conversando con... Joan Busquets

[EN] We talk to Professor Joan Busquets about the analysis of four key books: Barcelona the urban evolution of a compact city (2014), Toulouse, Identité et partage du Centre ville (2021), Modern Architecture and City (2022) and The Old Town of barcelona: un pasado con futuro (2004). A world-renowned figure in the field of urbanism, in theory and as a researcher and teacher, Prof. Busquets is the Martin Bucksbaum Professor in Practice of Urban Planning and Design and is working on important urban transformations and constructions of international relevance. Professor of the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University since 2002, professor at the ETSAB - UPC and director of the BAU agency, Joan Busquets stands out for his career as a teacher and researcher, architect and urban planner. All these facets have led him to transform cities in different contexts: in Spain in the cities of Barcelona, Toledo, La Coruña and Las Palmas; in Portugal in the cities of Lisbon, Viseu, Barreiro and Coimbra; in Italy in the cities of Trento and Alghero; in the Netherlands in the cities of The Hague, Amsterdam, Delft and Helmond; in France in Dunkirk, Rouen, Paris and Toulouse; and in Switzerland in Geneva and Sion. The operations carried out with his agency BAU propose transformations, rehabilitations and urban developments, not only on a theoretical level with master plans, but also on an architectural and landscape level, as in the redevelopment of public spaces in Toulouse. Joan Busquets was Director of Urban Planning at Barcelona City Council during the formative years, from 1983 to 1989, and in the preparations for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, including the new centralities programme and the process of upgrading existing neighbourhoods. In 1969, he was a founding member of the Barcelona Urban Planning Laboratory (LUB) and carried out a longterm study of squatter settlements in Barcelona and other southern European cities as a doctoral thesis, for which he received the National Urban Planning Prize in 1981. He won the prize again in 1985 for his master plan for the old town of Lérida. His urban rehabilitation strategy for Toledo and its future was recognised as the European Gubbio Prize by ANCSA in 2000. In 2011, he was awarded the International Erasmus Prize (Netherlands) and in 2012, the Grand Prix Spécial de l Urbanisme, Paris (France). He was elected full member of the Académie d Architecture de France in 2016. In 2021, he won the UIA Patrick Abercrombie Prize. [