INTERNATIONAL ARCHITECTURAL REGENERATION PROJECT: HUERTA DE ALBORAYA. A WORKSHOP OF PRACTICE EXPERIENCE AND ACTIVE INVOLVEMENT

For the 2017-18 academic year the School of Architecture of the Faculty of Technology, Design and Environment of Oxford Brookes University (OBU) has chosen the Huerta de Valencia as an international location for its Regeneration and Development Project within its MA in International Architectural Regeneration and Development. The aim of this exercise is to study the regeneration and sustainable development of the Huerta Valenciana as an inherited habitat. To do so, a work group made up of teachers from the Higher Technical School of Architecture (ETSA) of Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), specialists in the field of study, together with teachers from OBU School of Architecture directed and coordinated a series of activities within the “International Architectural Regeneration Project. Huerta de Alboraya” workshop held at Huerta de Alboraya.

Thirty students from more than ten different countries, aided in translation by UPV students, studied the current situation through interviews and discussion panels with local authorities and specialists, authors of conservation and environmental protection plans, agricultural workers, entrepreneurs in food industry activities and in the tourism sector. These environmental, social and economic data collection tasks were combined with visits to agricultural production, artistic production and tourism sites. The planimetric surveys of different types of vernacular architecture characteristic of the area of study were also carried out.

The final results of this learning methodology, based on practical experience and active involvement abroad offer innovative solutions to real problems, while providing cultural and social awareness of the habitat in which they are proposed, as well as environmental responsibility and economic feasibility. These results will also allow the skills developed for work in remote cultural contexts and cultural exchange between students to be assessed.