Barcelona:
Art & Public Space
The Program
Barcelona uses arts and culture to shape its urban identity and regenerate its neighborhoods.
Learn from Barcelona’s success in using the arts to regenerate the city and reflect on urban cultural policies and practices. From the ambitious “Barcelona Model” to today’s more democratic, neighborhood-oriented strategies, you’ll learn how Barcelona has harnessed its rich cultural heritage to build a vibrant, global city.
Through guided site visits, workshops, and discussions with cultural leaders, you’ll experience Barcelona’s iconic public spaces, museums, and festivals. Explore historic sites like the Gothic Quarter or The Born, while engaging with contemporary grassroots cultural hubs.
This program offers a rare opportunity to learn from Barcelona’s successes and challenges while connecting with peers from around the world. You’ll leave inspired and equipped to bring new ideas about arts and public space back to your city.
Learning objectives
- Understand how Barcelona has used arts and culture to drive renewal and shape a modern urban identity.
- Compare top-down and grassroots approaches to creating inclusive cultural spaces.
- Explore the role of grassroots engagement in placemaking, equity, and community resilience.
- Reflect on the city as a living museum through its architecture, art, and events.
- Draw inspiration from Barcelona’s successes and challenges to inform cultural policies in your own city.
Schedule
Day 1
Welcome
- Welcome Dinner Cultural appreciation begins with a memorable meal.
Day 2
Placemaking & Public Realm
- Learn from experts on Barcelona’s cultural policies and regeneration efforts.
- Walk El Raval neighbourhood and CCCB/MACBA on a guided tour.
- Discover the Center for Contemporary Culture of Barcelona.
Day 3
Placemaking & Public Realm
- Masterclass with Barcelona’s principal cultural event planner.
- Explore the Gothic Quarter and El Born.
- Urban sketching workshop in El Born.
Day 4
Grassroots Movements
- Meet artists and leaders building community through arts.
- Learn about grassroots-driven equity efforts.
- Design Hub: how museums shape urban culture.
Day 5
Community Engagement
- Panel on engaging the public in transforming the public realm through art.
- Street art tour and mural project.
- Farewell dinner on the patio of Terraza Martinez on Montjuic, overlooking the city.
Brochure
Includes
- Exclusive meetings with key officials and city planners
- Walking tours
- Guided site visits
- Workshops
- Welcome and closure dinner
Meet the Experts
An architect and planner, Meg Walker served as Senior Vice President at Project for Public Spaces in New York City where she worked for twenty years with communities around the US to transform their public spaces and buildings, downtowns, waterfronts, and neighborhoods into vibrant, sociable, and sustainable places. Outstanding examples include a new public space plan for downtown Detroit, a street activation plan for downtown Seattle, and a public space design for the Pearl Brewery development in San Antonio, Texas.
Meg Walker is currently an Assistant Visiting Professor at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, where she has taught core courses in the graduate program in Urban Placemaking and Management and has advised thesis students since 2010. She was also a visiting professor at the Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University and at Bauhaus University in Weimar, Germany. Ms. Walker is the chair of the board of En Garde Arts in New York City, an innovative, site-specific theater company that uses the city as its stage to promote young artists in the performing arts. She also served on the Board of Trustees for the Village of Hastings-on-Hudson, NY for eight years. She holds a B.A. in government from Wesleyan University and a Master of Architecture from Columbia University. Ms. Walker has spent many months visiting family in Barcelona over the past five years and has enjoyed getting to know the city, its public spaces, museums, and delightful events. She is the lead curator of Art and Public Space.
Jordi Honey-Rosés is the Founder of City Lab Discovery and Director of the research group City Lab Barcelona at ICTA-UAB. Working with partners and students, his research examines how and why urban projects transform cities. Special interest in urban experiments, school streets, active travel, citizen science, BiciZen, bike bus, bicycle parking and bicycle theft. Prior to joining ICTA-UAB, Dr. Honey-Rosés was a planning professor at the School of Community and Regional Planning at the University of British Columbia (2013-2021). While at the University of British Columbia he received the prestigious Killam Teaching Award. A California native, with Catalan roots, Dr. Honey-Rosés has walked the streets of Barcelona since his childhood and is passionate about urban history.
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