Art & Public Space
21-26 Sep 2025
DURATION
5 days
AICP CREDITS
20
The Program
Barcelona uses arts and culture to shape its urban identity and regenerate its neighborhoods.
This five-day program is designed for urban planners, cultural leaders, and city officials who want to learn from Barcelona’s success in using the arts to regenerate the city and reflect on urban cultural policies and practices. This program delves into the city’s unique approach to integrating art and culture into urban development and neighborhood renewal. From the ambitious “Barcelona Model” of the 1990s 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, walking tours, and discussions with cultural leaders, you’ll experience Barcelona’s iconic public spaces, museums, and festivals. Explore historic sites like the Cerdà grid and Gaudi’s architectural wonders, while engaging with contemporary grassroots cultural hubs. You’ll also reflect on Barcelona’s evolving cultural policies and practices, including their impacts on neighborhoods, local identity, and urban equity.
This program offers a rare opportunity to learn from Barcelona’s successes and challenges while connecting with peers from around the world. Whether visiting world-class museums or participating in the vibrant La Mercè festival, you’ll leave inspired and equipped to bring new ideas about arts and public space back to your city.
Includes
- Exclusive meetings with key officials and city planners
- Walking tours
- Guided site visits
- Welcome and closure dinner
Accomodation & Logistics
We will provide prospective participants who need accomodation with a list of recommended hotel options.
Learning objectives
- Understand how Barcelona has leveraged arts and culture to drive economic rejuvenation and establish a modern urban identity
- Compare top-down and grassroots approaches to cultural development in fostering inclusive urban spaces.
- Understand the role of grassroots engagement in placemaking, addressing equity issues, and strengthening community resilience
- Reflect on the city itself as a living museum through its architecture, art, and events that both build on historic traditions and defy conventional practices
- Draw inspiration from Barcelona’s successes and challenges to inform cultural policy and practices in participants’ own cities
Schedule
Day 1
Cultural Policies
- 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 2
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 3
La Mercè Festivities
- Celebrate La Mercè with parades, performances, and street festivities
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
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 a research professor in urban planning at the Institute for Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA-UAB) at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona where he leads the research group City Lab Barcelona. His research examines the impact of urban programs and policies with a focus on urban experimentation. 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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