On Tuesday, July 21, starting at 10.00 a.m., the doctoral thesis defense of the PhD candidate Ángel Manuel Martín Cojo will take place in room MF S.01 of La Salle Campus Barcelona. The thesis, entitled 'The appropriation of space as a driver and objective of urban transformations. The neighbourhood of Vallcarca in Barcelona' has been carried out under the direction of Dr Anna Martínez Duran and Dr Enric Pol Urrutia. The PhD student is part of the HER research group.
The court is made up of the president, Dr Carla María Sentieri Omarrementería; the secretary, Dr Mónica Vanesa Sánchez Sepúlveda; and the member Dr Josep Vivas i Elias.
Thesis summary
Contemporary urban planning practice has progressively placed increasing emphasis on the social, experiential and relational dimensions of inhabiting. In this context, the transformation of the contemporary city—marked by processes of urban regeneration, dynamics of social change and the diversification of ways of living—has highlighted the need to understand how it is experienced, interpreted and used by its inhabitants.
The lived space, understood as a socio-physical space, takes the form of a network of relationships in which everyday practices, memories, meanings and forms of use converge, shaping the way in which people relate to their surroundings. These relationships do not depend exclusively on the physical configuration of space, but are facilitated or limited by it, placing architecture and urban planning in a key position in the construction of environments capable of fostering and sustaining such connections.
Within this framework, the research approaches the study of the lived space from an interdisciplinary perspective, bringing together contributions from architecture, urban planning and environmental psychology. Based on this approach, a framework for analysis is proposed that enables the identification of the main factors influencing the relationship between people and their environment, organised into five areas: memory of the place, nature, urban form, programme and neighbourhood involvement. These categories enable us to approach the built environment as a complex, multi-scaled reality in which physical, social and symbolic dimensions interact.
The research is conducted through a study of the Vallcarca neighbourhood in Barcelona, an area characterised by a long-standing process of urban transformation in which planning dynamics, neighbourhood initiatives and experiences of collective use and management of space overlap. Based on this case study, a comparative analysis is conducted between the lived environment and the proposals of two intervention models—one developed without neighbourhood participation and the other incorporating it—which enables the identification of how each integrates, omits or reinterprets the factors that influence the formation of bonds between people and their surroundings.
This analysis enables the identification and categorisation of a set of spatial and social conditions that foster the creation of bonds between people and place, as well as the testing of a methodology capable of linking knowledge derived from residents’ everyday experiences with urban planning and design tools.
Based on these findings, the research sets out operational criteria aimed at integrating these dimensions into contemporary urban planning practice. In this regard, the identification and systematisation of the factors that shape the relationship between people and the built environment is proposed as a tool capable of guiding projects towards more liveable and socially meaningful environments.
Finally, the thesis proposes the concept of the ‘appropriable city’ as a framework from which to rethink the role of urban planning in shaping more open, inclusive environments capable of sustaining meaningful relationships between people and place.