The metropolis in re-composition: the regeneration of contemporary metropolitan mosaics

Postprint (published version

Les Comunitats Orientades a Reptes Estratègics i els UAB OpenLabs de la UAB

Coordinadors de les CORE: Oriol Vicente, Konstantinos Kourkoutas, Laura Palou i Sonia Sanche

ECIU position paper on living labs and experimentation spaces:Recommendations and insights about the potential of Living Labs as innovation and learning platforms in the ECIU University

To accelerate transformations towards just and sustainable future cities across Europe, local and regional projects need to scale up and share sustainability pathways and planning efforts. In this context, Living Labs, and innovation and experimentation spaces in general, have demonstrated great potential in serving as platforms for connecting universities with societal stakeholder, facilitating transdisciplinary collaboration in the innovation process but also as tools for cross-case learning and upscaling innovative solutions. At the same time there is an ever increasing emergence and diversification of these spaces, even within ECIU, that can often create a certain confusion and at the same time reluctance to engage and make use of them or explore their full potential

Predictors of colorectal cancer screening awareness among people working in a hospital environment

Abstract Background Compliance rates for colorectal cancer (CRC) screening are much lower than those desired. Appropriate information on CRC risks and screening methods is supposed to stimulate motivation for screening. We aimed to identify parameters associated with the decision for CRC screening and colonoscopy in a population expected to have high awareness of disease prevention

Failed Co-Creation: The Case of the BCNStreet-Lab Project

We present the results of the BCNStreet-lab project, a co-creation process of a prototype that "died before it even existed" and that has led us to reflect on the creative power that participatory design can have among experts. Examining the high variability that the design acquired with the co-creation sessions, we realized how an open co-creation process can generate overflows in the design. It makes innovation possible but can also lead to failure, as is this case, because of how risky participatory design of “fluid technologies” and how ineffective reproducing the Quadruple helix innovation model in small projects can be. We tried to account for the fruitful relationship between co-creation and the design of electronic technologies, which happens in the “lobby” of the technical design of the prototype. It generates negotiations and interactions that lead to progress in the democratization of design practices in electronic engineering, computing, and telecommunications. At this point, co-creation is conceived as a space in which institutional practices, social needs, technological imaginaries, economic interests, techno-scientific interests, etc., are brought together, translated and inscribed into the design of technologies

Repensar la Smart City. Barcelona : ciudad abierta, colaborativa y democrática

Esta obra es el resultado de un estudio llevado a cabo por el Instituto de Gobierno y Políticas Públicas (IGOP) de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, por encargo del Smart City Expo World Congress (SCEWC) y del Ajuntament de Barcelona. El objetivo del trabajo ha sido ofrecer algunas sugerencias sobre posibles innovaciones en el diseño y la organización del evento en torno a la Smart City, que se celebra anualmente en la Fira de Barcelona. La investigación presenta una realidad poco visible desde la lógica en la que se ha movido el SCEWC hasta ahora. En particular, pone énfasis en empresas, modelos de negocio y proyectos que se caracterizan por adoptar modelos abiertos y colaborativos, y que se basan en la generación de bienes comunes digitales. El estudio ofrece una panorámica de un entramado de prácticas e iniciativas concretas que se mueven en Barcelona y en su área metropolitana en el campo de la innovación tecnológica y digital desde una perspectiva colaborativa y abierta. También presenta algunos elementos de análisis del ecosistema de innovación local y hace algunas sugerencias sobre cómo, dando más espacio a estos modelos de innovación, fortaleciendo el papel de los actores públicos y estableciendo mejores relaciones con los actores y nodos locales, el SCEWC y el Ajuntament de Barcelona podrían abrir nuevas perspectivas de innovación y desarrollo para la ciudad, el propio SCEWC y el ecosistema de innovación digital local

On the question of limits : The role of ecotones in the management and reintegration of transforming urban environments : Urban ecotones as territorial indicators and interfaces of urban reconfiguration : An applied study of the urban regional mosaic of the city of Thessaloniki, Greece

