The university extension as a dynamizer of the complex social function of the university

En los últimos años las universidades españolas han empezado a asumir la necesidad de redefinir su función social con respecto a los problemas vinculados al hábitat, preguntándose cómo integrar los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible (ODS) en sus tres distintos ámbitos de acción: la investigación, la formación y la extensión universitaria. Si bien es necesaria una lectura crítica de los ODS, al estar estos vinculados todavía a la idea de ‘crecimiento sostenible’, lo cierto es que este compromiso internacional (así como otros que se alinean con sus Objetivos) ofrece una oportunidad para reflexionar sobre la docencia y la investigación arquitectónicas, vinculándolas a una revisión en profundidad de los modelos urbanos y territoriales que permitan avanzar en equidad social en el uso del espacio y hacia la recuperación del equilibrio territorial. La experiencia desarrollada en el marco del grupo de investigación Aula Digital de la Ciudad (ADICI) demuestra que efectivamente las escuelas de arquitectura pueden dar respuesta a los problemas socialmente relevantes que se les propongan o pueden ellas mismas formular problemas socialmente relevantes e involucrar a los distintos grupos sociales que constituyen una comunidad.In the last years, Spanish universities have begun to accept the need for redefining their social function regarding the problems related to the habitat, asking themselves how to integrate the Objectives of Sustainable Development (ODS in its Spanish acronym) in the three different spheres of action: research, education and university extension. Although it is neccessary a critical reading of the ODS since they are still linked to the idea of ‘sustainable growth’, the truth is that this international agreement (like others sided with its Objectives) offers an opportunity to think deeply about architectural teaching and researching, connecting them to an in-depth revision of the urban and territorial models that allow for moving forward in social equity regarding space use and recovering the territorial equilibrium. The experience developed within the framework of the Aula Digital de la Ciudad (ADICI) research group shows that schools of architecture can effectively respond to socially relevant problems proposed to them or they can formulate socially relevant problems themselves and involve the different social groups that make up a communit

Encourage urban regeneration from the neighborhood scale: lessons and knowledge transfers from Neighborhoods in Transition project

El proyecto de Investigación Acción Participativa “Barrios en Transición” parte de la hipótesis de que es preciso encontrar vías de encuentro entre los procesos sociales emergentes de transición socioecológica y la nueva generación de políticas de rehabilitación urbana integrada que se abre a partir de la Carta de Leipzig. La administración está llamada a crear las condiciones que faciliten la producción y gestión social del hábitat, mediante procesos de participación y cogestión públicoprivada. Barrios en Transición da soporte teórico-metodológico a la demanda de asistencia técnica realizada por entidades sociales de dos barrios, partiendo de prioridades diferentes

La neutralización ácido-base a debate

La neutralización es un término que puede tener distintos significados según nos situemos en un contexto físico, químico o cotidiano. Esta polisemia también aparece en el ámbito de los procesos ácido-base y parece ser el origen de algunas concepciones alternativas diagnosticadas en los estudiantes de secundaria y universidad. En este trabajo estudiamos los aspectos etimológicos, epistemológicos y didácticos de la neutralización ácido-base para fundamentar unas propuestas de enseñanza que faciliten el aprendizaje de este concepto y eviten inducir algunas de dichas concepciones alternativas.The different meaning of neutralization depends of the context: Physics, Chemistry or Daily-Life context. Three definitions of neutralization were contemplated referring to the acid-base processes and it seems to be the origin of the alternative conceptions secondary school and university students have. The aim of this paper has been to identify the etymological, epistemological and educational aspects of acid-base neutralization to proposed teaching strategies to help students with their difficulties in this concept

Leslie Martin y la ciencia de la forma urbana

El modo de entender los ámbitos de la teoría y la práctica arquitectónica a partir del desarrollo de métodos basados en principios matemáticos o modelos geométricos con una clara voluntad científica determinó una forma de concebir la ciudad a partir de los años 60 y 70. La vigencia de éstos manifiesta la importancia de revisar una tradición que sirve como sustento para la práctica actual así como para futuras investigaciones sobre la forma en arquitectura

