SenEctA

The Challenge

Barcelona is undergoing a major demographic shift. As the population ages, public space must adapt to support autonomy, accessibility, safety, and everyday care. In many neighborhoods, older adults and caregivers still face physical, environmental, and social barriers that limit mobility, comfort, and participation in public life. These challenges are especially relevant in places such as Nou Barris, where aging, socioeconomic vulnerability, and unequal urban conditions overlap. SenEctA responds to this context by understanding public space not only as infrastructure for movement, but also as infrastructure for care. 

Our Solution

SenEctA is a new urban innovation project that will adapt public space to the aging population in Barcelona through a network of living labs. The project creates a framework in which older adults, caregivers, neighborhood communities, municipal actors, and technical teams can collectively identify urban challenges and shape solutions together. By combining computational analysis, citizen science, participatory diagnosis, co-design, and digital fabrication, SenEctA will develop and test urban interventions that improve accessibility, environmental comfort, perceived safety, and intergenerational social connection in public space. These living labs are not only a method for participation, but a way to build a replicable model for care-centered urban transformation. 

Type of Project

SenEctA is an urban innovation project developed within the framework of La Ciutat Proactiva 2025, promoted by BIT Habitat and Ajuntament de Barcelona. It operates at the intersection of advanced architecture, urban analysis, participatory design, and digital fabrication, proposing a living labs model to address aging through public space. 

Tools and Framework

The project is structured through a six-phase process that moves from research to implementation and evaluation. It begins with the analysis of spatial, environmental, and mobility data to identify barriers and priority areas related to aging in the city. This territorial diagnosis is complemented by in situ observation and qualitative data collection, helping to better understand how older adults and caregivers move through and use public space. That evidence is then brought into a participatory process including exploratory walks, interviews, surveys, and co-design workshops, where situated knowledge and lived experience help define priorities and opportunities for intervention. From there, the project develops at least three urban prototypes or pieces of inclusive furniture, which will be digitally fabricated, temporarily installed in Nou Barris, activated through community use, and collectively evaluated. The final outcome includes not only the prototypes themselves, but also an open catalog of solutions and methodologies to support future replication in other contexts. 

Our Contribution

IAAC, through the Advanced Architecture Group, coordinates SenEctA and contributes to its methodological development, urban innovation strategy, and computational approach. Together with Equal Saree, LaMáquina, and Noumena, the project builds a multidisciplinary process that connects data, participation, design, and fabrication in order to rethink how public space can respond to aging. 

Who is it for?

SenEctA is intended for older adults, caregivers, neighborhood communities, public institutions, and local stakeholders committed to shaping more inclusive and care-centered urban environments. More broadly, it offers a living labs model for cities seeking new ways to respond to aging through collective intelligence and spatial innovation.