Abstract
Cities must be conceived as complex systems capable of integrating multiple levels of connectivity: ecological, urban, social, and metropolitan. Only through such interrelations is it possible to achieve the bioclimatic quality required to mitigate the effects of climate change and to ensure resilient urban environments.
The diverse spaces that shape the city –places to live, work, study, play, and relax– demand effective interconnection through a productive and multifunctional green infrastructure. This infrastructure must foster biodiversity, incorporate renewable energies, enable efficient water management, support local food production, and provide recreational opportunities for citizens.
These actions converge toward one of the most strategic objectives for the future of our cities: enabling pedestrians, cyclists, public transport, food, water, air, and ultimately life itself, to flow freely through cooler, healthier, and more sustainable urban environments.
This conference presents a series of case studies that explore landscape-based methodologies for urban and territorial design. These examples highlight the importance of responding to local geography and pre-existing natural systems –such as waterways and ecological corridors– while also creating accessible connections with the surrounding natural areas. In addition, the rehabilitation of obsolete urban fabrics is emphasized, transforming them by conserving and reactivating their identity, refurbishing existing buildings, and integrating new mixed uses. Such processes make it possible to create public spaces that enhance biodiversity and promote sustainable rainwater management, redefining the city as an environment focused on people and sustainable mobility.
This approach is grounded in the motto Merging City and Nature, understood not merely as the incorporation of vegetation into urban space, but as the construction of a symbiotic relationship between nature and the built environment. In this way, cities are reimagined as inclusive, resilient, and habitable settings, capable of sustaining and fostering life in all its forms.
Biography
Enric Batlle holds a PhD in Architecture and is a Landscape Architect. Since 1981, he has combined these disciplines as Principal and Co-founder of Batlleiroig, one of the largest architecture practices in Spain, with more than 200 professionals and offices in Barcelona, Madrid, and Galicia. Batlleiroig’s work spans a wide range of projects that integrate architecture, urban planning, and landscape, always driven by an innovative and holistic vision aimed at environmentally responsible and inclusive solutions.
Over the years, the practice has earned international recognition with prestigious awards such as the World Architecture Festival (WAF), the European Prize for Urban Public Space, the International Architecture Awards, and the Iconic Awards, among others. In 2016, Batlleiroig curated the exhibitionFarming the Life at the Central Pavilion of the Venice Architecture Biennale, presenting the project Landscape Restoration of the Garraf Controlled Waste Landfill in Barcelona. More recently, the practice’s project T3 Diagonal Mar Offices in Barcelona is featured at the Spanish Pavilion of the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025, titledInternalities, exploring solutions for decarbonization and for creating a fairer architecture. In 2022, Batlleiroig published Merging City and Nature(Actar), a book that sets out 30 commitments to address the challenges of the climate emergency through innovative solutions in urban planning, landscape, and architecture.
Alongside his professional practice, Enric Batlle has maintained a strong academic presence. Since 1982, he has been a faculty member in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya · BarcelonaTech (UPC). He currently serves as Director of the Master’s Degree in Landscape Architecture (MBLandArch) at ETSAB, the Barcelona School of Architecture (UPC). In 2012, he received the FAD Prize for Theory and Criticism for his book El jardín de la metrópoli. Del paisaje romántico al espacio libre para una ciudad sostenible (Editorial Gustavo Gili).