This studio engaged with the historic development and current urban conditions of the Camp de Tarragona region in Catalonia and endeavored to project visions for its future. The Tramvia del Camp de Tarragona, or “TramCamp” – proposed to link the cities of the region, the airport, and the regional and high-speed rail system – presents significant opportunities and is the key prompt this studio sought to respond to.
While TramCamp is intended to improve connectivity and promote mass transit in a currently car-dominated region, the regional and local authorities also see it as a way to counter urban sprawl and direct future growth in the region toward compact and transit-oriented development.
Focused on the region connected by TramCamp, and particularly the area between the cities of Tarragona, Reus, and Salou, this studio sought to explore how TramCamp could be built upon to achieve these goals, but also how it might, more broadly, present opportunities for reimagining the urban form of Camp de Tarragona as a region.
Camp de Tarragona sits within a coastal plain, defined by the mountains and the Mediterranean. The coastal city of Tarragona, from which the region takes its name, was originally founded by the Romans as Tarraco, and was the capital of the Roman province of Hispania Tarraconensis. Following the fall of the Roman Empire, Tarragona was captured and ruled successively by the Visigoths and then the Umayyads before the Christian reconquest. As a result of its rich history, Tarragona is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Today, Camp de Tarragona is the third largest region and the second most prominent metropolitan area of Catalonia. It is a diverse region that hosts a major petrochemical complex and an extensive port while remaining agriculturally productive. It is also a major tourist destination due to its beaches, the PortAventura World theme park, and its cultural and historical sites.
Over the twentieth century, the urban form of the broader Camp de Tarragona region has developed into a fragmented patchwork of urban clusters, industrial development, and farmland, crisscrossed by a web of infrastructure. Today the region also faces increased housing demand and the challenges of climate change. Of the three primary cities to be connected by TramCamp, Tarragona is the largest and remains an administrative and cultural center with its historic sites as a tourist draw. Reus, on the other hand, is a major commercial center, having been the site of industry and agricultural commodities exchange, while Salou is primarily focused on seaside tourism. TramCamp will connect these three municipalities via the city of Vila-seca.
Focused on the area between these cities, this studio explored what TramCamp might mean for the future of the region, and how the tram might help restitch its currently fragmented landscape. This studio applied strategic urban planning and design thinking at a regional scale and around a particular station node within the region where the Municipality of Tarragona has proposed a new intermodal station, which would connect TramCamp to regional and high-speed rail while acting as a new Central Station for Tarragona.
Studio Approach andMethodology
The process undertaken by this studio was organized in three parts: Discovery, Framework Development, and Project Exploration:
PHASE 1: Discovery – Data Gathering/Research/Analysis
During this initial phase, students worked in groups to assemble background site and contextual information; learn about the region’s history, culture, and economic activity; assess its environmental conditions and vulnerability to climate change; understand any existing plans, policies or ongoing debates about the region’s future; research and analyze relevant benchmark precedents; and prepare a written and graphic summary of their findings for the broader studio’s reference.
The above effort was focused through three lenses: Social Historical (historical, cultural, and economic forces); Environmental (ecology and environmental conditions); and Built Environment (urban form and infrastructure).
PHASE 2: Frameworks – Regional Strategies & Station Area Frameworks
Based upon the understanding developed during Phase 01, the students developed planning proposals for the future development and urban transformation of the region that could engage with the urban, social, and environmental dynamics of this unique place. Working in groups, the students first developed planning strategies at the regional scale of TramCamp, specifically between Tarragona, Reus, and Salou. They then jumped to a more localized scale to draft a development framework plan for an area around Tarragona’s proposed Central Station, where the local municipality is planning to direct future residential and mixed-use development. The framework for this station area then provided the basis for further planning and design development that the studio undertook throughout the remainder of the semester.
In undertaking this effort, each studio group was tasked with defining key planning goals and objectives, regional planning strategies, and an initial high-level development framework plan for the station area.
PHASE 3: Project Exploration – Scoping and Concept Visioning
Following the development of regional strategies and planning frameworks for the station area, the students – working individually or in pairs – identified key aspects or issues within their frameworks (e.g. resiliency, street design, housing policies, etc.) for further exploration and developed design and planning proposals in response to these aspects of their framework plan.
Each studio group explored opportunities for the transformation and redevelopment of industrial areas and infrastructure at the scale of the station area while proposing ways to link to back to the core of Tarragona, embracing the Francolí River and extending the city in the process. This course of study took into consideration planning for mobility and transit-oriented development, urban design and public realm planning, resilience, adaptive reuse, and the regeneration of brownfield sites.
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