Luisa Rojo and Héctor Grad, both researchers in MIRCo, have conducted a workshop in the Master’s Degree in Architectural Communication (MACA) in the Polytechnic University of Madrid. In that workshop, they had the chance to present the app Voces-Territorios, developed under the framework of the project Contested Territories, thanks to the invitation made by Antonio García (UCM) and Rodrigo Delso (UPM), both professors at MACA. This app is used to keep and systematize images, video and audio of the public space to later analyze the transformations that are taking place within itself, such as gentrification or the privatization of the space, and the resistances against those.
The first session of this workshop took place on April 30th. In that session, the projects and its aims were presented. As an activity, it was proposed to use the app Voces-Territorios to engage in field work. MACA students, divided in five groups, used the app to do a tour of Gran Vía and nearby streets, mainly Jacometrezo, Mercado de Mostenses, Luna and Fuencarral.
Image 1. Map with findings.
Those tours had two aims. On one hand, they aimed at getting familiar with the app and the way it works to deliver field work and to evaluate its utility regarding architectural communication and, on the other, they tried to assess the relationship between the categories offered by the app and the ones developed in MACA.
The conclusions of this activity, delivered on the second session on May 7th, were diverse and enriching. In general, the participants in the workshop showed that the area surrounding Gran Via shared some common characteristics. In this area live together different dynamics also found in other downtown centers, in other cities—now global: their streets are a mixture of cultures and traditions, while at the same time big companies own buildings and spaces, displacing the locals.
Image 2. Big ads in Gran Vía, over a building. Made by XY user.
Various examples of this fact are malls and hotel chains where, before, there were homes and local shops; where there were big windows and balconies, now there are big canvases with ads. Streets that are now just places to pass by, where you can hear cars, construction work noises and English words, now a dominant language, used to be spaces of resistance and community-building.
However, those last cracks of community living are still beating hard downtown. Migrant communities use the streets to communicate: shops with ads only in Chinese or signs made for and by Latino people decorate the walls of the Downtown District. Not only do they fulfil a communicative function, but also serve to keep the ties with their original communities. Migrant people seek to reinvent the public space to show their presence in the territory.
Image 3. Chinese supermarket in Mostenses. Made by lide user.
In deep connection with this issue, the students were paying an special attention on the type of urban art there is in these streets. The walls are the setup for communication, but also as a means of expression, with gaffiti pieces, stickers and activist messages all over the place.
After having all the groups discuss their findings, we had the chance to explore all the questions that are seen in the students’ conclusions. We could contrast what is seen with what is hidden: the local history and the ethnographic significance to disentangle the processes to be found. Branding and gentrification are opposed towards the collective building of the space, now hidden under stickers, graffiti and ads, and watched over by numerous police officers, those seen now obliging street artists to erase their work on the walls.
Image 4. Blackboard with the findings.
The urban processes that could be seen (gentrification, physical change of the space, the commercialization of the public space…) are thus reflected in the collaborative map of Voces-Territorios, now accessible to anyone interested.
To sum up, MACA students could see how the urban space is constantly changing, depending on the world that surrounds it. As MACA students, they underlined the utility of the app on their work, as well as they gave a warm thank you to the team for the work done. We would also like to encourage any institution, university or work group to discover what Voces-Territorios has to offer!
