ZARCH. Journal of interdisciplinary studies in Architecture and Urbanism
ZARCH. Journal of interdisciplinary studies in Architecture and Urbanism is a biannual scientific publication, published in digital and paper versions, which presents, around successive monographic themes, original research work not previously published in other journals, books, congresses, seminars and other similar formats. It is aimed at a wide academic and professional public: architects and engineers, students and researchers of Architecture, Urban Planning and Engineering, and those interested in their projects and constructions. ISSN 2341-0531 ISSNe 2387-0346 DOI: 10.26754/ojs_zarch/23410531
Interferences: New Scenarios for the Architectural Project
The constant evolution of the different ways of practicing architecture has accelerated in recent years due to a series of concomitant factors. Digitization, which was timidly integrated into studios in the early 1980s and has been sweeping in the last decade, has transformed the way we access information, draw, and even think about projects. The exponential increase in laws and regulations has also contributed to this process, with economic repercussions on construction methods, effective floor space, and resource management. The culture of image and the spirit of permanent immediacy that characterize our time have led to an acceleration of project-related processes, giving rise to the construction of discourses with little theoretical content and favoring the use of graphic fetishes as a common subterfuge for solving fundamental problems. At ZARCH 24, we have sought to identify the new working conditions linked to architecture and urban planning, the different plural and varied contexts of action, as well as the new responsibilities of both disciplines. We have also reflected on the formats for practicing the profession, the roles associated with it, and the way in which the project should be organized to respond to all the unknowns and challenges identified.
Copyright (c) 2025 Eduardo Delgado Orusco, Inés Martín-Robles, Luis Burriel Bielza https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
In between permanence and temporariness. On camps, urbanity and time
The texts that make up this issue of ZARCH are situated in the field of critical speculation, but they are also inscribed in a more practical sphere and study examples that visualise in a concrete way the transfers between temporality and permanence of contemporary urban conditions. They do so from points of view linked to architecture or urban planning, and also from the visual arts. The whole builds up a broad and multifaceted panorama.
Copyright (c) 2024 ZARCH https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
PABLO SENDRA, RICHARD SENNETT - Diseñar el desorden: Experimentos y disrupciones en la ciudad
Pablo Sendra, Richard Sennett Diseñar el desorden: Experimentos y disrupciones en la ciudad Madrid: Alianza Editorial, 2021. 232 pp. Softcover. Language: Spanish. 18,50 € ISBN: 978-84-1362-315-3
Copyright (c) 2022 ZARCH https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
A city is not a static tree: understanding urban areas through the lens of real-time behavioral data
Cities are the main ground on which our society and culture develop today and will develop in the future. Against the traditional understanding of cities as physical spaces mostly around our neighborhoods, recent use of large-scale mobility datasets has enabled the study of our behavior at unprecedented spatial and temporal scales, much beyond our static residential spaces. Here we show how it is possible to use these datasets to investigate the role that human behavior plays in traditional urban problems like segregation, public health, or epidemics. Apart from measuring or monitoring such problems in a more comprehensive way, the analysis of those large datasets using modern machine learning techniques or causality detection permits to unveil of the behavioral roots behind them. As a result, only by incorporating real-time behavioral data can we design more efficient policies or interventions to improve such critical societal issues in our urban areas.
Urban planning and data: opportunities, risks and limitations
The growing complexity of global urban processes is challenging the capacity of urban planning instruments and historically accumulated knowledge about the city. The need to increase traditional tools in order to review concepts and propose new approaches is ever-growing. This article reflects on how the ability to generate and analyse data on cities and on the processes that shape and modify them using digital technologies opens up a field of endless possibilities and opportunities, not without risks and limitations.
Atlas Reuse. Tools for the architectural reuse in Barcelona
The Atlas of architectural reuse deals with the study of buildings that have changed use over time in Barcelona, ​​including activities for which they had not been designed, as well as possible architectural strategies to program these changes of use successfully in the future. This article explains the functioning of the Atlas Reuse, the methodology used, and the multiple readings on the city that it allows. It also presents new lessons derived from this research up until now. In this way, the Atlas reveals its potential as a versatile and valuable tool that offers a diagnosis of reuse in Barcelona in the present, but at the same time, allows us to extract useful strategies for planning the city of the future.