The general topic discussed in this dissertation is the question of limits as perceived and delimited by humans. More specifically it aims to investigate the concept of ecotones as it has emerged in the theory of landscape ecology and design, that is, as a zone of transition between two adjacent ecological systems of distinct characteristics; and accordingly it aims to transfer the ecotone concept to the anthropogenic urban environment and investigate its respective implications. In this manner an urban ecotone could be defined as the transition area between at least two adjacent distinct urban fabric / biomes / biotopes of differentiated characteristics (morphological, socio-economic, typological etc), where this ecotonal space is characterized by a pronounced edge effect, in terms of intensity and diversity and a set of defined spatial {length, shape) and time {rhythm, history) characteristics restricted to the ecotonal area but ultimately linked to the adjacent patches · internal dynamics. Due to these intrinsic characteristics it can be sustained that urban ecotones, if managed properly, they can play a key role in maintaining territorial integrity (ecological, functional) and in achieving resilience and long term sustainable yields. Similarly when thought out as reprogrammable urban /territorial interfaces, a direct simile to the membrane function found in organisms and ecosystems, urban ecotones can provide the base for a paradigm shift in our contemporary perspective on cities and their functioning. A shift from a confrontational and fragmented discourse towards a synergetic and cooperational model that highlights the latent complexity present in most urban regions and adapts a proactive stance towards the problematic socio-environmental crisis most contemporary cities face today. In this sense anthropogenic transformations of the territory are understood as a direct product of the social metabolism of each territory. This approach requires apart from a traditional morphological analysis an additional phenomenological approach where the interrelation and compatibilization of anthropogenic and natural activity and dynamics can only be achieved if the necessary conceptual and design tools are developed. For this purpose a case study was selected in order to apply and test the aformentioned concepts. Thus, the selection of the urban region of Thessaloniki corresponds to a series of selection criteria linked to its special characteristics as a coastal mediterranean city with a long and continuous historic course of respective succesion phases that have given rise to heterogeneous urban forms and situations. The thesis is structured in two volumes. The first one deals with all the theoretical and bibliographical research related to the topic in question as well as corresponding analysis results and conclusions. The second volume is thought out as an analysis atlas of the case-study of the urban region of Thessaloniki, following a multi-scalar perspective: On a first level it opts for a territorial / regional analys is on the limits of the administrative region of Central Macedonia, studying the wider regional mosaic structure and respectively identifying the distinct bioregions, diverse territorial situations, landscapes and ecotones encountered within the region. On a second level, the analysis focuses on the urban region of Thessaloniki, selecting six ecotones each one corresponding to respective city limits in distinct historic periods of the city's history and serving as key spatial indicators of past and present processes and dynamics. The timely coincidence of this research work with the Revision of the Regulatory Plan ofThessaloniki renders this research as relevant and useful in providing additional insights and alternatives on the table. On a more general level, the results produced are expected to be extrapolable and applicable to other cases of urban regions, whether within the mediterranean context or not.Postprint (published version

The metropolis in re-composition : the regeneration of contemporary metropolitan mosaics

Urban explosions have caused an uncontrolled fragmentation of the physical space of the territory, many times resembling a broken mirror, a brittle mosaic; in which the fragments still retain the meaning of all that decomposed. Beyond and more than a morphological and formal approach to metropoles, what we need today is a holistic vision and understanding of their complexity. Contemporary metropoles constitute multi-spatial ecosystems, open from the point of view of dynamic socio-economic relations and interconnected with simultaneous urbanities and ruralities. That is why we need new interpretative versions representative of the contemporary socio-territorial realities and an enriched knowledge intertwined with interdisciplinary approaches that seek the analytical integration of facts, dynamics and processes; and consequently, propose a renewed vision of the urban and territorial "facts" and the necessary arguments for improving its management. The future of the city, and its subsistence as a valid model for the sustainable management of the planet, lies in the materialization of the principles envisioned and defined by the territorial mosaic city; A city linked to the territory, forming part of its biological and life cycles, and a territory that permeates the city, with a determined spatial coexistence in terms of dynamics of exchanges and systemic symbiosis. The Territorial Mosaic City is the conceptual model that we propose in order to conceive a shift in paradigm and an advance towards a sustainable management of the contemporary metropolitan city. The model implies a parallel morphological and environmental structure, thought in terms of a mutual ecological adaptation and one that favours the coevolution of the interacting urban and natural ecosystems, eventually promoting an articulated mosaic which aims to be environmentally balanced. It is now the time that we must strive to define new concepts and imaginaries and to make urban and territorial regeneration operationally feasible. All disciplines, political responsibilities and social-technical practices, we are now at a point where we must face both the challenge but also the opportunity to promote a truly sustainable planet, and conserve it as a common good for all humanity. In the case of the Barcelona metropolis, we have carried out an extensive analysis of Barcelona metropolitan projects and actions to detect the strategies, project bases and actions that have contributed to improving its functional efficiency