Alphabet soup and inaction in the face of climate change

With pain, experience shows me that no matter how terrifying and Dantesque the impact of the Valencia disaster may have been, even though it was reported by media around the world, in a short time it will only remain as a local catastrophe in the memory of those directly affected.

The social inaction of this planet is unbearable and those who have been involved and warning, for decades, of the virulence of these situations are always branded as exaggerated and extremist. In some cases, it is surprising to hear with complacent erudition ambiguous contextualizations and justifications, such as the process of adding layers to explain an absurd and incessant process of speculative destruction.

Evolution of the Dana over Spain on October 29, 2024. Image via Eumetsat

To sweeten our inaction with a vademecum of recipes with layers to which the anthroposphere or now the technosphere are added, to adorn the acquiescent inaction of our societies, or to justify the inevitable as the process of an alleged human stupidity or lack of intelligence of others, seems truly unbearable to me.

Since the Rio Declaration of 1992, the UN meetings, the investigations of international organizations and study centers pointing out the inevitable consequences of our inaction in the face of climate change seem to have been of no use in the face of the assumption of an inexorable determinism, fostered by the toxic disinformation used by deniers and spurious interests.

It is surprising that the misinformation of those who should be well informed makes them ignore that we have plenty of legal and administrative tools to reduce the impact of the brutal action of nature and that the solution is not to “terraform” and continue savagely anthropogenically destroying our planet.

Faced with transformative brutality as the only solution, and despite everything surely necessary to be able to heal this savage transformative process in which we are immersed, faced with the irrationality of deploying more testosterone muscle, it would be advisable to review the advice, warnings and studies of the hydrographic confederations, which are not heeded, which are not appreciated, which are simply ignored.

We cannot continue to ignore the construction processes that seek to consolidate themselves as unequivocal processes of urbanization, to justify our developmentalism or current model of consumption. Rapid actions are needed to respond with extreme attention to climate change but also a deep look at our technicians and organizations, at the traits of intelligence that still remain in our humanity.

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JOSÉ JUAN BARBA

José Juan Barba (1964). Architect from the Madrid School of Architecture (ETSAM) in 1991. He received his PhD in Architecture from ETSAM in 2004, graduating summa Cum laude with the doctoral thesis "Inventions: New York vs. Rem Koolhaas, Bernard Tschumi, Piranesi." In 1991, he received a Special Mention in the Spanish National Graduation Awards. Until 1997, he worked as an advisor to several NGOs. In 1992, he founded his architectural practice in Madrid (www.josejuanbarba.com).

He is an architectural critic and, since 1998, Editor-in-Chief of the internationally acclaimed bilingual architecture journal METALOCUS (Spanish/English), recipient of several national and international awards.

Barba is an Associate Professor at the University of Alcalá and a member of several research groups. He has been invited to participate in numerous international forums on architecture and urbanism, including the II Forum of Mexican World Heritage Cities, Urban Development, History and Modernity, organized by the Pan-American Committee for Urban Development and Historical Heritage; the World Urban Development Forum (FMDU), held in Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico; and the International Conference on Architecture and Urbanism from the Perspective of Women Architects. He has also been invited as lecturer and guest critic at numerous national and international institutions, including the National Building Museum, Roma Tre University, Politecnico di Milano, University of Genoa, Université Pierre Mendès France Grenoble, the Madrid and Barcelona Schools of Architecture, National Autonomous University of Mexico, the Faculty of Architecture in Montevideo, the Schools of Architecture of Medellín and Ecuador, Universidad Iberoamericana, IE University, as well as the Schools of Architecture of Zaragoza, Valladolid, Málaga, Granada, Seville, and A Coruña, among others.

He has extensive professional experience in architecture, urbanism, landscape intervention, and territorial regeneration. His work has received numerous awards, including First Prize in the “Gran Vía Posible” competition for Delirious Gran Vía, Madrid; recognition for the Rivers Interpretation Centre in Zamora, awarded and exhibited at the World Architecture Festival 2008; and recognition for the Santa Bárbara Park project in Toledo. He was also awarded the Erich Degner Prize for Architecture (1995), promoted by the BBVA Foundation. His project for a Day Centre for the Elderly was included in Volume 3 of the Madrid Architecture Guide published by the Official College of Architects of Madrid (COAM) in 2007. His work has been widely published in national and international books and journals.

He served as Maître de Conférences at the Institut d’Urbanisme de Grenoble, Université Pierre Mendès France Grenoble, during the 2013–14 academic year, following his appointment through a European open competition. His work has been published internationally. He regularly serves on academic and professional juries, including the editorial competition jury for the journal Quaderns (2011), the selection committee for the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Awards (2007–present), and the jury panels for EUROPAN 13 (2015–16) and TRANSFER, Zurich (2019). He was also invited to participate in the Biennale di Venezia 2016 as part of the exhibition Spaces of Exception / Spazi d’Eccezione.

He has authored several books, including "The Dark Line. michele&miquel, dA Vision Design" (2024), "CONGRESO ANYWAY. La ciudad de las ciudades" (2020), "#Positions" (2016), and "Inventions: New York vs. Rem Koolhaas, Bernard Tschumi, Piranesi" (2015). He has also contributed to publications such as "Espacio público Gran Vía. La Ciudad del Turismo" (2020), "Spaces of Exception / Spazi d’Eccezione" (2016), "La manzana de la discordia" (2015), and "Contemporary Japanese Architecture: New Territories" (2015), as well as chapters in numerous books, including "Women Architects: A Professional Challenge" (2009), "21st Century Architectures" (2007), "Ruta de la Plata, New Conquerors of Space" (2019), and "The City of Tourism" (2020).

Selected awards include:

• “SANTIAGO AMÓN” AWARD, award for the promotion of architecture, COAM Madrid, 2000.
• “PANAYIOTI MIXELI AWARD,” SADAS-PEA, award for the promotion of architecture, Athens, 2005.
• “PIERRE VAGO” ICAC. International Committee of Art Critics Award, London, 2005.
• FAD Award 07, Ephemeral Interventions, First Prize, M.C. Escher Exhibition, Arquin-FAD, Barcelona, 2007.
• World Architecture Festival, Center for Research and Interpretation of the Rivers, Tera, Esla, and Órbigo, Finalist, Barcelona, 2008.
• Gran Vía Posible, First Prize, Delirious Gran Vía, Madrid, 2010.
• Reform of the Río Segura Surroundings, Award, Murcia, 2010.

Published on: November 3, 2024

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metalocus, JOSÉ JUAN BARBA

"Alphabet soup and inaction in the face of climate change" METALOCUS. Accessed

<https://www.metalocus.es/en/news/alphabet-soup-and-inaction-face-climate-change> ISSN 1139-6415