Letters between Alejandro Herrero and Félix Candela: friendship, architecture, and construction techniques
The architects Alejandro Herrero Ayllón and Félix Candela Outeriño forged a solid friendship as students at the Escuela Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid (graduating class of 1935); they shared different activities and study trips and jointly authored notes on Strength of Materials. Following the vicissitudes of the Spanish Civil War, they managed to avoid the supposedly strict control of the period and continued this friendship through a lengthy correspondence. Following a study methodology which contrasts primary sources, this article delves into these letters, a wealth of autobiographical information. In these documents, which are preserved at the Municipal Archive of Huelva and Library Archive at Columbia University (New York), the authors described their lives, different examples of architecture, construction techniques, early conferences, and articles, offering each other support. Exiled to Mexico, Candela was working on his first structural projects, which earned him international recognition. Meanwhile, Herrero, based in Huelva, was building his first projects for social housing and villages, incorporated into the settings and adjusted to the harsh reality of the Spanish post-war period. He then went on to design major buildings which were included in the Iberian Docomomo. All these documents expose the historical contexts that conditioned their lives and architectures, providing new perspectives.
construction techniques, tradition and modernity
Spatiotemporal analysis of retail: pre- and post-COVID dynamics in Gros, San Sebastian
The decrease of commercial activity that has been occurring in the last decade has recently accentuated by the COVID pandemic, affecting the livability of cities and public space. This paper analyzes the ground floor activities in Gros neighbourhood, in San Sebastian, Spain, observing both its temporal evolution and its spatial distribution. The study performs two in situ geolocation data collections in January and August 2020, immediately before and after the COVID lockdown in Spain. Through the collected data, it analyzes the distribution and evolution of ground floor space dedicated to public activities. The study concludes that the activities suffered a decrease of 1.8% in the analyzed period, and that activities located on pedestrianized streets or with fewer lanes have had fewer closures. The work also shows which efforts are needed for in situ data collection to guide urban policy.
The Flatwriter by Yona Friedman: Review, Development and Possibilities in the Digital Age
Yona Friedman developed an architectural theory through a scientific methodology, on which he will base a set of procedures, techniques, and systems whose aim is to radically transform the role of the architect and the user in the architectural design process. Friedman's theories in the publication 'Towards a scientific architecture' propose a new model of urbanism based on decision-making and self-determination of the city inhabitant, which are condensed in the machine called Flatwriter. With this software, the user could choose his or her habitat from a repertoire created by the architect or town planner and insert it into the city. This article explores the possible present-day implementation and development of Yona Friedman's theories on architecture by testing and reprogramming the Flatwriter with current means. To do so, we use current methods of graphic representation and visual programming, such as Rhinoceros and grasshopper 3D, with the aim of checking whether these theories of user empowerment have a place with the graphic and design methods that are available to us today. The methodology used test the viability the theories of Friedman´s method in the field of architectural programming, with the purpose of achieving the objective of the Flatwriter: the free choice of a spatial organization, within a pre-established system that rigorously contains all possibilities without exception. In this paper it will be provided an overview of the developed method, aiming at a theoretical approach to the issue from Generation and Parametric Design.
Contributions of space syntax to research on the morphological and social history of urban space: the cases of Morella and Montblanc
The principal aim of this article is to explore the contributions of space syntax to historical research on the interactive relationship between the urban form and the social use of space. The article develops this subject and explores the spatial structure of the walled areas of Morella and Montblanc, with an emphasis on the entrance gates. The theory and methods of space syntax are applied to current urban planning and ancient plans of the two cities, and the analytical information extracted is contrasted with ethnographic observations and historical documents to provide context and solve ambiguities. The results of the analysis in Morella show that when one of the city's entrance gates disappears the spatial culture of the place changes completely; nonetheless, the social history is inscribed in the morphological history. In the case of Montblanc, studying the evolution of the urban form provides new information on the cultural significance of the wall's entrance gates in the city of the past. As this work concludes, space syntax is making significant contributions to research on the morphological history and the social history of urban space. These contributions may have direct consequences for design decisions in the recovery and/or management of heritage.
Neighbourhood Information Model (NIM) for urban regeneration: a methodological approach
Urban regeneration is a field in which data-driven methods have proven their usefulness both for needs analysis and for the simulation of actions. After summarising the current situation in Spain in this respect, this article presents the methodological approaches of successive works developed in this field in the Autonomous Community of Castilla y León, as well as the fundamentals of a method called "Neighbourhood Information Model" (NIM) aimed at the pre-evaluation of urban regeneration actions, based on the use of open data and its processing through simple procedures using commonly used software in the fields of Geographic Information Systems and Building Information Modelling. Although these premises impose the limitations currently inherent to methods that renounce to complex data treatment processes and to the generation of ad hoc technological or computer tools, its usefulness is noted to characterise the regeneration needs of urban fabrics and to evaluate possible intervention actions in defined areas from a comparative approach.
