UNM EXHIBITION AND SYMPOSIUM FOCUS ON CERDÀ

October 20, 2003

UNM EXHIBITION AND SYMPOSIUM FOCUS ON CERDÀ
19th century Barcelona engineer and city planner's work explored

The University of New Mexico's Community and Regional Planning in the School of Architecture and Planning, and the New Mexico Chapter of the American Planning Association, will sponsor a symposium, "The Legacy of Ildefons Cerdà: Social Vision and City Planning from 19th Century Barcelona," on Thursday, Oct. 23 from 3:30 - 5 p.m. in the Lobo B room at the Student Union Building on the UNM campus.

The symposium coincides with a traveling exhibition, "Cerdá: The Barcelona Extension," which focuses on Cerdà's urban planning projects, on exhibit for three-weeks, Tuesday, Oct. 21 through Monday, Nov. 10 in the Quiet Room of the SUB.

"Cerdà's work is unusual because of its highly developed theoretical context, social content, and because its implementation has powerfully affected the subsequent growth and vitality of the city. It provided a regional urban design context in Catalonia that lent itself to the architectural innovations of the modernists Gaudí, Domènech and Puíg," said David Henkel, director of UNM's Community and Regional Planning program.

An engineer by training, Cerdá, the pioneer and chief theoretician of modern urbanism, is best known for the Barcelona Extension, the part of the Spanish city built beyond its original fortress walls.
The exhibition presents Cerdá the Urbanist, the man and his world, and focuses on his contributions to modern urbanism. Cerdá's projects, the testing ground for the theories he developed to meet the needs of the new industrial city, include housing models, a holistic proposal for a complete, integrated city, the railway in the city and development of his proposals.

The featured symposium presentation will be by Catalan scholar-practitioner Dr. Andreu Ulied, who will interpret the effect of Cerdà's work on modern Barcelona. Ulied is professor at the School of Public Administration and in the Institute of Advanced Architecture, and was technical coordinator of the metropolitan plan of Barcelona from 1991-94.

Partner/director of Mcrit Planning Consultancy since 1995, Ulied has also been a consultant to the European Commission in the European spatial planning network and to many regional and local governments. He authored "Catalonia 2020: Visions for the future of the territory" (2003) and co-edited "Government and Environment in the Mediterranean" (1994).

The presentation will be followed by discussion featuring three UNM faculty from the School of Architecture and Planning: Dr. Eleni Bastea, architecture; Dr. Alf Simon, landscape architecture; and Dr. Stephen Wheeler, community and regional planning.

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