Josep Bohigas has been selected to become the Manifesta 16 Ruhr Creative Mediator for the Urban Vision of Manifesta 16

Manifesta 16 Ruhr which is going to take place in the year 2026 in Ruhr region in Germany has kicked off with the announcement of the Creative Mediator Catalan architect and urbanist specialist in regional and metropolitan development. Josep Bohigas Arnau will start working this autumn on creating an alternative model of an urban vision for the Ruhr edition as part of the Manifesta 16 Ruhr pre-biennial research process where Bohigas will look at alternative ways to connect the Ruhr, its citizens, the north and southern parts of the cities, as well as the rivers, industrial parks and other green area’s through mobility systems and other urban interventions.

Josep Bohigas has been selected to become the Manifesta 16 Ruhr Creative Mediator for the Urban Vision of Manifesta 16 on basis of his excellent experimental architectural work with Barcelona  Metropolitan regions, which could be an inspiration for the Ruhr region, as well as his achievement in inventing alternative solution for urban planning, green and mobility issues such as the Superblocks. Bohigas was also experimenting with Citizens Assemblies together with Arquitectos de Capcelara in Barcelona to understand how to integrate the ideas and opinions of citizens in creating more livable cities both in Catalunia, Mexico and Latin America.

ABOUT JOSEP BOHIGAS

Bohigas was the co-director of the BOPBAA Architecture studio from 1991 to 2015 and won various architectural competitions, including the extension to the Thyssen Museum in Madrid, the Housing block in the Forum area, and the El Molino Theatre in Barcelona. He received awards for professional recognition, including the FAD awards (1998, 2000, 2007) and the City of Barcelona awards (2007, 2014, 2016).

He has directed and curated several cultural activism programmes which have highlighted new solutions to the housing problem: Barraca Barcelona 2003, APTM 2005, Eme3 Collapse 2009, Piso Piloto 2015,and Arquitectes de Capçalera 2014-2024. He was the general manager and leading urbanist of the Urban Development Agency, Barcelona Regional, from 2016 to 2023 and the Agency of Urban Ecology from 2019 to 2022. He is an associate professor at the ETSAB and co-director of the Master’s Degree in Lighting Design at the UPC Foundation (Polytechnic Univeristy of Catalonia). He is the founder and a member of the Urban Front, a transnational consultancy focused on helping progressive public and social sectors achieve their goals as they address the critical urban problems of the 21st century.