An approach to the captive driver in the context of the 15-minute city. The case of Astigarraga
One of the greatest challenges of the contemporary city in the context of energy transformation is that of sustainable mobility, an issue marked by the dichotomy between the city centre and its periphery, among others. This article exposes the case study of a project the authors carried out in their professional practice in RAZ: an analysis of wage labour-related commuting in the municipality of Astigarraga, Gipuzkoa, conducted as part of the municipality's sustainable urban mobility plan. The case study shows the inherent difficulties of contemporary metropolitan mobility dynamics, and helps to draw the profile of the captive driver of the private car. We carried out the analysis using methodologies based on data analysis, visualization or simulation, which illustrate the opportunities that this type of methodologies offers, also in the field of sustainable mobility.
Urban Planning 4.0: geolocated data from social networks for urban intervention
There are many different approaches emerging from urban research which recognize the great potential of social media data for describing, diagnosing, predicting, and prescribing decision-making processes in the field of urban planning and urban regeneration. Numerous methods and sources have been widely explored to enrich our knowledge of cities. However, only few and/or scarcely disseminated urban agendas, planning instruments, projects and interventions have explicitly been based on the findings obtained from the analysis of geolocated social media data. In this sense, this research explores the possibility of integrating this layer of information into urban diagnoses to inform the formulation of urban planning documents and agendas in the Spanish context. A selection of planning instruments and their classification in the context of these two different kinds of intervening in the city are discussed, suggesting the possible inclusion of data from specific social media platforms in the specific areas of these regulations. This paper illustrates the practical application of these data as a main source for the development of diagnoses and intervention proposals by examining the experience of three specific case studies.
A framework, a toolkit and a proto-methodology for a digital and evolutionary urban design
Starting with an analysis of some of the limitations of today’s urban design practice, this article justifies and explores the application of agile methodologies and lean start-up thinking to the discipline. We develop the adequacy of this approach on the grounds of the complex and ecosystemic nature of cities. We also show a practical guide of basic tools to apply these methodologies to public projects: mediation, data-sharing systems, and the so-called civic or urban labs. Within the aforementioned framework, we propose a proto-methodology of agile and lean start-up urban design in 4 stages, which we illustrate with several examples or practical cases of design of public spaces and services. Although each example only partially addresses the use of the tools and the proto-methodology, overall they point to a promising path for further research towards an evolutionary methodology for urban design.
Formal and informal Growth in Quito (1980-2010). A Morphological and Planning Perspective
The dual structure identified in many Latin American cities is characterized by the dichotomy between the formal city and the informal settlement. It is conditioned by the mode of spatial occupation that can vary between the articulation of urban pieces in a planned territory, or the juxtaposition of spontaneous units, which generates a morphological antagonism between these two sectors. In the case of Quito, the analysis of these processes has been carried out so far mainly from a socio-spatial perspective, based on the segregation that manifests itself according to the informal condition of certain peripheral settlements. In this context, it is necessary to delve into the morphological dimension of the new urban landscapes, through a comparative study focused on the city as an integral unit, whose borders between the formal city and the emerging informal city have been transformed. From a morphological and urban perspective, the article focuses on the exploration and categorization of the relationship and contrasts between these two canonical forms of urban development, whose inverse processes and combined strategies from two opposing sectors have given rise to fragments of a ‘mixed’ city. In addition to exploring urban processes and their morphological characteristics, the text tries to analyze the role of planning in the origin and evolution of these fragments within the urban system.
Beyond modern organicism. Helen Fowler’s Gardens for the O’Gorman house (1947-56).
Modern landscape architecture has figures such as Roberto Burle Marx or Luis Barragán as relevant references in Latin America. However, the work of women who worked on landscape architecture in the same time and context, such as Mina Klabin, Katarima Kramis or Helen Fowler, has been less approached. Developed at their husbands’ shadows, their works are often presented as a complement to theirs, rather than as a work by itself, thus their contributions has never been fully considered. The understudied gardens designed for the O’Gorman house by painter and botanist Helen Fowler are especially significant. Designed from an exhaustive knowledge of the terrain and the local Mexican flora, which the author studied with perseverance, Fowler’s work proposes an alternative to the way of inhabiting the basaltic landscapes found in El Pedregal de San Ángel, on the outskirts of Ciudad de Mexico. Starting from an organic relationship between home and garden, where the boundaries between the two are dissolved, Fowler’s work aims to go beyond the mere physical continuity. Instead of domesticating the territory through a landscape tailored to humans, the exacerbation of its exuberance, and even its own threatening aggressiveness, is proposed as a method of displacement of experience that, opening the way to new narratives that link the symbolic with the sensible, are able to build a new type of relationship with our environment.
