The research project “VISITMOB: Movilidad de los visitantes en la ciudad de Barcelona después de la COVID-19” (Visitor mobility in the city of Barcelona following COVID-19), in which the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture lecturer Marta Benages is participating, is one of the projects selected as part of the extraordinary call of the Barcelona Science Plan 2020-2023 promoted by Barcelona City Council and the “la Caixa” Foundation. 

Led by the Rovira i Virgili University, the other collaborating institutions include the UOC Foundation, Eurecat, the Barcelona Global Health Institute (IsGlobal) and Ostelea – Tourism Management School. The object of the study will focus on analysing the mobility of Barcelona's visiting population and its impact on the quality of life of the resident population, with the aim of improving mobility management in the city following the COVID-19 pandemic and moving towards a socially and environmentally sustainable mobility model. 

Researcher Marta Benages, from the Community-based Urbanism research group, is participating in the assessment of the impact of visitor population flows on residents. Specifically, she will coordinate go-along interviews with the aim of identifying how the mobility of the visiting population affects different groups in three representative neighbourhoods of the city. “Special attention will be paid to vulnerable groups or groups in more precarious situations. These interviews involve accompanying people on their daily walks on a typical day, as they are asked about various aspects related to the project's objectives. In addition, these routes will be geolocated with remote monitoring or tracking devices to map perceptions of public space, places of conflict and the adaptation made by neighbours of the different types of neighbourhoods in the city to the flow of visitors”, she explains.

In this extraordinary call, Barcelona City Council and the “La Caixa” Foundation have granted funding to a total of seven research projects focused on studying new urban challenges, including ageing and quality of life; mobility and environmental protection, as well as new technologies applied to housing, space and public services. The extraordinary grant has a budget of one million euros and, for 2022, a new call is planned for a further one million euros.