Campus of International Excellence – Aristos Campus Mundus 2015

Fernando Bayón, an Aristos Campus Mundus project researcher, was interviewed at the Onda Vasca radio station, where he talked about the project “Imagining urban waterfront spaces“.

This study examines in a comparative perspective the social impact that the regeneration of urban river banks has had in three different cities: Bilbao, Barcelona and New York. All three have seen how their river or sea fronts have been undergoing profound changes. This project reconstructs their social and political history (the opening to the sea of post-Olympic Barcelona, the Guggenheim effect on Bilbao’s estuary, the tensions between culture and speculation in New York City). It then focuses on how these changes have affected the image of these cities in their aim to take up their place in the world, in permanent dialogue with the memories of their past.

The impact of these regeneration processes can be seen from three viewpoints: Have they had an active influence on the lifestyles and leisure practices of the people living in these metropolitan areas? Does the way in which citizens have made these new spaces their own always respond to how they were designed by the local governments? Can we talk about more creative and democratic forms of participation in the public space of our cities after these spectacular regeneration processes?

Listen to the interview here.

Photograph: http://planetabilbao.blogspot.com.es