Copyright (c) 2021 ZARCH https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Copyright (c) 2023 ZARCH https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Although peripheries have been shaped through the interaction between humans and nature, presently, due to the new processes of urban growth, the natural and agricultural spaces surrounding them are being shaped as a palimpsest, a collage of often fragmented, dispersed, empty, or residual spaces with mixed uses. These are not mere visual scenarios, but the manifestation of processes that shape the territory and territorial systems, the so-called peri-urban landscapes analysed by some urban geographers. Issue 23 of ZARCH is devoted to the study and understanding of peri-urban landscapes, with a specific emphasis on their eco-cultural values. It also delves into the importance of those landscapes that, due to their natural, agricultural, or other man-made features, could play a pivotal role in urban and landscape regeneration processes. The aim of this integrative approach is to recognise the complexity of these spaces and their potential, not only to preserve valuable elements from the past, but also to actively contribute to the future development of urbanised landscapes.
Copyright (c) 2024 ZARCH. Journal of interdisciplinary studies in Architecture and Urbanism https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Territorial Co-existence and Archipelagos. Paipa (Colombia): between Rural and Urban
Urban, rural, and environmental requirements must be equivalent transforming the territory, protecting the natural environment and local well-being. This study uses design as a research methodology in Paipa (Colombia). Proposals are compared to analyze variables of infrastructure, morphology, and socioeconomic and environmental conditions, prioritizing solutions between rural and urban areas. The design process is carried out in phases: site diagnosis and analysis, definition of rururban structures, design of integrative plans, and strategic projects applied in a workshop including architecture and regional planning students, resulting in diverse projects. Finally, we verified the functionality of sustainable strategies for the territory as a co-existence. We project scenarios to respond to situations of scarcity, equitable to the needs of people and natural systems, and defining archipelagos as functional units that cohesively foster and integrate rural and urban areas.
Copyright (c) 2025 Tomas Neu, Manuela Guzmán Ramirez, Ximena Samper de Neu https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Regenerative Urbanism and Proximity: Designing Cities for People
The article is presented as a general overview of issue 25 of ZARCH magazine, dedicated to Regenerative Urbanism. It reviews the main theoretical contributions that make up the theoretical framework that redefines the purpose of contemporary urban planning: it is not enough to minimise urban damage, but it is necessary to regenerate life in all its dimensions—ecological, social, cultural, and spiritual—placing the city as an active agent of planetary regeneration. It reviews various areas of particular importance in this field, such as public value and the common good; the transformation of the existing city and the opportunity presented by brownfields; and urban entropy and socio-environmental rebalancing, for example. The connection between the concept of Regenerative Urbanism and the “15-minute city” approach is analysed in detail, finding clear links when it is considered that proximity cannot be achieved without prior regeneration. In conclusion, the article ends with a “Manifesto for a Proximity-Based, Just, and Culturally Vibrant City”.
Copyright (c) 2025 Carlos Moreno https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
In the context of the desertification of the Iberian Peninsula resulting from climate change, an economic boom is serving as an historic opportunity to implement a multidisciplinary deliberative forum capable of coming to agreement regarding a Spanish Regenerative Territorial and Urban Model (MUTRE) that is set for implementation before 2100. The MUTRE would serve as a legal framework for promoting and financing strategic projects involving adaptation, mitigation and regeneration, both in the contexts of Spanish compact cities and of the empty territory of Spain. For compact cities, known adaptation, mitigation and regeneration strategies are proposed. For the empty territory, land reconquest strategies and ways of inhabiting that are better aligned with local resources are speculated. Positioning water and energy cycles as the focus, regenerative strategic projects could be critical of mass tourism, water engineering systems, intensive and irrigation agriculture, and modern infrastructures such as water treatment plants, desalination plants, data centres and large-scale renewables.
