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.
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
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 fourth scenario, the advanced use of … 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
“Blade Runner 2049” is a good example of how urban landscapes will be shaped differently in response to environmental collapse and societal stress. Designed by communities dominated by fear of losing their stability under an authoritarian social logic, the film features Las Vegas and Los Angeles. Reimagined as part of Bruce Sterling’s, What skyscrapers might … Read more
Sterling, B (2015) imagined four fictious scenarios of how future skyscrapers might be, differentially equalizing the state of technology, and the economical-political climate: In our third scenario, the advanced use of technology allows and fosters the consolidation of a colossal, idealistic, god-like skyscraper. Advanced Building Information Modeling fuels a technocratic society, where towers stand as … Read more
“A Guidebook on Urban Degrowth” delves into integrating degrowth strategies within urban planning to foster a shift towards an equitable urban future. This study centers around a pivotal research question: How can current literature on degrowth be translated into practical applications in city planning to guide urban areas toward enhanced social well-being and ecological equity? … Read more
Ready Player One presents a contrasting scenario between real world urban environments and virtual urban environments. This setting is shaped by a culture of video games that promotes individual competition, gendered imaginaries, conflict narratives and a militarized mindset. Real world urban skyscrapers are depicted as loop-sided pyramids designed to house large numbers of immigrants in … Read more
Introduction According to the World Health Organization, around 1.19 million people die each year due to traffic accidents, and another 20 to 50 million suffer non-fatal injuries, many of which result in disability. Beyond the human toll, the economic costs related to treatment and care for those involved in traffic accidents are significant, estimated to … Read more
