On Friday, 19 December 2014, students in the International Cooperation master’s programme proposed strategies to improve Torre Baró, a neighbourhood in the Nou Barris district, before experts from the district and the neighbourhood community. Specifically, the students presented their proposals at the Nou Barris Community Association headquarters, which were the product of two weeks’ real-world analysis conducted as part of a workshop held at the UIC Barcelona as part of their master’s programme.
In the workshop, students performed social and spatial analysis on the neighbourhood. They focused on one aspect that the neighbourhood’s technical office considered particularly necessary: determining how businesses, services and facilities could drive innovation and economic diversity.
The areas considered by the workshop included the kind of commercial activity that Torre Baró needed, the businesses that would drive change and urban improvement within the community, the perceptions of the different interested parties and ways to make use of the area’s consumer cultures in order to determine business type and location.
Located amidst important pieces of infrastructure, like highways and train tracks, Torre Baró rests on the rugged topography of the Collserola mountain range. The neighbourhood was built in subdivisions made up of private lots where residents slowly built their homes over the years, without any real plan. The neighbourhood has little commercial activity and few social amenities. Its urban fabric is made up of widely scattered houses, many self-built.
Exhibition at the Barcelona Centre of Contemporary Culture as part of Piso Piloto: Thursday, 4 June 2015 through Sunday, 25 October 2015.
Exhibition at the Museum of Antioquia in Medellin, Colombia, as part of Piso Piloto: Wednesday, 24 June through Friday, 20 November 2015.
