Ponents - Xavier Costa-Guix; Kathrin Golda-Pongratz; Georg Vrachliotis

Since its constitution, in 2013, the Academia Europaea-Barcelona Knowledge Hub (AE-BKH) organizes the Disputatio of Barcelona, an annual public debate between two experts (a woman and a man), of high international prestige. The two Disputantes, present two different aspects of a topic of social relevance and with strong implications for contemporaneous society and citizenship. The session is coordinated by another expert, the Magister disputationis, responsible for the selection of the topic and the coordination of the discussion. The activity is characterized by a high level of participation by the attendants, that is, intellectuals and academics of different fields and not necessarily related with the topic discussed. These modern Disputationes are inspired by the famous Disputatio of Barcelona, a theological debate be-tween top intellectual represen-tatives of the Christian and Jewish faiths, celebrated under the presi-dency of king Jaume I of Aragon in the summer of 1263.

Urban Sustainability. Growing urban populations and the increased environmental, social and economic impact of urban lifestyles have boosted major cities to the forefront of global sustainability actions. Transdisciplinary sustainability research and the involvement of sci­entists in the development of urban policies and regulations are growing in importance across city councils. The AE-BKH, located in one of the most urbanism-conscious cities of the Mediterranean offers an excellent network for co-operation in urban sustainability studies, with many similarities and complementarities. Using cross-sectoral and multidisci­plinary approaches, the aim of this debate is to identify historical drivers, ecological rela­tionships and special opportunities and challenges of urban sustainability in the Medi­ter­ranean region, as well as to define the possible synergies and unavoidable trade-offs while entering the era of smart cities, digital transportation systems and clean energy.

MAGISTER DISPUTATIONIS and DISPUTANTES

Magister. Xavier Costa-Guix, professor of Architecture, College of Arts, Media and Design, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA

Disputantes. Kathrin Golda-Pongratz, professor of Architecture and Urbanism, Technical University of Catalonia, Barcelona

and Georg Vrachliotis, professor of Theory of Architecture and Digital Culture, Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, TU Delft, Netherlands