This academic year, the work done by students in the subjects Projects 7 and Projects 8 and the final degree project, in addition to the work by students from the Urban Planning module for the 2013-2014 academic year, will be used to help draw up the Master Plan for the Development of the Southern Sector of the Caldes Tributary. The plan aims to transform the designated zones around the confluence of the Caldes and the River Besòs, which lie within a greater metropolitan area that is notable for its economic, environmental and social value. Specifically, the ESARQ School of Architecture students’ final degree projects involve the creation of a proposal to regenerate the Besòs river corridor at all levels over the course of the next three academic years.

The southern sector of the Caldes tributary encompasses the towns of Mollet del Vallès, Santa Perpètua de Mogoda, Martorelles, Sant Fost de Campsentelles and La Llagosta, which surround a large, open, semi-urban space that has been earmarked as a future metropolitan centre. However, two key issues must be overcome in order to regenerate this area: one, the physical and administrative fragmentation caused by the presence of significant road and rail infrastructure that has been designed to serve agricultural activities in several municipalities; and two, the conflict between residential, production-based and service-oriented land uses.

The framework of the agreement also provides for other activities, such as international seminars, visits to specialist research centres, on-site studies of examples of major urban and land regeneration and the publication and dissemination of academic proposals.

Dr. Pere Vall, the Director of the ESARQ School of Architecture, had the following to say with regard to the collaboration: “Part of this School’s philosophy is to enable our students and teaching staff to fully engage with the real problems that are facing Catalonia and affecting people’s quality of life. We did this in previous academic years with proposals for the Green Diagonal, Give Us the Water Back and Interactive Geographies projects. This year, our collaboration with the Government of Catalonia offers an excellent opportunity to apply the knowledge acquired in the classroom to a real situation, all the while accompanied by an expert client that will assess the proposals submitted and demand proper professional rigour from the students”.