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Master in City & Technology

IAAC’s Master in City & Technology (1 or 2-year program) is a unique program oriented towards redefining the analysis, planning, and design of twenty-first-century cities and beyond. The program offers expertise in the design of digitally enhanced, ecological and human-centered urban environments by intersecting the disciplines of urbanism and data science. Taking place in Barcelona, the capital of urbanism, the Master in City & Technology is training the professionals that city administrations, governments, industries, and communities need, to transform the urban environment in the era of big data.


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Designing Futures: Exploring Digital Cultures in a Climate Emergency

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MaCT-01 2024-2025

This course examined the interplay of ecological, cultural, and digital transformations amidst a climate emergency, emphasizing the need to prioritize cultural over economic value. It explored how language shapes perceptions of technology, the hidden environmental costs of digital infrastructures, and the biases embedded in AI systems. Addressing the prevalence of misinformation, it highlighted the role … Read more

Unmasking Digital Culture: Rethinking Progress, Equity, and Sustainability

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MaCT-01 2024-2025

Accumulation: A Mirage of Progress Imagine a minimalist workspace—a pristine desk, a single laptop, a small plant to complete the tableau. It’s serene, efficient, and modern. Yet, behind this simplicity lies a sprawling network of data centers consuming vast amounts of energy, hidden from view. This duality invites a deeper reflection: is our pursuit of … Read more

Navigating Digital Culture(s): Complexity, Imagination, and Responsibility

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MaCT-01 2024-2025

In a world of interconnected crises and rapid technological change, Digital Cultures provides a lens to explore how we interact with technology and respond to global challenges. The Digital Cultures class invited us to reflect on these dynamics, highlighting the importance of rethinking the narratives, metaphors, and values shaping our present and future. Central to … Read more

From Survival to Spectacle: Grassroots Urbanism or Systemic Neglect

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MaCT 2024-2025

“Urban organic growth as a symptom of capitalist contradictions, examining alienation, inequality, and deindustrialization. It explores the uneven valorization of grassroots urbanism and the systemic forces shaping unplanned urban development.” URBAN ORGANIC GROWTH reflects the contradictions of capitalist urbanization, where unplanned development arises// as both a necessity and a response to ALIENATION, SYSTEMATIC INEQUALITY and … Read more

Reading Urban Planetary

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MaCT-01 2024-2025

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

CONVERGING FUTURES

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MaCT-01 2024-2025

“Planetary-scale computation is an example of what may be called, after the great Polish novelist Stanislaw Lem, an ‘epistemological technology.’ The most important social impact of some technologies is not just in what theyallow people to do, but in what they reveal about how the world works.”​ (Bratton, 3). We are currently experiencing a significant … Read more

Understanding Planetary Urbanization and Capitalism

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MaCT-01 2024-2025

“capitalism as a mode of production has necessarily targeted the breaking down of spatial barriers and the acceleration of turnover time as fundamental to its agenda of relentless capital accumulation” (David Harvey.) 01. The Evolution of Urban Reading Urbanization, much like the transition from print to digital media, reflects evolving modes of engagement. The shift … Read more

Shaping the Urban: Technology, Capitalism, and the Dynamics of Change

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MaCT-01 2024-2025

Quotation ” The urban in the 21st century is no longerconfined by traditional boundaries; itis a dynamic space shaped by digitaltechnologies, capitalism, and planetaryurbanization. Understanding thisevolving landscape requires embracingcomplexity, rethinking governance, andprioritizing justice and sustainability tonavigate the challenges of a globalizedworld. “ The nature of the urban is being redefined in the 21stcentury, shaped by … Read more

An Urban Frontier

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MaCT-01 2024-2025

SUMMARY 01. An Adapted Urbanism02. Extended Cognitions03. Excavating Futures04. In Defense of the Local “The places whose stories I am trying to tell cannot be understood as geographiesof urbanization. Nor can the politics of space present in these locations be readas urban in the ways in which critical urban theory would lead us to believe.”(Ananya … Read more

Urban Complexity: Rethinking Space & Knowledge

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MaCT-01 2024-2025

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

Designed Realities

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MaCT-01 2024-2025

“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

HUMAN MACHINE NEXUS

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MaCT-01 2024-2025

“Language has been a bodily process; it now extends beyond the human, forming a porous boundary in the human-machine nexus.” (Class 2: How We Read) In the age of planetary urbanization and artificial intelligence, the HUMAN-MACHINE NEXUS emerges as a critical site of inquiry. The interconnection between human cognition, technological augmentation, and urban processes compels … Read more

READING, PLANETARY, URBANISATION, CRITICALLY FOR TERRAFORMING

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MaCT-01 2024-2025

Reading… involves interpreting the meaning of symbols, whether in the form of text, poetry, or even urban landscapes. Katherine Hayles’ exploration of combining human and non-human reading techniques offers new insights for understanding urban environments – emphasizing how cognitive shifts enable us to navigate the complexities of modern cities and urbanization. … Planetary … The … Read more