This Wednesday, January 18, the Círculo Ecuestre hosted the Urbanismo BCN 2023 lunch-colloquium: What city do we want for the future? The act was carried out by the renowned architects Enric Batlle, Luis Rodríguez-Avial and Rafael Ayuso Siart.
During the welcome, Antonio Delgado, President of the Círculo Ecuestre, was proud of the staging of "an ideological debate, led by experts with technical vision, which provides the city with knowledge for the elections." After the introduction in which Rafael Ayuso Siart, moderator of the event, put the attendees in context about the times of urbanism and the pattern of development that Barcelona has followed in recent years, the expert wanted to know the opinion of the others speakers when in doubt about how the city of Barcelona will continue to grow.
What does the current model of urban planning in Barcelona consist of?
Enric Batlle responded to the question by assuring that "we must change the way in which we perceive how we grow". The architect explained that it is generally thought that "cities grow in the form of oil stains." In his opinion, "the urbanism of the future will work if we understand that we live in a city of 5.2 million inhabitants", he said, alluding to the cities in his metropolitan area.
For his part, the experienced architect Luis Rodríguez-Avial focused his speech on the fact that "current urban planning is not adequate for society's demand" and that "a new type of planning should be proposed at different levels that are nourished by them and promote development”. Following this idea, the specialist ruled that it was not possible, due to the current legislative framework in Spain.
The urban future of the city
During the colloquium, the speakers compared the urban model of Barcelona and Madrid, the capacities that exist in a city that has already been built and the opportunities for reform that the Catalan capital has in terms of urban planning for the future, among other aspects. The architects also took advantage of the Círculo Ecuestre event to discuss the solutions that could be implemented in the face of the demand for large surfaces and the desire for growth that the Catalan capital has experienced in recent years. To this end, they put forward various ideas, among which the B-23 urban integration project stood out, which will turn Avenida de la Diagonal into a metropolitan civic axis of more than 15.7 kilometers in length.
The colloquium was a master class for the partners who attended as assistants. They enjoyed the wisdom and knowledge of the experts, who provided a broad up-to-date vision of the present and future of Barcelona's urban planning.