Land, Vol. 15, Pages 150: Evaluating the EDUS Point Prototype Through an Urban Living Lab: Temporary Urban Intervention in Barcelona

Land doi: 10.3390/land15010150

Authors:
Fanny E. Berigüete Alcántara
José S. Santos Castillo
Julián Galindo González
Inmaculada R. Cantalapiedra
Miguel Y. Mayorga Cárdenas

Urban public spaces increasingly need to address inclusivity, adaptability, and resilience in the face of health, environmental, and social challenges. Urban policies also promote improving the relationship between schools and their surroundings to mitigate and adapt to climate and social risks. This article presents EDUS Point, an experimental prototype developed within the European project FURNISH and tested in Barcelona during the COVID-19 crisis. Conceived as an Urban Living Lab (ULL), the initiative explored how modular, digitally fabricated, and temporary structures could transform school environments into open, inclusive, and human-scale public spaces. Through an inter-scalar and interdisciplinary approach, the project implemented an urban strategy, a participatory community-building process, and a digital collective platform, alongside the design, fabrication, and testing of a pilot classroom device adaptable and replicable in other schools. A mixed-methods methodology combined tactical urbanism and co-design with fabrication feasibility assessments, social observations, and spatial impact analysis. Results demonstrate that EDUS Point fostered new socio-spatial dynamics among students, teachers, and residents, improved accessibility and usability of nearby public spaces, and validated the effectiveness of low-cost, rapidly deployable interventions in addressing urban needs. The findings propose actionable frameworks, tools, and design criteria for the socio-environmental integration of schools as catalysts for inclusive and resilient urban transformation.

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Fanny E. Berigüete Alcántara www.mdpi.com