the restoration of architectural and landscape cultural heritage in the Mediterranean region, using sustainability criteria and promoting human welfare; Xavier Martín Tost is an architect (2012), holds a master’s degree (2014), and earned a Ph.D. (2018) from the Universitat Ramon Llull (URL). He is a professor in the areas of Composition and Projects at the La Salle-URL School of Architecture. He is a researcher in the IAM research line (Mediterranean Architecture, 2008), which is part of the HER group (Human Environment Research, 2022). His work focuses on projects related to the sustainable development of Mediterranean landscapes and cultural heritage, temporary settlements, and sustainable innovation in new housing models. Additionally, he is the co-founder of CLAUDA, an architecture office based in Barcelona.
4:30 pm - 6:00 pm
Friday 18th July, 2025