Read this article in Catalan
The relationship between water and the city, cybersecurity, the climate emergency and digital twins are the themes that will focus on the first four learning capsules of Blau 3005, a training program launched by the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - BarcelonaTech (UPC) , on emerging topics and open to citizens. Registration for these first small-format training capsules is now open and will begin in April 2024.
Thus, Blau 3005, which takes its name from the corporate color of the University, is a new learning space, open to everyone regardless of age and previous training, and which has been designed, above all, to help understand the world around us. They are training capsules that are taken, simply, for the pleasure of knowing and in a way that is compatible with daily life due to their duration and format. They will be done in person and will last between 12 and 24 hours, distributed in a single weekly session.
The Blau 3005 program is based on the knowledge held by the UPC and, especially, on topics in which it is a leading university. They are current topics that do not require the student to have any prior qualifications or specific requirements to enroll. The program has been created based on teaching methodologies that value the practice and experience of the student and includes visits to companies and entities where you can see and understand the application of different topics through real projects.
Understanding the city from water
Of the four courses that will begin next spring, the Water and City course consists of 8 sessions in which the relationship between water and the city of Barcelona will be followed, through the four types of water: runoff, mouth, the one that is related to organic matter and the one that is related to energy, with the aim of seeing the transformative capacity of this element and its weight in the environmental crisis that we suffer.
“If we took stock of the things that enter and leave the city, there is no doubt that water is the material we would find in the greatest quantity,” explains Professor Albert Cuchí, from the Vallès Higher Technical School of Architecture (ETSAV). and coordinator of this course. “It is, therefore, the quantitatively most important material in urban metabolism. And also qualitatively: it is essential for its inhabitants as drinking water: the rain runoff washes all urban surfaces and must be controlled and properly evacuated to avoid damage. And, traditionally, it was decisive as a source of energy and due to its relationship with the cycle of organic matter.”
Professor Albert Cuchí adds: “It is necessary to expect, therefore, that the configuration of the city, its urban form, its metabolic functioning, its relationship with the territory, are highly conditioned by its relationship with water. And so it is and has been. The aim of this course is that the people who take it – and never rather said take it, because it is a set of itineraries – understand the city of Barcelona from its relationship with water, and its history as a long path of relationship with she". With what interest? “Well, the ecological crisis we face involves a cultural change in our relationship with resources and the environment. And water, here too, is a key element,” says Cuchí. “Knowing the relationship between water and the city – also in its crises – will help us understand to what extent the ecological crisis will change our cities,” concludes the professor.
Virtual replicas, cybersecurity and climate change
One of the technological trends of the year is digital twins. Precisely, they hint at how the creation of virtual replicas, both of systems and real objects, can help any industry make smarter decisions, which is what the Digital Twins: Concepts, Technologies and Use Cases course aims to do. The program, structured in 10 sessions with practical orientation, includes visits to centers and companies where digital twins technology is applied.
On the other hand, in a digital world like the one we are immersed in, protecting our information to navigate cyberspace with maximum confidence and security is essential. To have more knowledge on the subject, the Practical Introduction to Cybersecurity Course is offered: 10 practical sessions to learn about the main threats in the digital world.
Finally, discovering first-hand innovative solutions and actions to apply to combat the effects of climate change is what the Climate Emergency course proposes. What do we do? From Scientific Knowledge to Local Initiatives. The program, which begins in May 2024, unlike the previous ones, which begin in April, consists of 4 practical sessions and includes 3 external visits to Can Batlló, the Eje Besòs and the Parque Agrari del Baix Llobregat.
The course program, which has a price of 190 euros each, will be expanded over the coming months. In the background of this initiative is the objective of promoting, from the UPC, lifelong learning, the creation of a living learning community on relevant and current issues, and the promotion of debate and the exchange of ideas between different professional and generational groups.
