Labbatlló

LABBatlló is a research project led by BATEC that explores the need to adapt 21st-century cities to global challenges such as climate change, pollution, resource scarcity, and inequality, in a context where resources are limited. Although the challenges are significant, cities are often still produced as if nature were infinite. This mindset calls for a profound shift towards strong sustainability, distinguishing between natural capital and human capital, and advocating for environmental protection.

In this context, Urban Living Labs are emerging as key tools to experiment and innovate within cities. These urban laboratories, such as the case of Can Batlló, enable collaboration between local communities, governments, socioeconomic sectors, and knowledge institutions to design and test new solutions in real time. Can Batlló is a prime example for developing a network of self-sufficient communities, with infrastructures that support the local production of energy, food, and clean water—minimizing the need for long-distance logistics. The space has already become a key innovation hub, with initiatives like the La Borda housing cooperative driving new public policies and regulatory changes.

Moreover, the creation of an urban innovation free zone, as proposed in Can Batlló, makes it possible to pilot a wide range of innovations in a controlled way, speeding up their integration into the urban system and promoting faster administrative and regulatory changes. These zones allow communities to experiment with new solutions that traditional administrations, due to their rigidity, cannot easily implement. In Can Batlló, this model has begun to take shape through the ceding of public spaces by the City Council to grassroots community organisations, which manage them with a high level of citizen participation.

Finally, LABBatlló highlights the need to rethink current urban models to create sustainable cities focused on closing material cycles and decentralizing resource management. This approach involves an integrated process that brings together urban design, emerging technologies, public policy, and inclusive participatory processes. In Can Batlló, this has materialised in the form of an urban laboratory aimed at answering key questions about sustainability, citizen participation, and innovation in construction and public space—with the goal of replicating these solutions in other parts of the city.

This publication is the result of research carried out by technical teams on behalf of the Barcelona City Council. Some of its findings have already materialised in new projects, such as the creation of a local energy community, while most remain at a theoretical, unapplied stage.