The Master in City & Technology’s academic structure is based on IAAC’s innovative, learn-by-doing and design-through-research methodology which focuses on the development of interdisciplinary skills. During the Master in City & Technology students will have the opportunity to be part of a highly international group, including faculty members, researchers, and lecturers, in which they are encouraged to develop collective decision-making processes and materialize their project ideas.
This project focuses on establishing a community-centered public space in Santa Coloma. Situated at Block Illa de Raval, a designated “green finger” of the Pinta Verde initiative, the project seeks to improve accessibility, enhance social engagement, and address infrastructural needs based on local context and community input. At the project start, several assumptions guided the … Read more
Santa Coloma de Gramenet, informally simply known as Santa Coloma, and formerly as Gramenet de Besòs between 1936 and 1939, is a municipality in Barcelonès county, in Catalonia, Spain. It is situated on the south-east side of the coastal range, with the Puig Castellar as its highest point, on the left bank of the Besòs … Read more
Our research on the El Raval neighborhood explored the tensions and opportunities between residents and tourists, two populations who travel from all over the world to be in El Raval. While tourists and residents can have conflicting priorities and demands of their environment, the two are also dependent on each other and we came upon … Read more
As part of the Master in City & Technology Introductory Workshop, our team was tasked with studying La Barceloneta, a district characterized by its complex layers of social, economic, architectural, and administrative systems. This project aims to explore these dimensions, highlighting the interactions between tourism and the local community in one of Barcelona’s most iconic … Read more
The urban transformation of the Poblenou neighborhood has reached a critical juncture, where the local and global spheres coexist in a contested struggle over territory. The revitalization of old industrial buildings into a technological and creative hub has spurred significant economic growth, attracting a wave of companies, start-ups, investors, and, more recently, digital nomads, displacing … Read more
Exploring the vibrant neighborhood of Sant Antoni, a lively corner of Barcelona’s Eixample district, we set out to uncover its rich history, pinpoint its challenges, and evaluate relevant data. Our journey began with online research, laying the groundwork for our field observations. Once we arrived on-site, we captured the essence of the area through photographs, … Read more
Fields at Play identifies the value of gender inequality in Olympic infrastructure and proposes to leverage the derived $12.6B Olympic gender gap in sports facilities to fund the revitalization and ongoing program of reliable, safe, and comfortable spaces for women at risk of gender-based violence. Understanding the purpose and outcomes of Olympic infrastructure strategies in … Read more
“WHAT IS THE FIRST THING THAT YOU THINK OF WHEN YOU HEAR THE WORDS: GENDER & BANGKOK? “ 1. BANGKOK’S SPECTRUM OF GENDER (INTRODUCTION) Historically, Thai society has grappled with rigid gender roles, which often saw Thai women facing significant challenges and being relegated to positions within the entertainment and sex industries. However, as Thai society … Read more
This project examines gender dynamics in Lagos’ public spaces, particularly within markets. It investigates the historical and contemporary influence of market women, particularly through the Iyaloja’s role. Through analysis of market layout and structure, the project seeks to identify how these features might limit women’s agency. To address these limitations, the project seeks collaborative strategies … Read more
Introduction Medellin, known as the ‘City of Eternal Spring,’ is a Colombian city located between mountains around the Aburra River Valley. According to the National Census, it is inhabited predominantly by women, as 53.3% of the population is composed of women, and a large portion of them perform in areas such as education, healthcare and … Read more
Introducing a methodology for Autonomous Intervention at the neighborhood level Identifying a problem; In the Eixample district of Barcelona, the daily scene often includes numerous small vans and trucks loading and unloading goods on the streets. This common activity significantly impacts the city by contributing to increased traffic congestion and higher levels of pollution. The … Read more
