Living Landscapes in Madrid is part of a line of research that critically explores the transformations of the metropolitan cultural landscape from interdisciplinary perspectives. As an extension of previous BIPs dedicated to housing and spatial practices in Lisbon and Frankfurt, this edition focuses on the urban landscape as an area where historical, ecological, social and aesthetic dynamics converge. Its main objective is to problematise contemporary ways of inhabiting and representing public space, analysing the tensions between nature and culture, heritage and transformation, infrastructure and ecology, as well as the new forms of beauty that emerge in complex metropolitan contexts.

The experience of the previous BIPs had allowed for the consolidation of a pedagogical project focused on the question of dwelling. The role of architects as critical protagonists in debates on social housing had been the focus of Living in Lisbon, while in Spatial Practices and Housing in Frankfurt the debate had been extended to the scale of the city. In Living Landscapes in Madrid, attention was directed towards public space and urban landscapes, offering a critical perspective on the natural-cultural heritage practices in open public spaces within the metropolis.

The workshop starts from the observation that today’s metropolises can no longer be understood in terms of classic dichotomies—urban/rural, natural/cultural, tangible/intangible—since these boundaries are blurred at the edges and peripheries of cities. Through the notion of ‘living landscapes,’ a relational reading of the territory is proposed in which historical processes, civic practices, agroecological dynamics, and diverse cultural imaginaries overlap. This approach coincides with the principles of the New European Bauhaus, which promotes sustainable, inclusive, and socially meaningful environments, articulating aesthetics and ecology in everyday life.

The conceptual approaches of the BIP align directly with the objectives of the Heritagescapes research project, dedicated to the critical mapping of metropolitan cultural landscapes and the identification of emerging heritage futures. Reflection on the processes of museumisation of urban spaces, the reconsideration of beauty from ecological parameters, and the analysis of diversity—social, biological, and cultural—allow us to move towards new interpretations of contemporary heritage and its possible futures. The workshop’s emphasis on dissolving dichotomies, interpreting territories relationally, and attending to historical, socio-ecological, and aesthetic dynamics provides an operational framework that reinforces the project’s methodologies, particularly regarding the construction of critical maps, the identification of non-institutionalized cultural values, and the understanding of landscape as a dynamic assemblage. This connection allows the analytical practices developed in the BIP to act as a research laboratory, generating hypotheses, debates, and materials that contribute to advancing knowledge about contemporary cultural landscapes and their future management.

This BIP workshop brought together four partner institutions from Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Germany, offering students and academics the opportunity to participate in an intensive learning project within an interdisciplinary and multicultural team. The proposal sought to extend and deepen the exchanges and debates that had been initiated in Lisbon, within the framework of the BIP “Living in Lisbon”, and continued in Frankfurt, in the BIP “Spatial Practices and Housing in Frankfurt.” In both of these experiences, the institutions involved were those that later proposed this third edition: Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, ISCTE, and Goethe University Frankfurt. In this fourth edition, the team was joined by the Politecnico di Milano. Furthermore, the team of universities was enriched by the notable participation of the Madrid City Council, the Madrid Institute of Architects (COAM), and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Agenda, through La Casa de la Arquitectura (LCA)—all of them flagships in the fields of architecture and heritage, both in Spain and across Europe.

In short, this fourth edition of the BIP has reaffirmed the value of collaborative and interdisciplinary learning as a means of critically reflecting on contemporary architectural, urban, and landscape practices. The wealth of diverse perspectives and institutional partnerships has also contributed to building a solid common framework for understanding the complex and evolving relationships between heritage, space, and society.

Full program: Living Landscapes in Madrid: A Critical Mapping of Heritage Practices in Open Public Spaces.