A special edition of the COAC magazine Quaderns d’Arquitectura i Urbanisme, dedicated to the project “Catalonia in Venice – Air / Aria / Aire” has recently been published.
The monograph, directed by the architect Olga Subirós, collects the research carried out for the project as well as articles written especially for the magazine.
The Generalitat’s pollution measurement station in Begur records one ofCatalonia’s highest levels of ozone, a pollutant that causes various diseases,including asthma. Begur is a town located on the coast (Baix Empordà), with a small population, low density and few cars. The origin of this ozone(O 3) is the transformation of nitrogen dioxide (NO 2) in its displacement from Barcelona. Barcelona and its metropolitan region contain some of the highest built densities in all of Europe. It is a hub of mobility, attraction and vehicle emissions. The density of population, but also of economic activities and the traffic they generate, causes unhealthy levels of pollution both in the cities themselves and on the outskirts, which do not remain unaffected.The NO 2 generated in the towns and cities of the metropolitan region, af-fected by the action of the sun and the atmosphere, evolves into O3 when it travels across the territory and invades it. The concentration of urbanity in the metropolitan region of Barcelona therefore creates problems there and in the rest of Catalan territory.