Copyright (c) 2025 Margarita Jover https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
This article reflects on the experience of dwelling in Milan through the research published and exhibited in Nelle case. Milan Interiors 1928–1978 by Enrico Morteo and Orsina Simona Pierini. The volume documents 220 residential interiors of Milan’s bourgeoisie between 1928 and 1978 through 1,357 images and 130 redrawn plans, offering a compelling vision of domestic life at the time. The merit of the authors lies in recovering and transmitting the history of these interiors, designed by architects and designers over a span of fifty years. The starting date, 1928, is conventionally associated with the birth of Italian modernity, coinciding with the simultaneous appearance of Domus and La Casa Bella; the end date, 1978, marks the emergence of new needs and clients. The article highlights how the clients—mostly progressive members of the bourgeoisie, often the architects themselves—fostered a “domesticated” modernity, a tempered rationalism mediating between tradition, Art Deco, and modernity. These interiors functioned as laboratories of experimentation and display a sophisticated coexistence between old and new, integrating art, historic furniture, and contemporary design. The exhibition, organized thematically, adds further reflections on color and spatial variations. The reflections presented here situate these projects within their context, framing them in a study that the work represents a fundamental contribution to the history of dwelling in Milan, with notable historiographical and didactic value.
Copyright (c) 2025 Massimo Fortis https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Regenerative Routes in the Colonization Villages of the Lower Guadalquivir
From a contemporary perspective—one that moves beyond the traditional opposition between city and countryside in favour of a more complex and integrated understanding of territory—urban regeneration cannot be conceived without its landscape dimension, especially in rural areas, where the link between settlements and the natural environment has historically been inseparable. In this context, tourism and the creation of cultural itineraries emerge as agro-urbanism tools for territorial regeneration, not only in terms of heritage conservation but also as means to activate the landscape and strengthen local identity. The work presented in this article proposes a strategic advancement focused on the design of regenerative routes, applied to the area of the colonisation villages in the Lower Guadalquivir region, south of Seville, which were built between the 1950s and 1960s as part of the internal colonisation process promoted under Franco’s regime. From a perspective that integrates regenerative urbanism operations into its application to traditional and peri-urban rural landscapes, the objective is to present a model that, on one hand, responsibly diversifies tourist flows toward areas currently perceived as marginal, and on the other hand, redefines the role of these places within the contemporary territorial system by promoting sustainable development.
Copyright (c) 2025 Giuseppe Geraci, Cristina Vicente Gilabert https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Open Space Design Towards Resilient Territories: The Case of El Maresme (Barcelona) as a Laboratory for a Teaching Experience
This article presents the pedagogical approach and results of a design studio focused on public space and landscape, conducted with fifth-year architecture students during the first semester of the 2024–2025 academic year at the School of Architecture of the City. The Maresme region (Barcelona) was used as a living laboratory—an area characterized by fragmented urbanization interspersed with open spaces of diverse socio-ecological value. Within this context, the student projects aimed to mitigate certain inefficiencies of the urban fabric while enhancing the environmental values of unbuilt land. The DANA storm that devastated Valencia served as a disruptive event, heightening awareness of the risks associated with flash floods—risks that also affect the Maresme territory. This event inspired an alternative perspective on water: not merely as a threat to be swiftly drained, but as a resource to be wisely managed. Many of the proposals were guided by this shift, exploring themes such as design as the starting point of evolving ecological processes, the compatibility between urban functionality and active natural systems, and other reflections discussed throughout the article.
Copyright (c) 2025 Joan Florit-Femenias, Pepa Morán Nuñez, Mónica Tárrega Klein https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Safe Trails. Meeting Spaces for Civic Coexistence in Quito-Ecuador
The year 2022 was the most violent in Ecuador's history, with an 82% increase in violent deaths compared to 2021. In Quito, crimes rose by 46.3%, affecting the perception of security and quality of life. The lack of adequate infrastructure contributes to exclusion and inequality in access to public space. The mayor of Quito’s plan proposes the creation of gathering spaces to improve security and strengthen urban identity. It suggests that citizen security can be enhanced through the social construction of public space, promoting walkability, social cohesion, and interculturality. The Safe Pathways project aims to reclaim public space to encourage safe pedestrian mobility and improve social well-being. It is based on interventions such as lighting, traffic calming, and urban environment improvements, with a focus on socio-spatial equity, gender, security, sustainability, social capital, and transportation. Territorial analysis identified patterns for implementing these pathways, achieving a 30% reduction in crimes in the intervened areas and an increase in the perception of security. Additionally, infrastructure improvements have encouraged walkability and public space use, strengthening community life.
