La Salle Campus Barcelona, founding member of Universitat Ramon Llull, has hosted and co-organised Livable Cities, a conference led by the international academic network AMPS (Architecture, Media, Politics, Society) with the aim of bringing together researchers, educators and professionals from around the world to reflect on the challenges of habitability in contemporary cities. Held on July 16, 17 and 18 under the title “The Urban Experience: From Social Policy to Design”, the campus offered lectures and working sessions to foster a transdisciplinary reflection on what it means to live in a city today, and how to design more just, sustainable and human urban environments.
La Salle-URL was selected as one of the two venues for this edition, together with the University Institute of Lisbon, for being a university centre committed to the territorial, economic and social development of the built and inhabited environment through various lines of research and knowledge transfer. And over three days, 120 in-person presentations brought together delegates from 28 countries to discuss how to create fairer, more sustainable, and people-friendly urban spaces.
Each day of the event opened with a keynote lecture by a prestigious international speaker. On the first day, Maria Buhigas, Chief Architect of Barcelona City Council, presented the challenges and opportunities facing the Catalan capital in its quest to improve habitability. On the second day, Mark Nieuwenhuijsen, Director of the Urban Planning, Environment and Health Initiative at ISGlobal (Barcelona Institute for Global Health), reflected on the need for integrated planning interventions to generate measurable health and environmental benefits. On the third day, Leandro Madrazo, Professor at La Salle-URL School of Architecture, explored the concept of dwelling as a unifying framework to address contemporary challenges in housing and public space development, especially in relation to sustainable development. The event also featured an exhibition of energy-efficient buildings by Incàsol and site visits to the Superblocks around Sant Antoni Market, Consell de Cent, and the @22 District.
Livable Cities was held in collaboration with institutions such as Barcelona City Council, ISGlobal and INCASÒL, and aligns with the mission and commitment of the La Salle-URL Higher Technical School of Architecture (ETSALS) to rethink the city through architecture, design and planning, always with a focus on social impact. Participation in this conference has allowed the school's research lines to connect with key global issues such as climate change, migration, equity and the transformation of public space. The event also served as a platform to promote dialogue among researchers, professors and PhD students, encouraging exchanges with international experts and fostering new opportunities for academic collaboration.
