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.
Over the course of 6 weeks we had the opportunity to be introduced to emerging economies, a concept that from my initial perspective was outside of urban design, but as the classes progressed, I realized its relevance to urban planning and to the current world in general. CIRCULAR ECONOMIES AND VALUE FLOWS The circular economy … Read more
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
“ Critical theory is thus not intended to serve as a formula for any particular course of social change; it is not a strategic map for social change; and it is not a ‘how to’-style guidebook for social movements.”Neil Brenner (2009) What is critical urban theory? THE STATEMENT …settlement – rural/urban – city – megalopolis … Read more
01 Reading as Urban InsightIn a rapidly urbanizing world, the ability to read critically across diverse mediums—both digital and print—serves as an indispensable tool for interpreting the complexities of urban theory. Techniques like HYPERREADING, which facilitates navigation through vast digital information, and CLOSE READING, which emphasizes deep textual analysis, are crucial for decoding the nuanced … Read more
“The artificial refers not to the fake, but to what is deliberately created, designed with purpose, and capable of reshaping both human and planetary futures.” Benjamin Bratton In recent years, the notion of artificiality has evolved from being seen as an imitation of the natural, to an integral part of planetary and urban systems. Benjamin … Read more
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
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
“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
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
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
“Can we understand urban environments and street characteristics from Google Street View panorama images using Machine Learning and Stable Diffusion techniques?” Project OverviewThis computational design project aims to develop a pipeline utilizing Grasshopper and Python to visualize clusters of panoramic streetscape images. The project leverages t-Distributed Stochastic Neighbor Embedding (t-SNE) for dimensionality reduction, facilitating the … Read more
Introduction Urban transportation planning relies on data science to explain the conditions driving mobility patterns. This exploration of bicing, Barcelona’s resident bike rental program, analyzes the actors impacting discrepancies in bicing data to select machine-learning strategies able to predict biking station vacancies across Barcelona for the year 2024 with an accuracy of 0.02387. With this … Read more
Abstract Dakar is Senegal’s capital city and rapidly urbanizing economic center. Today, Dakar’s urban area is home to 3.54M people, half of Senegal’s population, and generates 55% of the Country’s GDP. This growth is artificially constrained by an urban growth boundary, where new homes are informally built, and due to the city’s topography, a peninsula … Read more
Where is Lahore? Lahore, the capital city of the Punjab province in Pakistan, is a historic urban center known for its rich culture, vibrant life, and significant economic contributions. Situated near the eastern border with India, Lahore stands as a testament to centuries of evolution, from a small walled city to a sprawling metropolis. As … Read more
Dhaka, the bustling capital of Bangladesh is at a critical juncture in its urban development. With a population exceeding 10.4 million, the city faces significant challenges in housing, transportation, and environmental sustainability. This project is a part of a comparative analysis done by the students, understanding these challenges under the framework of SDG 11 – … Read more
Introduction In the dynamic landscape of the “Global South,” cities are at the forefront of rapid urbanization, presenting both opportunities and challenges for sustainable development. Recognizing the urgency of addressing these issues, a consortium of experts and practitioners has embarked on a groundbreaking initiative to assess the nexus between urbanization and sustainability across diverse cities. … Read more
The workshop challenged us to engage with the topic of planetary urbanization through the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 2030 agenda. We chose to work on the city of Neuquen as it represents an example of a city that is undergoing a fast transition in the context of climate change. Neuquen province has a rich … Read more
Introduction: Shorter & Sharper Events Imagine the persistent drumming of rain against your window. Not the comforting tapping of a spring shower, but a relentless torrent that seems to prolong for days. This isn’t science fiction, but a glimpse into the potential future of many Latin American cities. A staggering 40% of the region is … Read more
The year is 2100. Latin America is sinking. Due to global warming the polar icecaps have almost melted completely. In addition the increased temperature has caused the global water mass to expand by almost 1%. As a consequence sea levels are rising at unprecedented levels globally. The coastline in South America is hard-hit by these … Read more
