This international seminar on 9 May organized by Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona brings together experts from all over Europe to discuss the phenomenon of urban sprawl, which is increasingly present in Europe. Director of the Flanders Architecture Institute Sofie de Caigny will join the discussion on policies of urban sprawl and their impact on the economic sphere.
Despite its history of compact towns and cities, Europe has increasingly become a continent of sprawling urbanized landscapes. Approximately one third of the European population calls these places home. Since, in general, they are complex patchworks of a variety of uses, the neat division of city, suburb, and countryside is no longer meaningful.
Urban sprawl is usually not so dense and may be lacking the tight-knit fabric and communities that we are trained to recognize in European cities. Although suburbs have always traditionally been understood as peri-urban spaces directly linked to an urban center, the current expansion spreads further in the territory and is therefore rarely understood as truly urban. Nevertheless, even if urban sprawl does not look like a city, it is still urban in character and has forms, patterns, and its own logic. What is the urban reality of today's Europe? What remains of compact cities and what new scenarios are being opened up by the growing prevalence of urban sprawl?
In the framework of the Suburbia exhibition, this international seminar consists of three panels and will conclude in an open debate in which the architect and urbanist Nathalie de Vries will speak with the architecture historian and critic Hans Ibelings.
more infoCurators: Hans Ibelings
Moderators: Lluís Ortega, Hans Ibelings
Participants: Hans Ibelings, Francesc Muñoz, Nathalie de Vries, Joan Roig i Duran, Mette Skjold, Ljubo Georgiev, Sofie De Caigny, Pere Sala i Martí
This activity is part of Suburbia
09.05.2024
9.30 - 11.15 / 11.30 - 13.15 / 15.00 - 16.30
Free with pre-booking
coordinacio.debats.urbans@cccb.org
The Mirador
English