Our course this year places a special emphasis on urban upgrading in both developed and developing contexts, in particular Medellín, Colombia, destination of our field trip where students will be rethinking the urban fringes of this expanding city. Which is why we won’t be missing the urban planning debate Creative industries: Learning from Medellín and Barcelona taking place next week on November 30th at the CCCB in Barcelona. Participating in the debate are historian and journalist Felix Manito, the president of Fundación Kreanta and the Co-Chair of Medellin-Barcelona..
The debate is made possible by the Cátedra Medellín-Barcelona project (Medellín-Barcelona Chair), whose mission it is to establish a stable and ongoing cooperation relationship between Medellin and Barcelona’s civil societies to carry out knowledge transfers, exchanges, and generation between their citizens, companies, organizations, and institutions in the fields of culture, education, and city. The Chair’s Initiative is part of a new vision of development cooperation based on the leadership of cities, the prime role of civil society, and a commitment to the quality and development of governance that values creativity and innovation.
The Chair was founded in 2009 and is jointly presided by the former mayors Pasqual Maragall and Sergio Fajardo. The board of directors comprises Gabriel Jaime Arango, Beth Galí, Alfons Martinell, Ferran Mascarell, Juan Luis Mejía, and Jorge Melguizo. More than 20 institutions form the two cities take part in its management and the Initiative has the support and involvement of Barcelona City Council and the Medellin Office of the Mayor.