Copyright (c) 2025 Diego Vinicio Salgado https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Fifteen Years of Regeneration in the Green Belt of Vitoria-Gasteiz: Project and Reality of Connectivity between the Armentia Forest and the River Zadorra
The territorial and urban regeneration mechanisms that began to be implemented in a pioneering manner at the start of this century, inspired by European directives, marked new trends that shifted the focus towards urban ecosystems. These strategies paid particular attention to the relationship between the urban fabric and ecological processes, the restoration of natural cycles, and the enhancement of territorial biocapacity. In Spain, one of the earliest and most significant examples was the Green Belt of Vitoria-Gasteiz. More than a decade has now passed since its implementation, and this research examines some of the outcomes generated by this intervention. Specifically, it focuses on the section of the Green Belt that ensures ecological connectivity on the western side, linking the Armentia Forest with the River Zadorra, by comparing selected project documents with the current situation fifteen years after execution. The aim of the study is to identify the main strategies that guided the intervention and to assess their present effectiveness, with particular attention to the evolution of mechanisms associated with regenerative urbanism. As a result, the findings underscore the particular importance of the connecting areas in the western sector of a green infrastructure project such as the Green Belt of Vitoria-Gasteiz.
Copyright (c) 2025 Elena Escudero López, Pedro García Martínez, Irene Zúñiga Sagredo https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
NatCity: Cultivating Interspecies Architectures for Ecosystemic Transformation
Regenerative urbanism shifts the prevailing paradigm of sustainability toward a proactive model of ecosystem restoration, positioning cities as agents of biodiversity and socio-ecological resilience. Within this framework, the experimental teaching project NatCity, developed with undergraduate architecture students, explores the potential of architecture and public space as living infrastructures—capable of hosting, interconnecting, and amplifying multispecies biological interactions. Through the convergence of the interspecies assemblage and the ecosystemic semilattice, the project proposes a pedagogical methodology for reconfiguring the consolidated city as a dynamic metabolic fabric. This didactic experience frames architecture as both a tool for ecosystemic literacy and a medium for speculative design exploration in transforming the built environment. Rather than pursuing conclusive solutions, the approach aims to foster critical reflection on architectural practice from an eco-dependent and interrelational standpoint. The coexistence of humans and other species is conceived as a design grammar—a sensitive way of reading the territory and projecting affectively from within. This approach advocates for a situated design literacy that shifts the notion of dwelling-in toward dwelling-with, opening a path toward multispecies urban reconfiguration.
Copyright (c) 2025 Eva Luque-García, Luz Fernández-Valderrama Aparicio https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Contribution of Fiber-Reinforced Concrete to the Sustainable Development Goals
The development of fiber-reinforced concrete (FRC) structural precast elements for use in architecture is an innovative line of research that aligns with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda. This article explores the link between their characteristics and the SDG targets related to construction. Given the importance of the production and consumption of concrete, which is universally affordable and available yet characterized by a high carbon footprint, proposals to reduce CO2 emissions in the production and use of this material could have a highly positive environmental impact. FRC can be adapted to different levels of technology, climatic conditions and budgets: this enables innovation to be transferred to countries with high social vulnerability, a key priority of the 2030 Agenda. Reducing dependence on steel in countries where it is not produced enables small manufacturers to build efficient structures using nearby resources.
Copyright (c) 2025 María Antonia Quesada Blasco, Victoria Gimeno Xipell, Elisa Valero Ramos https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Sustainable Food Strategies of Market Halls in Madrid. Urban Implications
Urban food systems constitute a structuring axis of territorial organization, urban planning, and social dynamics. In Madrid, municipal markets have historically functioned as key sites of local provisioning and civic interaction. However, the rise of supermarkets, shopping centers, and online retail has precipitated a profound crisis, prompting the incorporation of new strategies aligned with sustainable food systems. Concurrently, civic movements and municipal policies—such as urban gardens, agroecological cooperatives, and sustainable food programs—have reconfigured the relationship between producers and consumers. These initiatives promote circular economies, responsible consumption, and urban resilience, thereby positioning food as a catalyst for territorial and cultural transformation. Within this framework, markets emerge as social mediators that connect diverse stakeholders and reconcile economic interests with collective benefits. Beyond their commercial role, they may be understood as instruments of regenerative urbanism and food equity. The article’s contribution lies in demonstrating how markets can be reframed as strategic food infrastructures at the intersection of city, territory, and citizenship.
Copyright (c) 2025 María Antonia Fernández Nieto, José Luis Parada Rodríguez, Jorge Gallego Sánchez-Torija https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0