On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the General Theory of Urbanization by Ildefons Cerdà, the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia, Diputació de Barcelona, Generalitat of Catalonia, (Incasòl) and the Center of Contemporary Culture of Barcelona (CCCB) present the first-ever English translation of this work published in 1867 during November 6th and 7th at the CCCB.

The presentation of this publication will be accompanied by debates on urbanism as a transformative mechanism of society and the links between big data and urbanism.  In addition, in these sessions there will feature the launch of the platform for the visualization of the statistical data os the city of Barcelona in 1867 and the platform urbanization.org.

Ildefons Cerdà published in 1867 the General Theory of Urbanization. In this text, the “science of making cities” became a new discipline with a broad economic, social and cultural impact on the lives of people in the city. On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of its publication, the first translation into English and the publication in the network of statistical tables transformed into interactive graphics and open data is presented, with the aim of expanding knowledge of Ildefons Cerdà’s work and fostering the debate about the process of future urbanization.

Ildefons Cerdà and the concept of “Urbanization”

Ildefons Cerdà, author of the extension plan of Barcelona also wrote a theoretical text in order to describe in a rational way, the new science of making cities. In that text, Cerdà invented the word “urbanization” that is used today to describe the process of expansion and redevelopment of cities. He only issued two volumes from the four he firstly wanted to publish. The first was dedicated to the urbanization as a fact, analyzing how industrialization and new systems of mobility could transform cities. In the second volume, he studied the big data of the XIX century in Barcelona that now, 150 years later, we have translated into visual graphics in order to make more understandable what Ildefons Cerdà wanted to disseminate the need of a new way of urbanization.

General Theory Of Urbanization Ildefons Cerdà

Urbanization: the science of making cities (Session in Catalan language)
Monday, November 06 | 19:00 

Book presentation and discussion
Session in which the first volume in English of the work by Ildefons Cerdà is presented. In this meeting, several experts from the field of urbanism and architecture, engineering, humanities and social sciences will discuss about urbanism as a transformative mechanism in contrast to other social or economic mechanisms.

Welcome: Vicenç Villatoro, director of the CCCB

Presentation: Vicente Guallart, IAAC co-founder and coordinator of Cerdà’s project
 
Experts | 19.00
Mar Santamaria, co-founder of 300,000 km/s and professor of the Master’s Degree City & Technology at IAAC and the Master’s Degree in Monuments Restoration at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC)
Carles Llop, titular professor of the Department of Urban Planning and Territorial Planning of the Technical School of Architecture of the Vallès (ETSAV)
Salvador Rueda, director of the Urban Ecology Agency of Barcelona
Josep Lluís Mateo, Professor Emeritus of Architecture and Design at the ETH-Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule in Zürich
Pilar Conesa, founder and executive director Anteverti and curator of the Smart City Expo World Congress
Joan Roca, director of the Museum of History of Barcelona (MUHBA)

Institutions | 19.45
Lluís Comerón, dean and president of the College of Architects of Catalonia
José María Ezquiaga, dean of the Official Association of Architects of Madrid and professor of Urban Planning at the Superior Technical School of Architecture of Madrid
Oriol Altisench, dean of the College of Civil Engineers of Canals and Ports of Catalonia
Daniel Mòdol, Councilor for Architecture, Urban Landscape and Heritage of Barcelona City Council

Closing
Damià Calvet, director Institut Català del Sòl
Mercè Conesa, president of Diputació de Barcelona and the Consortium of the CCCB

Venue: Mirador CCCB – Montalegre, 5 – 08001 Barcelona

Urbanism, big data and digital humanities (Session in English language)
Tuesday, November 7 | 12:00

Workshop and discussion
Launching of the platform urbanization.org and technical conference on the potential of big data as a tool for analysis, visualization and urban planning.

Moderators: Pablo Martínez and Mar Santamaría

Venue: Aula 1 CCCB  – Montalegre, 5 – 08001 Barcelona