UPC develops a payload for a United Arab Emirates satellite
May 21, 2021
ELDE completed: New technologies for industrial wastewater treatment and reuse
June 1, 2021The social and health crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic has worsened the consequences of the housing shortage in Barcelona and the great obstacles to growth that local entrepreneurs encounter in the city. In this context, CO-HABITEM BARCELONA has been developed. The aim of the project is to improve the management of “urban reuse” and increase resilience in the temporary needs of inhabitants, to respond more efficiently to emergency situations, and to become a space with opportunities for sustainable local development.
To achieve this objective, a new model of creating the city is promoted based on mapping underused spaces and buildings, drawing up an index of reuse and accounting for these spaces with different temporary and mixed activities such as start-ups, housing, laboratories, artists’ residencies, etc. This will bring life to new experimental, innovative centres that can house and share a wide range of uses.
As part of CO-HABITEM BARCELONA, a mapping study of five underused buildings and spaces in the Ciutat Vella neighbourhood (Duanes, Correus, Estació de França, Museu Martorell and Castell dels Tres Dragons) has been carried out, for which reuse proposals have been made so that these spaces can coincide with other activities.
Participants in the project include researchers from the Rehabilitation and Architectural Restoration (REARQ) research group and VIMAC. The budget for CO-HABITEM BARCELONA is 99,680 euros. The project began in January 2021 and will end in December 2022.
CO-HABITEM BARCELONA has received the award for Scientific Research into Urban Challenges in the City of Barcelona 2020, given by Barcelona City Council for providing solutions to the challenges of Covid-19 and rethinking the model of the city in general.
Related news: The Scientific Research Awards recognise four UPC research projects to face the challenges of COVID-19 in Barcelona
Related Projects
- The La Volta project foresees the construction of a large Catalan vault pergola within the Llars Mundet campus, in the Montbau neighbourhood (Horta-Guinardó district). This structure will become a new architectural landmark for Barcelona, combining traditional construction techniques with contemporary innovation. The project involves the Rehabilitation and Architectural Restoration Research Group (REARQ), at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - BarcelonaTech (UPC), and is led by the Architects’ Association of Catalonia (COAC) and the Barcelona Provincial Council.
- The Architecture, Energy and Environment (AiEM) research group at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - BarcelonaTech (UPC) has characterised Barcelona’s residential buildings according to their capacity to adapt to climate change. This study is part of the project ‘VeUvE: Urban havens for vulnerable zones’. The work highlights the climate inequality conditions present across different areas of the city and will help to better define the priorities and energy renovation strategies for its districts.
- The Research Center for Supervision, Safety and Automatic Control (CS2AC-UPC) at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - BarcelonaTech (UPC) has coordinated the SaCoAV project, focused on researching new methods and tools to ensure the safe coordination of autonomous vehicles in urban environments.
- The Centre for Technological Risk Studies (CERTEC) at UPC is participating in the WUITIPS project (Wildland-Urban-Interface Fire Touristic Infrastructure Protection Solutions), which aims to develop a new wildfire management framework for the tourism sector. This project contributes to risk analysis and the design of specific strategies to mitigate such risks.
