From the theory to practice: five years of urban regeneration workshops

Abstract

The starting point of our urbanism courses in the master’s degree programme is to take a broad, comprehensive local and global look at the urban reality of our environment from a comparative and historical perspective. The aim is to apply a learning-by-doing approach. The paper is structured in two parts. The first explores theory- and design-based approaches considered by architects and urban designers to improve the urbanity of our cities and neighbourhoods. The second presents the experience of five academic years of Integrated Urban and Landscape Design, a subject in the framework of the Master’s Degree Programme in Architecture taught at the School of Engineering and Architecture of the University of Zaragoza. It addresses urban regeneration interventions in vulnerable areas of the consolidated city with innovative approaches. The aim is to explore innovation in the academic field considering user participation. The workshop methodology is explained in detail, with more attention paid to the process followed than to the specific results of the workshop. The paper explains the four stages of the process: preliminary phase and selection of the study area; analysis and diagnosis phase; proposal phase, in which work is performed jointly with a vision of action in the entire neighbourhood; and presentation phase of the results to residents. Finally, some future challenges of this workshop are outline