Student Profile

The objective of my research is to study the alternative practices and interpretations of public space in Barcelona, Spain. It attempts to understand how different uses and users that are often considered anomalies of the spatial order contribute to the social, cultural and political construction of public space. This incorporates everyday activities such as graffiti, skateboarding, informal street vending, or park-sleeping to more spontaneous and episodic ones like protests, marches, civic demonstrations, and street festivities (when they are considered anomalies). I seek to understand the potential dimension that lies in the dynamics of space-production vis-à-vis space (re)appropriation, when mediated by alternative interpretations and practices.
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Ph.D. Candidate

Born in Tampico, Mexico, Silvano De la Llata is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of City and Regional Planning, focusing on the theory and practice of planning for public spaces. He is particularly interested in the study of alternative forms and use of public space, and how the planning of such spaces affects everyday life. The objective of his research is to understand how the relationships between the built public environment and society are mediated by interpretation and everyday experience.

Silvano holds a bachelor’s degree in architecture from the University of Tamaulipas, Mexico, and a master’s degree in urban studies from Iberoamerican University, Mexico. He has taught and researched urban design, the history of urbanism, and urban sociology at the University of Tamaulipas and Anahuac University in Mexico. He has also researched public spaces, community development, and social movements in barrios in Spain and Mexico.