Workshop Enkarterri

Towards a redefining of suburbia

Las Encartaciones is home to the Valle de Carranza, the largest municipality of Bizkaia, and also Lanestosa, the smallest. It is a very large area, but with a small population and with population growth under vegetative level. Las Encartaciones is a good example of a suburban environment.

Even though the majority of the world’s population live in some type of urban habitat, the majority of us live, work and spend our free time in places that would not be recognised as a traditional city. How will we live together in places on the city limits such as Las Encartaciones in the near future?

The definition of the suburban, its meaning and how that is related with the categories of “city” and “countryside” has been studied by researchers and professionals for some time. The suburban constellations are increasingly replacing the traditional dichotomy between urban and rural. Therefore, this is an ideal place to consider the issue of sub-urban land, sub-urban infrastructures and sub-urban planning as a way of life. These themes will be at the core of a workshop that will address the challenge of territorial inequality in Las Encartaciones.

During the workshop, students on the Urban Project Management Certification course at the School of Architecture at the University of Navarra (ETSAUN) will pool the work carried out on the Urban Regeneration subject during the four-month session. Apart from visiting several sites in the supramunicipal district to learn out its mining extraction and industrialisation, a session on “Urban Rights” with students from Balmaseda High School will be run alongside the workshop. Thanks to this session, the architecture students will be able to continue working on their urban generation projects after learning about the real demands of the region’s young people.

he proposals will also consider this suburban territory, where the limits between the rural and the urban merge. A place where architecture will recover its mediation role between nature and society. A resilient territory to the climate crisis, where its social justice and quality of life will turn it into a hospitable place for women, people with functional diversity, children and older persons.

Back to top