Naturalization of the Built Environment

Last Wednesday, April 29, the Francesc Cambó Hall at the Sant Pau Modernist Complex hosted a sold-out discussion titled “Naturalization of the Built Environment: Toward an Ecology of Care,” a discussion organized by the Enric Miralles Foundation as part of Barcelona World Capital of Architecture 2026. The event brought together experts in architecture, landscape architecture, health, and research to reflect on the role of nature in the future of our cities.

This dialogue was based on a fundamental premise: the climate crisis is not only an environmental challenge but also a crisis of the spatial models that have historically separated the natural from the built environment. In this context, naturalization emerges not as an ornamental strategy, but as a paradigm shift in the way architecture is designed, inhabited, and managed in cities.

Far from being limited to the incorporation of vegetation, naturalization involves integrating living processes, water cycles, energy exchange, biodiversity, ventilation, and temporality into the heart of the architectural project. It involves recognizing the city as a complex metabolic system, where architecture ceases to be an autonomous object and instead becomes an interface between the human and the non-human.

From this perspective, nature is viewed as an active infrastructure of care, capable of regulating environmental conditions, reducing urban stress, improving public health, and reshaping the relationship between bodies and their surroundings. The question is no longer how to incorporate nature into architectural and urban design, but rather how to design spaces that function as ecosystems.

Through a dialogue between architecture, landscape, theory, and research, the session explored how design can contribute to building more resilient, regenerative, and responsive environments. The event thus proposed a critical shift: from the city as a machine to the city as an organism; from sustainability as efficiency to sustainability as a relationship; from design as control to design as coexistence.

An exceptional gathering at the Sant Pau Modernist Complex, where history, architecture, and nature came together to envision the future of our cities.

The dialogue is part of the program “Architecture for Human, Urban, and Planetary Well-being,” promoted by the Enric Miralles Foundation. It is a platform for research and debate that explores the transformative role of architecture in addressing major contemporary challenges.

Speakers:

– BENEDETTA TAGLIABUE
Co-founder and Principal Architect at EMBT Architects; Founder and President of the Enric Miralles Foundation

– JOAN ROIG I DURAN
Co-founder and Principal Architect at Batlleiroig, Professor of the Batlleiroig–UPC Chair (ETSAB) and ETSAV

– MARÍA CAROL SANJURJO
Director of Social Environment and Governance, Health Management Foundation of the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, ReHEALMS Project

– LLUIS DOMÈNECH GIRBAU
President of the Lluís Domènech i Montaner Foundation

– RICARD GRATACÒS BATLLE
Architect, Anthropologist, Professor at ETSAB-UPC and UOC; Editor and Director of *Hospitecnia* and *Revista Diagonal*

This event is part of the program for Barcelona 2026 World Capital of Architecture, a distinction awarded by UNESCO and the International Union of Architects (UIA) to the city hosting the UIA World Congress of Architects, and transforms it into a global forum for architecture, urban planning, and landscape architecture. From February 12 to December 13, a multidisciplinary program will be presented in collaboration with schools, universities, and professional and cultural organizations throughout Catalonia.

Barcelona 2026 World Capital of Architecture is supported by the Barcelona City Council, the Government of Catalonia, and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development.