The University's School of Architecture participates in a rural revitalization project with the RIA Foundation.

The RIA Foundationa philanthropic initiative promoted by David Chipperfield, has organized, together with the School of Architecture of the University of Navarra, a field trip to visit with its students. This initiative stems from a program of partnership established between RIA, the Council of Monterrei and the School itself, which seeks to offer student body the opportunity to work in real and concrete contours.

In this case, the participants had the opportunity to learn first-hand about the reality of Infesta, located in the Concello de Monterrei, one of the towns participating in the Aldeas program model.

Accompanied by the mayor of Monterrei and representatives of the Xunta de Galicia, students and teachers have visited the village and identified the main challenges facing rural areas in this region. This experience has allowed them to better understand the local context and begin to define the objectives of the projects they will develop during the next academic semester , whose focus will be on the revitalization and sustainability of rural areas.

The students attended a session at Casa RIA, headquarters of the RIA Foundation in Santiago de Compostela. PHOTO: loaned.

In addition, the students participated in an activity organized at Casa RIA, headquarters of the RIA Foundation in Santiago de Compostela. This meeting has counted with the participation of all the entities involved in the project, including the intervention of the Juana de Vega FoundationFoundation, coordinator of the Paisactivo program.

This partnership is an opportunity for future architects to get involved in the sustainable development of rural areas, while strengthening the partnership between academic institutions and local development initiatives.

An international project

Last year (2023-2024), students from the aforementioned School of Architecture carried out a similar project at the Concello of Carballeda de Avia and Muimenta, one of the Villages model promoted by the Xunta de Galicia, in order to revitalize the Galician countryside, also in partnership with the RIA Foundation.

On this occasion, as a novelty, in order to obtain a broader vision and approach the topic in a more global way, it will be held in COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning) format at partnership with a group of universities adhered to the America Forum, an initiative of said School of Architecture and the Pan-American Federation of Architects Associations(FPAA) to promote research, the training of architecture professionals and the partnership among universities.

The 8 universities participating in the exercise to be carried out this academic year (2024-2025), whose axis is architecture and depopulation analyzed from the point of view of 7 different countries, are: Universidad Católica de Bolivia, Universidad Católica de Santa Fé (Argentina), Universidad de Lima (Peru), Universidad Latina Costa Rica, Universidad Latina de México, Universidad Privada de Santa Cruz de la Sierra (Bolivia) and Universidade do Vale do Taquari-Univates (Brazil). Each of these will carry out the exercise taking as a case study an area in the process of depopulation in their country, so that the analysis and proposals can be evaluated from a global perspective.

The final conclusions will be shared among the different participating universities and Fundación RIA, with a exhibition of all the projects in each participating country.