EINA participates in the 'Dissenyem Comerç' project to revitalise Barcelona's local commerce

EINA's Bachelor of Design students are taking part in the 'Dissenyem Comerç' project, promoted by Barcelona City Council, Barcelona Activa and Disseny Hub Barcelona, with the aim of revitalising neighbourhood or local commerce in Barcelona, specifically the Sarrià Commercial Axis (Eix Sarrià), through creative thinking.

The project developed by EINA, which will be presented on 14 July at the Sarrià district headquarters, highlights the importance of the differential values of small businesses such as quality or interpersonal relations, applies the practice of design to generate improvements from the criteria of social and environmental sustainability, and develops cooperation strategies.

The starting point chosen is to establish a relationship between the idea of 'proximity' and what makes up the public space and its use: the streets, squares, the neighbourhood, the activities that take place, the vegetation, the furniture, the light, the colours, etc. The study of this relationship is based on the premise that the quality of public space has a direct impact on the quality of commerce, and vice versa. Thus, local commerce and public space need each other to achieve an excellence that has been defined in terms of well-being and social and environmental sustainability. 

The exploration of this relationship between commerce and public space in the Sarrià neighbourhood has been done through the tool that has been built, SARRIÀ: ECOSYSTEM. This exploration has made it possible to detect various design opportunities to activate these shared spaces and thus boost neighbourhood commerce. Of these, some have been developed around thermal comfort, the interpersonal relations of the neighbourhood, the pacification of the squares and streets or the treatment of the lighting.

With this project, design has been placed at the service of the Eix Sarrià shopkeepers' association, giving design the capacity to contribute to the creation of lively, pleasant, careful, functional and sustainable social fabrics in the neighbourhood.

The EIX SARRIÀ project team is made up of the students of the Bachelor of Design: Sara Barrull i Berna, Noelia Candón Carrasco, Martí Delclòs Miret, Aura Olivan Gurt, Amir Rodergas Díaz and Mònica Ruiz Revuelta, and is tutored by Anna Bach and Anna Majó.

The 'Dissenyem Comerç' programme brings together design, fashion, visual arts, architecture and audiovisual students from the different design and creative industries schools in Barcelona, who work together with the city's commercial fabric to draw up proposals to revitalise and promote neighbourhood commerce.

SARRIÀ: ECOSISTEMA