Critic to postmodern city: The application of neoliberal strategies in Madrid metropolitan area

In 1992, it was promoted a set of operations of social housing build on the metropolitan area of Madrid called ‘Programas de Actuación Urbanística, P.A.U.’ [Urban Development Programs]. Initially, these programs had two main objectives. On the one hand, expanding the affordable housing supply in Madrid town area, in a context of a strong increased of cost and demand; and on the other hand, promoting the recovery of housing market as a solution for boosting the local economy, within an overall situa tion of financial crisis. However, the initial approaches were perverted throughout the management process. It was set a very low densities (31.08 dwellings per hectare on average for all cases), it was liberalized a percentage of all built housing much h igher than the originally planned and it was created land assessment procedures that promoted the speculation and the artificial rise of prices. In all PAUs, the road system was entirety built, maximizing so the profits of companies responsible for their construction. By means of these operations, aimed at promoting the interests of large building companies and landowners, it was driven the production of an urban space dominated by neoliberal logic, which key objective is the immediate financial profit. Now adays, PAUs are a clear demonstration of contradictions between the criteria of market and the principles of accountability in the common resources management that should lead urban design. When it has passed enough time to verify their failure, we conside r it is necessary to analyze the different factors that were involved in their creation. Thereby, we will able to extract guidelines, solutions and strategies which allow us amend the problems arising from these development models, as well as finding urban design alternatives to overcome this kind of approaches

The building, the city and the public dimension

The critical review of modern architectu re's city arisen at sixties and seventies resulted in a recovery of some characteristic subjects of traditional models and established a new historical dimension. Within this context, the role of the public building has became one of the key in the city's conception and operation. Th e reflections on its role to articulate urban structure , its ability to characterize the public space, or its symbolic function due to the change of the classical language by the modern abstraction, therefore, have defined a the oretical corpus which has served to the practice in the definition of urban areas with higher civic and collective content. After a enough historical distance, from a critical review of this debate as well as a study and comparison of paradigmatic cases, t he article's aim is to deduce some guidelines and tools to act in the contemporary city

Sustainable urban mobility networks and the reactivation of the public space: Alcosa

There is a direct relationship between use of public space and mobility model. Facing the problems regarding the reactivation of public space at neighbourhood scale goes through a change of metropolitan mobility model in favor of the alliance between public transport and active mobility: cycling and pedestrian. In the framework of the Participatory Action Research (PAR) project “Barrios en Transición”, carried out at the Sevillian neighbourhood of Parque Alcosa, we have made a diagnosis about the relationship between mobility model and public space occupancy. From the problems and neighboring claims found we have developed a proposal to reduce the dependency on private transport and reduce its occupation of public space, based on the alliance between an efficient public transport network and the improvement of the network and resources for cycling. Improving the efficiency of public transport network brings us to propose a basic network of Bus Rapid Transit for Seville. At neighbourhood scale we made a proposal to improve accessibility, pedestrian and cycling mobility and to stimulate the use of public space.Existe una relación directa entre uso del espacio público y modelo de movilidad. Afrontar los problemas de reactivación del espacio público a escala de barrio, pasa por cambiar el modelo de movilidad metropoli- tano en favor de la alianza entre transporte público y la movilidad activa: ciclista y peatonal. En el marco del proyecto de Investigación Acción Participativa (I.A.P.) Barrios en Transición, llevado a cabo en el barrio sevillano de Parque Alcosa, hemos trabajado un diagnóstico sobre la relación entre modelo de movilidad y ocupación del espacio público. A partir de los problemas y demandas vecinales encontradas hemos desarrollado una propuesta para reducir la dependencia del vehículo privado y reducir su ocupación de espacio público, sobre la base de la alianza entre una red de transporte público eficiente y la mejora de la red y las dotaciones para la bicicleta. La mejora de la eficiencia de la red de transporte público nos lleva proponer una red básica de Bus de Rápido Tránsito para Sevilla. A nivel de barrio realizamos una propuesta para mejorar accesibilidad, la movilidad peatonal y en bicicleta y para activar el uso del espacio público