crosas

carles

crosas

Validated Lead Expert

Generic Skills

B.1. Understanding of integrated and sustainable urban development:

After graduating as Architect in 2000 I joined the Department of Urbanism and Territorial Planning through a 4-year Pre-doctoral Grant. In this framework, I started participating in academic research in diverse fields covering a wide range of urban and territorial issues, the majority of them strongly related to “sustainable urban development”. For two decades very diverse contributions have been elaborated from two complementary approaches at academic and professional level. Within the Barcelona School of Architecture – ETSAB-UPC and the Barcelona Laboratory of Urbanism - LUB, teaching and research have offered several chances to discuss on sustainable urban development at very different scales and geographical contexts: from small villages to metropolitan areas; from in-depth Catalan territories to a number of European metropolis. Papers, books, booklets and reports offer an overall perspective of these results. On the other side, professional practice has offered as well a complementary perspective in which, while dealing with similar case studies (in terms of size, urban frame, etc.), direct contact with stakeholders and real world has given the opportunity to link theoretical approaches with real needs. Leading a number of Territorial and Urban Studies and Plans and a number of Urban Design Projects as well, sustainable urban dimensions have been considered from several points of views, including architectural, environmental, economic and social issues.

B.2. Understanding of exchange and learning processes at transnational level:

In addition to a number of transnational experiences as freelance urban design practitioner, academia has offered a continuous privileged platform for many transnational exchange and learning activities. During the last decade I have organized and participated as tutor in more than a dozen international workshops and seminars collaborating with more than 30 universities and other institutions worldwide. Following diverse formats, mixing Workshops, Masterclasses, Charrettes and Seminars, several exchanges among students and professors, usually from European Universities but also from North America Universities (IIT Chicago or UV-Virginia University), Latin America (Santiago de Chile, Bogotá-Colombia, La Habana-Cuba, …), China (Tsinghua or Tongji University), Egypt (GUC-German University in Cairo, NU-Nile University, AU-Alexandria University), among others. Besides participating in international thematic conferences and forums (GSD Harvard, 2017, SDS-Spain 2016, IFOU Korea 2015,…) and being invited lecturer abroad, it is of note the participation in four European Erasmus + competitive projects since 2013, which are described in detail in the following sections: two Intensive Programmes on Co-generative Urban Design and on Inclusive Design in vulnerable spaces, a 2-year Strategic Partnership on Sustainable Design for metropolitan regions and a 3-year Capacity Project for defining new approaches for Architecture and Urban Design teaching.

B.3. Proficiency in English:

Bilingual Catalan-Spanish from birth, English has become increasingly a common vehicular language in many facets of our everyday life, after having taken contact with French as third language as it was usual in our country some years ago. The increasing attraction of Barcelona School of Architecture for students from abroad, has led us to offer some courses on Urban Design in English both at the Postgraduate and Undergraduate level, in which I am participating currently, with students coming from more that 30 nationalities. At the PhD supervision level as well, there are an increasing number of candidates that come from non Spanish-speaking countries, and currently I’m supervising and tutoring a number of works carried out by architects from Belgium, Iran, Macedonia, Brazil, etc. Besides participating in conferences and giving lectures at many foreign universities, the participation as UPC Principal Researcher in some open calls and European projects has also contributed to get familiar with English as official language in all the contents and management outcome.

Expertise for the design and delivery of transnational exchange and learning activities:

Summary Expertise for the design and delivery of transnational exchange and learning activities:

Few years ago I started participating in EU transnational projects through two E+ Intensive Programs on diverse urban design and planning approaches. Since then, I have also been UPC coordinator of a 2-year Strategic Partnership on “integrated urban design” for a sustainable metropolis and I’m currently leading UPC team (10 professors with different expertise) in a new challenging 3-year E+ Capacity Building program that aims to define an innovative multidisciplinary and People-Centred approach to architecture and urban design teaching in a network of European and Egyptian universities. As Vicedean for International Relations at ETSAB (2015-17) I was in charge of the institutional coordination of exchange initiatives with around 80 universities worldwide. In the field of urban design and planning, a number of academic joint ventures were set up during this period and since then, I have intensified participation and leadership on workshops, seminars, studios and charrettes with partner universities in US, China, Korea, Latin America, Egypt, Australia or Europe. From these research and teaching platforms I have been involved in designing actively a wide range of exchange activities, dealing with a variety of partners, meeting different cultural approaches and starting points, engaging local stakeholders in academic activities, fostering knowledge sharing among participants and compiling results in reports, publications, exhibitions and digital formats.

Thematic expertise:

Theme / Policy:

Urban Strategic Planning

Summary Thematic expertise:

“Designing metropolitan metabolism” (2018), “Cogenerative design strategies for a sustainable urban metabolism” (2015) and “Barcelona-Links” (2012) are three co-authored recent works looking for new strategies and a renovate vision of infrastructure, mobility, public space and urban tissues design that take Barcelona as the design observatory in dialogue with other experiences abroad. In addition to these works halfway between research and teaching, professional planning experience provides a good starting point for development of new strategic planning tools. Different scale works of remarkable importance, among others are the Regional Plans for heritage preservation of Ter River’s Industrial Colonies (2007-2008), local Master Plans and Detailed Plans for small villages in Catalunya (since 2004) and urban project proposals for international and national contests, awarded twice in Europan Europe (2011 and 2013). Books, reports, exhibition works and webplatforms are the valuable outcome of a number of teamwork’s experiences commanded in the last ten years: participating in European projects (Strategic Partnerships, Capacity Building Projects since 2013), organizing and leading urban design workshops and studios (hosted in the Barcelona School of Architecture and abroad) and chairing experts multidisciplinary groups for defining thematic planning guidelines (for the Metropolitan Urban Master Plan, Barcelona, 2016-17).

Theme / Policy:

Integrated Urban Renewal

Summary Thematic expertise:

In the last few years, a laboratory on urban productive regeneration has been exploring new formulas for a successful integrative urban renewal through urban design studios and focus research. At the same time, in some strategic metropolitan spots, new relationship between infrastructure, mobility and public space have been tested looking for the best integration of isolated parts of the metropolis. Recent co-authored publications (Re-mix: Urban Productive Landscapes, 2018 and Barcelona, Links, 2012) show our distinctive research and teaching approaches. At the same time, a number of renewal urban plans have been drawn up such as heritage preservation regional plan for the old industrial Ter’s River Colonies (2007), local master plans for small villages in Catalunya (since 2004), urban diagnosis on the transformation of Sants (2009) and Poble Nou-22@ districts (2008), etc. 15-year expertise dealing with diverse scale planning tools as consultant, offers a good starting point for development of new urban integration tools. Books, reports, exhibition works and webplatforms are the valuable outcome of a number of teamwork experiences commanded in the last ten years: participating in European projects (Strategic Partnerships, Capacity Building Projects since 2013), organizing and leading urban design workshops and studios (hosted in the Barcelona School of Architecture and abroad) and collaborating in the Barcelona Metropolitan Urban Master Plan, since 2013.