José María de Cárdenas at the Vimcorsa Forum on the liveable city

José María de Cárdenas took part in the Vimcorsa Forum convened by ABC Córdoba alongside Joaquín Pérez-Goicoechea (AGi architects) and José Luis Vallejo (Ecosistema Urbano), in a debate on whether the city would keep its role after the pandemic. All three answered yes: the World Bank estimates that 7.5 billion people will live in cities by 2050.

One methodology, three continents

De Cárdenas explained the studio’s way of working through three simultaneous commissions: the plan to link the former port of Kaohsiung (Taiwan) to the K-Pop industry, Moscow’s Spanish Quarter, and a project in Nairobi, a city under intense pressure from rural migration.

The Moscow figures

On the Moscow neighbourhood, he described the result of industrialising the process: 5,000 homes delivered in three years at 450 euros per square metre through a public–private partnership, half the cost of Spanish subsidised housing (VPO), with each building resolved from some 300 elements drawing on existing industry.

He also explained the technology tool the studio developed with Microsoft to generate urban models in hours and discuss them around a table with all the stakeholders involved, from the municipal planner to the financier. The model is based on the superblock system, with basic services within a five- to twelve-minute walk, and school locations are calculated using artificial intelligence.

What of all this works for Córdoba

His conclusion for the host city was not traditional growth but the reactivation of underused resources: a fresh look towards the Guadalquivir and a historic centre that is attractive to live in, not only for tourism.

Report by Rafael Ruiz, ABC Córdoba, 28 January 2021.