For the seventh consecutive year, the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture is inaugurating its final degree project exhibition at the iconic architectural complex of the Reales Atarazanas in Barcelona, the current home of the Maritime Museum. Titled Barcel/on/a/line. Green urban strategies from river to river, the exhibition arrives amidst an ongoing debate regarding the difficult balance between the economic and social roles of Barcelona's waterfront, which is currently strained by mass tourism. It presents proposals that connect and reprogram the open spaces along the 10-kilometer coastline between the Besòs and Llobregat rivers, aiming to strengthen its civic character and its connection to the adjacent urban fabric.
On Thursday, July 19, at 7:00 p.m., the Reales Atarazanas in Barcelona, home to the Maritime Museum, will open its doors to host the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture’s final degree project exhibition, Barcel/on/a/line. Green urban strategies from river to river. Open to the public until July 26, the exhibition features projects that propose a reinterpretation of Barcelona’s waterfront as a unified system. These projects seek to enhance the potential of the metropolitan coastline, ensuring it fulfills its social, ecological, and economic functions more efficiently.
During the opening event, a panel of experts—Itziar González, architect and activist who won the international competition for the remodeling of La Rambla in Barcelona alongside her 15-person team, km-ZERO; Jordi Julià, president of the Urban Planning and Mobility Commission and coordinator of the Knowledge Area at the Col·legi d’Enginyers de Camins, Canals i Ports de Catalunya; Francesc Muñoz, professor of urban geography at the Autonomous University of Barcelona since 1995 and director of the university’s Observatory of Urbanization; and Maria Sisternas, co-founder of Mediaurban, MSc in City Design and Social Sciences from the LSE, and contributor to Diari Ara—will participate in a discussion aimed at fostering reflection on the present and future of Barcelona’s coastal strip. This open debate will address topics such as the importance of involving the academic community in initiatives that provide real-world scenarios for current territorial challenges, as well as potential strategies for reprogramming or recovering a waterfront threatened by issues like increasing privatization, a consequence of the exorbitant growth of tourism.
