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.
ILLA DE RAVAL
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. HUMAN Research and analysis The research highlighted several … Read more
Poly-Exploration with Digital Cultures
The course of Digital Cultures, tutored by Andres Colmenares, took an investigative approach on the relations between the present and the future through the lens of art, journalism, urbanism, technology, human networks and global market. Course was structured in a “non-linear” way, what makes our tutor’s pride, yet consistent in terms of narrating through scale … Read more
Reading Urban Planetary
This blog post reflects the lectures and exercises given by Professor Mariano Gomez-Luque, supported by readings from Katherine Hayles, Neil Brenner, David Harvey, and Benjamin Bratton. These texts provided a foundation for discussions on human cognition, social structures, ecological dynamics, and planetary computation. The lecture commenced with Katherine Hayles’ exploration of evolving reading practices, contrasting … Read more
Community Haven
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
The Arteries of Lombardy
Introduction In the past centuries, Milan used to be perceived as a water-city, with an economy propelled by canals that extended throughout it. However, as the city evolved, those waterways were gradually buried beneath roads, and the aquatic arteries that once defined Milan are now relegated to the periphery of the urban fabric. This covering … Read more
Coltura
Introduction Milan, Northern Italy’s epicenter, confronts economic and environmental challenges rooted in a shift from agriculture to manufacturing. To secure its future, Milan invests in knowledge, tourism, and place-based innovation, relying on revenue from high-income foreigners, students, and the European Union. Strategic efforts to transition to a green economy focus on renewable energy, waste reduction, … Read more
From Pollution To Pollination
1. Introduction Urban air quality is a pressing concern, being the result of both natural elements and human-induced pollutants. The city of Barcelona grapples with local pollutants like NOx and PM10, primarily caused by ground transport and industrial activities. While current policies focus on mobility solutions, the project questions the need for complementary approaches. The … Read more
Towards a multi-performative soil
Introduction The contemporary postcard city of Barcelona is supported by a world wide web of hidden urbanization. One of the closest and most prominent hidden pieces of urbanization of Barcelona is found in the Besós Valley. When going on site, we encountered a fragmented urban landscape of logistical infrastructure, urban wasteland, scattered agriculture and haphazard … Read more
GreenScape – Milan
Introduction Known for its fashion, history, and culture, Milan also faces a pressing environmental issue: it stands as one of the most polluted cities in the World. The challenge of mitigating air pollution in Milan is complex, as it is shaped by a mix of geographical, meteorological, socio-economic, and cultural factors. From the city’s dense … Read more
Trencadís
Abstract Trencadís transforms a transitory sidewalk to resident alcoves through the implementation of trencadís, a dynamic mosaic art form that responds to the distinctive needs and material preferences of its creators. The design approach is centered on understanding and reacting to resident preferences to resolve site challenges. Non-descript materiality is replaced with a parametric, pervious … Read more
Reviving the Romance – A New Chapter for Plaça dels Enamorats
The aim of the project was to redesign the Placa dels Enamorats and achieve the desired objectives: To identify challenges as well as positive aspects on the site, but also have a framework on which to base any design decision, several methods for gathering data were used. These methods allowed us to capture the essence … Read more
The Besòs: A strategic productive corridor
Connectivity for efficient and sustainable transportation in Barcelona
Barcelona is home for more than 1.6 million inhabitants and is one of the most densely populated cities in Europe. It also owns the title of being the city of Europe with more cars per inhabitant. Given that around 30% of the people use private vehicle to move around the city, the air pollution is … Read more
FloodZone Analytics
Introduction Water-related disasters, such as floods and droughts, have become increasingly frequent and severe due to climate change, representing significant global challenges. Urbanization and land use changes are contributing factors, with settlements in high flood-risk areas growing. In studying Milan and the Lambro river basin in Northern Italy, we observe increasing frequencies of floods, highlighting … Read more
Visualization of Complex Innovation Data using Python
Innovation is a buzzword these days, and everyone seems to be talking about it. However, truly understanding it is a different ball game. Take the Global Innovation Index by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), for example. It’s a massive framework that pulls data from top-tier organizations worldwide, scoring countries on 100+ indicators. It’s a … Read more
Decarbonization of Housing Stock in EU
Buildings are an intrinsic part of our lives, where we spend most of our time and unfold as human beings. However, through its different forms, the built environment is responsible for the majority of our energy consumption (around 40 %) and a primary source of greenhouse emissions GHG (around 36 %) (Anderson et al., 2015). … Read more
City of Proximities: Public Markets in Madrid
Madrid Public Markets SystemThe toolkit for municipalities, food delivery platforms and local residents 1/ Overall PerspectiveA first overview of the city of Madrid, throughout its administrative districts, their socio-demographics variables, the location of 46 municipal markets and the proximity patterns between them. 2/ Markets Around the Clock To allow citizens to engage with the markets … Read more
Healthcare BCN
Understanding and analysing the existing Healthcare system of Barcelona with the help of open datasets available. This further helps us to understand the robustness, need and requirement to fill the gaps in the system if any with respect to their typologies and location as per districts Step 1: Documenting the distribution of different types of … Read more
Safer City Streets: Urban Mobility in Barcelona
Introduction As of 2021, the city of Barcelona has around 3.8 million vehicles (from cars to buses, cars, vans, etc.) circulating on its streets. Despite the efforts of the city council to better balance the motor urban mobility with the pedestrian flow throughout an urbanism model that puts people at the center, street accidents continue … Read more
A Parallel City for Pollinators
Introduction to Pollination The project attempts to study and research the possibilities of creating a green, three-dimensional corridor for pollinators in a specific area, the historical city center of Madrid, connecting Madrid’s most prominent green park “el Retiro” in the east to the “Casa de Campo” natural reserve in the west. In particular the proposal … Read more
Potential of CO2 mitigation by hempcrete
Hemp industry is one fast-growing, environment-friendliest, and perspective branch of the World economy. The hemp market is driven by the growing demand for industrial hemp from application industries, such as the food & beverage, personal care, and animal care industries, across the globe. This infographics of hemp production is made in Grasshopper using imported geojson … Read more
It’s Not About the Skyline, It’s About the Base Condition
There is no unambiguous definition of the tall building (skyscraper) in the world. A tall building is one that dominates in the landscape through its scale, so it does not have to be significantly high, but it is prominent above the surrounding buildings. As a consequence, the term “tall building” is relative to the environment … Read more
“Water Bodies towards crisis management”
Almost every day, we are confronted with dramatic images of communities and environments incrisis . Flash floods have recently become one of Greece’s most common natural occurrencesafter wildfires. Flooding occurs due to rapid rainfall and heavy storms, from rising river levelsor melting snow.Deforestation, poor soil quality and rapid urbanization significantly contribute to the genesis of … Read more
