Approaches to Collective Cognition in the Historic Centre of Madrid: An Erasmus Interdisciplinary Experience

Mónica Alcindor (), Waltraud Müllauer-Seichter, Sonia De Gregorio Hurtado, Leonor Medeiros, Mirella Loda and Delton Jackson
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Mónica Alcindor: CIAUD-UPT—Branch of CIAUD Research Center, Departamento Arquitetura e Multimédia Gallaecia, Universidade Portucalense Infante D. Henrique, Rua Dr. António Bernardino de Almeida, 541, 4200-072 Porto, Portugal
Waltraud Müllauer-Seichter: Departamento de Antropología Social y Cultural, Facultad de Filosofía, Universidad Nacional Educación a Distancia, Paseo Senda del Rey 7, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Sonia De Gregorio Hurtado: Departamento de Urbanística y Ordenación del Territorio, Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Leonor Medeiros: CHAM—Centro de Humanidades, Departamento de História, Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 1069-061 Lisbon, Portugal
Mirella Loda: Dipartimento di Storia, Archeologia, Geografia, Arte e Spettacolo (SAGAS), Università degli Studi di Firenze, 50121 Firenze, Italy
Delton Jackson: Studio UrbanArea LLP, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 1EW, UK

Land, 2025, vol. 14, issue 2, 1-22

Abstract: Beyond their direct use, buildings and heritage places are objects and settings which help to guide community actions. Cognitive perception systems interact directly with the built environment through action and generate experiences that will be used for subsequent actions. This requires a reorientation towards phenomenological perspectives that query the conceptual boundary between cognition and action. Five universities from three countries (Portugal, Italy, and Spain) came together in July 2023 through an Erasmus+ BIP (Blended Intense Programme) experience, developed for the La Latina neighbourhood, in the historical centre of Madrid. The intention was to highlight the importance of different disciplines, and interdisciplinary working, for planning an urban future which includes the goals of socio-economic and environmental sustainability, happiness, and the right of residents to maintain longstanding emotional connections with their neighbourhoods. The novelty of this experience compared to existing Master’s and PhD programmes in Europe was the early and intense contact of students with the subject through the development of fieldwork over two weeks. This was led by teachers from different disciplines to provide interdisciplinary perspectives for a training programme which included architecture, urbanism, urban anthropology, geography, history, and archaeology. Through this training, the intended outcomes were twofold: to equip students with the necessary knowledge and criteria to critically address these issues and to raise awareness among local stakeholders about the negative transformations affecting historic centres and their impact on residents’ quality of life.

Keywords: Erasmus+; built heritage; heritage communities; La Latina; gentrification; Madrid; collective cognition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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