Imagining the city to come with Grazielle Bruscato and Narcís Font is an activity linked to Eina Gateway to Collserola.
This workshop invites young people to discover the city in a different way: not only as the place where they live, but as a space full of stories, possibilities and futures to imagine. Barcelona, like any contemporary city, is changing rapidly due to global challenges such as the climate crisis, technology, new ways of working and social inequalities. In this context, the workshop proposes the use of drawing, observation and exploration of the surrounding environment as tools for thinking, questioning and creating.
We start from key ideas in contemporary urbanism — the people-centred city, the feminist approach and the ecological vision of urban metabolism — in order to understand how spaces can be fairer, more sustainable and more liveable. We will connect these concepts with each young person’s own experience: their everyday routes, the places where they meet, and the corners that spark curiosity or discomfort.
Through active dynamics, sensory walks and creative exercises, participants will experience how to observe the city with different eyes and how to project possible futures. What will a neighbourhood be like in 50 years’ time. What technologies, forms of coexistence or landscapes might exist. What changes do they hope for, and which ones concern them.
The workshop combines theory, imagination and experimentation so that each student can transform an everyday observation into a vision of the future.
Description
The workshop is developed in four phases that combine observation, reflection and creation. First, a brief introduction presents different ways of thinking about the contemporary city: how spaces are designed for people, how accessibility and equality influence urban life, and how cities function as ecosystems that consume and transform resources. This foundation helps students to position their perspective and to connect theory with what they already know about their city.
The second phase consists of an active walk around Eina. There, each young person chooses a place that catches their attention for some reason: a memory, a texture, a smell, a sensation or simply curiosity. During the walk, sounds, drawings, found materials and short notes are collected. The aim is to observe with the body and through drawing, paying attention to details that usually go unnoticed.
In the third phase, each student imagines how this place might be transformed in 50 years’ time. Using drawings, collages, found fragments or texts, they will create a layer representing a possible future: climatic changes, new forms of life, technologies, and relationships between humans and nature. These layers function as pieces of a diorama, a kind of analogue augmented reality built on paper. Finally, working in groups, participants combine their individual layers to create a collective diorama that represents a shared urban future.
Practical information
→ On-site workshop
→ Weekly frequency. Tuesdays, from 9 am to 12 pm (3 hours in total)
→ Venue: Eina Sentmenat and surrounding areas
→ Workshop leaders: Dr Grazielle Bruscato Portella and Narcís Font
→ Registration open
