Seven local initiatives for a proactive city

The municipal foundation BIT Habitat launched a call in July offering urban innovation grants for ‘The Proactive City’. The winners are seven projects which propose various solutions to the new urban challenges of inclusion and sustainability in the city in the context of the Covid-19 crisis.

31/10/2020 10:18 h

Ajuntament de Barcelona

The call attracted applications from over 200 associations, guilds, foundations, cooperatives, research and education institutes, universities and individuals with projects to improve people’s quality of life in the spheres of sustainability and urban resilience, and to provide a boost for the local economy.

A group of over fifty experts in urban innovation at a local level chose the seven winning projects, which will receive 500,000 euros to develop a pilot project within a year.

Projects chosen

  1. The UPC is proposing eight micro projects for the renovation of home interiors and communal spaces in the Raval neighbourhood which can be replicated in Ciutat Vella. The project will implement prototypes to improve ventilation and illumination indoors, functional distribution and accessibility for communal spaces and energy efficiency for housing.
  2. The initiative by the Aiguasol cooperative is about fostering collaboration in owner/tenant communities by making even more use of rooftops of buildings with multiple owners and helping them move closer to energy self-sufficiency through a self-management digital platform.
  3. Co-mida’ is the name of the project by the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC), which proposes a modular vertical intelligence system for cultivating edible plants and which produces the energy needed for it to work. The goal of the project is to make fresh local produce available to local people and to improve the urban microclimate and local biodiversity.
  4. The Fundació Alícia is looking to create an active local network which gives elderly people a minimum level of knowledge, abilities and motivation to help them to manage their own diets with as much autonomy as possible, ensuring it is sufficient, safe and adapted to their social and health needs.
  5. The Mòdul Habitat Barcelona, or MHBCN, is an innovative and sustainable infrastructure to help resolve social, economic and environmental problems linked to housing. The pilot project by the Wood and Furniture Guild will involve the design of a modular base and the production of three display prototypes to implement them in different points around the city.
  6. The digital empowerment of entrepreneurs is an important factor for the Barcelona Open Data Initiative. Because of this, the association is proposing the collection and analysis of data to foster the digital transition for small neighbourhood commerce.
  7. Finally, ‘Barcelona Revolta’t is a project by Josep Maria Vallès Casanova to implement a decentralised management system for organic material at five collection points around the city. The initiative seeks to foster the circular economy and a more sustainable food system.

Full information on the winning projects can be found on the website bithabitat.barcelona.

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