Conference: “Redefining Urban Design: Barcelona as Case Study" Part 1

The theme of this conference is the extent to which new, emerging issues are changing the principles of urban design and its practice at the scale of the city and territory. Topics to be explored include the future of the traditional city and modern districts constructed thus far; the new urban forms that have come into being along with the innovation economy; the potential influence of the hypermobility that global centers appear to promote; and forms of economic and urban development that may have been neglected amid the models of the widespread growth of housing and infrastructure that were so influential in the twentieth century.
By considering several different issues in Barcelona, including case studies in the concurrent exhibition Barcelona: Metropolis of Cities, the conference aims not only to examine the urban transformation of that city since the 1980s but also to reflect on how its recent history may shed light on the urban development of other cities across the globe. The conference will thus explore a new dimension of the urban design project as such, in which multidisciplinary reflections on the similarities and differences between a specific case study and innovative trends in other cities may disclose new fields for reflection, orientation, and coordination of the various disciplines and scales involved in the design and management of the city. Organized by Joan Busquets, Martin Bucksbaum Professor in Practice of Urban Planning and Design.

[@Southpaw128]

Barcelona is a great model for urban design but I find that its often the center of discourse between planners because of two things: it's both a heavily planned city & very beautiful/walkable/efficient and that Spain is probably the most popular destination for American study abroad students in both undergrad and post grad and thus shapes many Americans' view on an international city. Moving away from western cities I find that Tokyo is, in many ways, my pinnacle of urban design/beauty but i find it's often excluded from discussions around planning and urban design. Perhaps because there is less cultural exchange between our two countries? Or that "Urban Planning" in the western sense is not as established of a discipline in Tokyo's public sector? Either way, a lot of lessons can be learned from the most technologically advanced, transit dependent, safe and clean mega city on the planet. It's use of "nuisance zoning" results in beautiful mixed-use districts, and arterial roadways deflect traffic away from the more narrow and shared side streets that run adjacent. Another reason Tokyo is a great model is because it dealt with a lot of the same free market pressures to suburbanize in the 20th century and have created great regulatory and free market incentives to prevent car use in the city.

[@AyushKumar-uu2yd]

I agree.
When developing world looks for urban planning, it looks at the American model, not the European or the japanese. Therefore you get highways running through the middle of the city with no walking or biking infrastructure. It's horrible.

[@pls-shanice]

1:15:50 why would thye use artificial turf here? natural turf is surely more absorbent...and more environmentally friendly...maintaining the grass will pay off when it floods...