Architecture students are transforming the Santa María La Real neighborhood into a laboratory strategies aimed at people-centered urban regeneration
The project developed as subject the third-year subject II subject and arose from an agreement between the Pamplona City Council and the University as part of project Lab project , which goal academic solutions with society to address the challenges posed by urban growth
28 | 04 | 2026
promote green community promote , breaking down urban barriers, and building community kitchens in the Santa María la Real neighborhood of Pamplona are just some of the proposals presented by 105 third-year architecture students at the University of Navarra as framework the subject II subject taught by professors Esperanza Marrodán and Conrado Capilla. Notebooks in hand, the students made successive visits to the neighborhood not only to understand its urban form and the formal challenges it presents, but also to get to know its residents firsthand through interviews. With financial aid Javier Antón, a professor of design at the Higher Technical School of Architecture, these interviews were transformed into “empathy maps” that served as the basis for developing regeneration strategies.
The project, graduate “People at the Center: Regeneration Strategies for Santa María la Real” —result an agreement with the City of Pamplona—“allows students to propose ideas for solving real problems or addressing real concerns,” explains Esperanza Marrodán. In this way, the proposals “are not based on our personal preferences, but on the needs of the residents who will be affected,” explains Fermín Baranguan, one of the students involved.
To make the exercise even more realistic, last March the students had the opportunity to present the seven best proposals to the neighborhood residents, who “showed interest and were very engaged, offering both positive feedback and concerns and suggestions that enriched our projects,” explains student Fernando González, whose proposal aims to reintroduce nature into the neighborhood through sensory spaces. His group transforming parking lots into “parking-parks,” establishing urban gardens, and incorporating public kitchens where residents can prepare and share the neighborhood’s harvest. The lack of green spaces and the revitalization of local commerce were also the basis of the strategies presented by Fermín group , which focused its proposal the transformation of Pico de Ori Street, a thoroughfare lined with local shops where they propose incorporating new green areas.
CT Lab
The project *People First: Regeneration Strategies for Santa María La Real* is part of CT Lab, an project by the University of Navarra in which various local governments across the country collaborate to develop academic solutions aimed at addressing the challenges of urban growth.