Showing posts with label ecological urbanism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ecological urbanism. Show all posts

Sunday, March 15, 2026

In the urban thought emerging from Socioplastics, urbanism is decisively displaced from the conventional domains of planning, zoning and form-making toward a broader field of relational infrastructure and epistemic metabolism. Developed through the work of Anto Lloveras, frequently in collaboration with Paula Lloveras through URBANAS, the city is interpreted as a semiotic-metabolic system in which buildings, infrastructures, climatic forces, economic extraction and social bodies operate as dynamic agents rather than inert objects.

 


This perspective aligns partially with the infrastructural dispositions analysed by Keller Easterling and the critical spatial frameworks articulated by Jane Rendell, yet Socioplastics extends these approaches by constructing an operative mesh in which urban theory itself becomes a form of executable territorial protocol. Central to this model is Relational or Affective Urbanism, where spatial interventions function as devices of care and narrative repair, while Metabolic Urbanism conceives architectural envelopes as membranes capable of processing ecological, informational and affective flows. The Geology of Urban Permanence—a conceptual series developed in 2026—further reframes urban analysis through the reading of territorial pressure gradients, identifying phenomena such as rent extraction, tourism saturation and climatic stress as forces shaping urban stability. Within this framework, permanence no longer denotes static preservation but rather dynamic equilibrium under finite pressure. Complementing this analytical dimension is the speculative construct of the Fifth City, an urban imaginary articulated through the Trans-Lighthouse Manifesto that proposes a distributed network of biospheric humanism, relational repair and post-growth cooperation. In this synthesis urbanism becomes neither a regulatory discipline nor a purely spatial practice but a sovereign epistemic infrastructure, capable of reading, metabolising and recalibrating the complex pressures shaping contemporary territories.

Wednesday, March 7, 2018

PREFERENCE, RESTORATIVENESS AND PERCEIVED ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY OF SMALL URBAN SPACES ///////////////////////////////// CONGRESS LISBOA PORTUGAL ::::::::::::




Understanding the psychological and ecological functions of small urban green spaces is critical in contemporary city planning, particularly within highly built environments such as central Madrid. This study, carried out across nine urban squares with 537 participants, reveals the extent to which preference, perceived quality, and environmental restoration intersect within the microcosm of pocket parks. By applying validated psychometric tools—such as the Perceived Restorativeness Scale, Environmental Quality Scale, and Vegetation Scale—researchers capture nuanced layers of subjective experience tied to these spaces. Key findings highlight that time spent in these areas correlates strongly with perceived restorativeness, reinforcing Kaplan’s theory of accumulative micro-restoration. Notably, vegetation density, perceived safety, and social interaction emerged as central predictors of a square’s restorative value. These micro-ecosystems not only offer environmental services but play a crucial role in urban health equity, especially in socioeconomically diverse populations. The results advocate for a strategic reimagining of urban design—emphasizing quality over quantity—wherein even the smallest green nodes are equipped with vegetal richness, functional infrastructure, and social affordances. In this light, small squares become more than aesthetic amenities; they function as critical public health assets, catalyzing mental restoration through passive and active engagement. As urbanization intensifies, these findings push for policy frameworks that embed mental well-being into green infrastructure planning, especially in dense metropolitan cores.



                  
ONGOING RESEARCH 
URBAN GREEN AREAS IN THE CENTER OF THE CITY OF MADRID
ENVIRONMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY / URBANISM / ART