The motorway was the symbol of progress during the modern age. The car was the central element of the American dream, and then expanded across the globe, transforming the way we live. Over the years, it has become clear that individual conventional cars are not only good for cities: urban motorways often create physical and … Read more
1. Introduction 1.1. Abstract Autonomous Vehicles are vehicles that employ driver assistance technologies to remove the need for a human operator within the vehicle. These new technologies into automation have been researched in contexts like the United States of America, Middle-Eastern Countries and some European Countries. Planners and architects are designing for these cities including … Read more
Mobility Hubs for Edge Cities to Reduce Car Demand Ticket to Ride gamifies public transportation to reduce car trip demand with a single ticket for all rides at the mobility hub: the new heart of the conceptual Edge City. Why the Edge City? The Edge City is a global suburban spatial condition constructed in the … Read more
Can speculative science fiction ground us in reality? In an age where technology and urbanization shape the contours of our reality, the role of theory as a form of critique becomes ever more crucial. The consequences of centuries of colonization, globalization, and exploitation are evident in our sprawling cities and degraded environments. The 2017 sci-fi … Read more
The idea of a ‘car-free’ city is not as easy as just banning cars but about reducing car reliance. The private car has undeniably revolutionized mobility in the 21st century. It has offered convenience, job creation and an increased freedom of movement. While a world without cars might seem unimaginable, cities globally are strategically transitioning … Read more
Science Fiction is a literary genre known for creating future worlds that emerge as the consequence of today’s cultural and technological realities. It is in this worldbuilding -where societies, their functioning, and the dynamics that govern them are imagined- where Sci-Fi shows similarities to the disciplines of design and architecture. To explore the design possibilities … Read more
In our third scenario, Building Information Modelling is exceedingly advanced, seamlessly integrating urban society into a complex technocracy. Cyborg citizens, embodying the fusion of human and machine, and Human citizens, both, thrive in this environment. It is trivial to lay emphasis on software coding, regulation, decency, fairness, justice, and endless niggling confrontations with the networked … Read more
Finding stories in an ‘altered’ normal of a digitally blended reality. IIn “Ready Player One,” directed by Steven Spielberg, the OASIS Corporation controls a vast virtual reality universe that serves as the film’s central setting. This digital utopia offers an escape from a dystopian reality predominated by the prevalence of the emergent over stacking of … Read more
Sterling, B (2015) imagined four fictitious scenarios of how future skyscrapers might be, differentially equalizing the state of technology and the economic-political climate: Future skyscraper 1: Huge, lopsided pyramid Future skyscraper 2: No-nonsense, mil-spec fortress Future skyscraper 3: Colossal, awkward tower Future skyscraper 4: Postindustrial, digitized monster In our last scenario, the Smart City has … Read more
In this project we focused on analysing how future skyscrapers could look like and comparing that with the urban imaginary of the film ‘Blade Runner 2049’. In “Blade Runner 2049,” the skyscrapers of the future loom like monolithic symbols of corporate power and societal decay. Their towering structures cast shadows over the dystopian landscape, reflecting … Read more
Skyscrapers are human achievements that require innovation in the extraction of land to tower over its neighbors. The third skyscraper future reflects the past imaginary of Fritz Lang’s, Metropolis. This visualization aims to highlight the economic disparities and labor oppression depicted in the film, contrasting them with the modern logics of rentism as embodied by … Read more
In this project we focused on analysing how future skyscrapers could look like and comparing that with the urban imaginary of the film ‘Ready Player One’. “Ready Player One” depicts a dystopian future where urban sprawl is transformed into crowded, vertical stacks. This bleak reality drives people to escape into the Oasis, a virtual world … Read more
In the realm of speculative urban design, the fusion of cyborg skyscrapers and utopian visions offers a captivating journey into the convergence of reality and imagination. Inspired by Fritz Lang’s timeless sci-fi masterpiece ‘Metropolis,’ I embark on a deep dive into the intricate relationship between design, urbanization, and speculative fiction. Metropolis, Fritz Lang (1927) “Metropolis” … Read more
