INTRODUCTION
IAAC’s Master in City & Technology (1 or 2-year program) is a unique program oriented towards redefining the analysis, planning, and design of twenty-first-century cities and beyond. The program offers expertise in the design of digitally enhanced, ecological and human-centered urban environments by intersecting the disciplines of urbanism and data science. Taking place in Barcelona, the capital of urbanism, the Master in City & Technology is training the professionals that city administrations, governments, industries, and communities need, to transform the urban environment in the era of big data.
Master in City & Technology (1-year Program) |
Master in City & Technology + Thesis Project (2-year Program) |
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| Degree | Master in City & Technology accredited by School of Professional and Executive Development at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia – European Higher Education Area (EHEA) | Master in City & Technology accredited by School of Professional and Executive Development at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia – European Higher Education Area (EHEA) |
| Edition | 6th edition | 3rd edition |
| Credits | 75 ECTS | 120 ECTS |
| Duration | 9 Months – From October 2020 to June 2021 // Full time – Classes are only held in the afternoons to permit part-time jobs in the morning | 18 Months – From October 2020 to June 2022 – Thesis Final Submission: September 2022 // Full time – Classes are only held in the afternoons to permit part-time jobs in the morning |
| Language | English | English |
| Tuition Fee | Non-EU: 18.750€ EU: 15.000€ |
Non-EU: 30.400€ EU: 24.350€ |
| Admission | Architects, Urbanists, Designers, Computer Scientists, Engineers, Data Scientists, Entrepreneurs. | Architects, Urbanists, Designers, Computer Scientists, Engineers, Data Scientists, Entrepreneurs. |
CONTEXT & AGENDA
The digital revolution coupled with the unforeseen environmental, economic and social challenges that our world and cities face today, urge the practices of urban design and planning to rethink many of the traditions and bases upon which they operated over the past decades. We believe that when we train urbanists, architects, engineers, computer scientists and technologists in the same arena, placing them in one single team, we have the potential to radically transform the urban and built environment.
The Master in City & Technology programme focuses on training the new professionals that will be able to accelerate urban innovation through the use of big data and digital technologies while following the principles of human-centered, ecological and intelligent design.
With a focus on three main fields of operation (Internet of Cities, Internet of Buildings and Internet of People) the programme explores digital technologies (from data analytics and Artificial Intelligence to generative and parametric design) to develop holistic urban and architectural projects that bring a positive impact to the built environment and the society that inhabits it.
Each year, the programme aims to create new categories of urban and building projects, technologies, and solutions that can be extended systematically to the cities of the world, with the aim of creating applied visions of more sustainable, resilient, inclusive and responsive urban environments.
TOOLS & SOFTWARE
Students of the Master in City & Technology are introduced to a large variety of technological tools and software that are imperative for the multi-scalar representation and understanding of the urban environment. During the programme students are trained on the latest tools for computational design, urban simulations, and spatial data science by attending seminars on programming, dynamic mapping, big data analytics and visualization, as well as parametric urban design. Seminars on the following tools and software are conducted:
Master in City & Technology Projects
“Why” and “how” would buildings communicate with each other? The Internet of Buildings is a project which aims to create new typologies of buildings, by redefining their role as single nodes in a larger network of communication and exchange of data, energy, goods, and resources. This interactive physical model is visualizing the Internet of Buildings by showing its impact in an area of 28 blocks located in Barcelona’s district of Sant-Marti. The model shows how the Internet of Buildings can be used to:
- Re-program buildings based on time
- Use responsive and material technologies to balance atmospheric pollution
- Transform buildings and public space for the creation of a new circular metabolism
- Use advanced environmental simulations for the design of microclimates in public spaces
Can we use Antarctica – an extreme territory confined by natural limits – to explore, understand, and then confront this understanding with today’s most extreme urban contexts, in order to apply our learnings on these existing urban extremities?
This was the main question presented to IAAC’s Master in City & Technology 2019/20 students as part of the first term studio Internet of Cities which was led by Dr. Mathilde Marengo and Edouard Cabay during which faculty and students researched together, the connection, interaction, and exchange of data through diverse scales of an urbanized context.
Cities are constantly evolving through the interaction of people and the built environment, and data analytics has become a necessary tool for their development. With the rise of Airbnb and the shift towards digital platforms, tomorrow’s economy will be reshaped as new urban economic models are transforming the traditional ones. Data analytics has helped us understand the different patterns behind sharing platforms in many different cities, in an effort to tackle economic and political inequalities in Barcelona.
During the studio the Internet of People with the valuable guidance of inAtlas Co-Founder and CEO Luis Falcon, the Master in City & Technology students examined the global rise of tourism during the last 15 years, by analyzing urban indicators related to gentrification. Using big data analytics and sophisticated cartography tools, they investigated the ways in which citizens can be transformed from consuming agents in the city into generating agents by becoming active participants in the utilization & production of data.
The Green Dip: Covering the City with a Jungle
What would the urban environment look like if it was completely covered in green?
What would the impact be on the urban environment and the life of its citizens?
How much would it cost to maintain it?
Could we use it as an energy generating infrastructure?
The Green Dip workshop, a collaborative effort between IAAC’s Master in City & Technology and The Why Factory. During this intense 7 day workshop the Master in City & Technology researchers, with the valuable guidance of The Why Factory, produced visions of 7 cities that have been completely enveloped in green.
For each of these cities, the Master in City & Technology researchers made challenging calculations related to the cost and benefits of nature-based solutions, collecting data related to each city and each plant such as energy production, soil retention, water needs, maintenance cost, CO2 absorption, oxygen production, etc.
SuperBARRIO is a tool for architects, urban planners and public entities to engage the citizens in the design of the public space, to collect data about the citizens’ needs & desires. SuperBARRIO uses gamification strategies to engage the citizens in the design of the urban space. As an open-source online tool, SuperBARRIO widens the potential audience of participatory design processes, overcoming the limits of conventional methodologies.
The Pilot project of SuperBARRIO was developed in 2017 in the course Responsive City in the framework of the IAAC Master in City & Technology, directed by Areti Markopoulou.
The first case study was the Superblock of Barcelona. Known in Catalan as Superilla Pilot, it represents the pilot project of a wider urban regeneration plan led by the Agencia de Ecologia Urbana de Barcelona within the Urban Mobility Plan of Barcelona 2013-2018.
The Internet of Buildings
Master in City & Technology 2018/19
The Green Dip
Master in City & Technology 2018/19 and The Why Factory
Winy Maas – MVRDV & The Why Factory
Master in City & Technology Interview
Carlo Ratti – Carlo Ratti Associati & MIT Senseable City Lab
Master in City & Technology Interview