URBANISM AND DESIGN

URBANISM AND DESIGN 2017-18

Tourism and territory

​

At the beginning of the course, it was decided to work in the center of Barcelona aware of the high impact of tourism in the urban core of the city. The interest was on providing contemporary responses to the emerging confrontation among neighbors and tourists, consequence of the current phenomena of “bulling” towards traditional neighbors. A displacement of people and urban activities out of the central space by tourism market and their replacement for new foreign temporary occupants that comes together with the uniformity of the commercial activities.

Students have explored the tourist habitat and behavior at the same time that have recognized the urban space, making emerge a set of proposals that bring together neighbors and new comers demands to build a better urban habitat.

In the 2nd semester it was decided to set Tenerife, the bigger island of the archipelago of the Canary Islands, as the perfect scenario to develop the second stage of this course. The Canary Islands is the European region that receive per year the bigger amount of tourist in the whole Europe despite its insignificant size and distance from the continent. Likewise, the islands have an impressive landscape that gave us the opportunity to work from the impact of the tourism on this natural territory of recognized high biological value.

Students have the opportunity to visit the Island and from initial works that link the territory with literature, photography and art (sculpture and painting), find the place to work and develop their urban program. Works were organized by high, a circumstance that conditions the environment and consequently the making. The finding of the locations resulted in an enormous variety of situations that enriched the course, at the same time that required from students the development of particular urban and architecture solutions.