A student led initiative at the School of Architecture at the Polytechnic University of Madrid, the group came together in 2002 to address a lack in their formal education. They critiqued official urban planning and its education for not addressing issues around participation and were motivated by their desire to work closely with neighbourhood associations and community groups. The various members of Laboratorio Urbano operate in their own neighbourhoods and come together to share experiences and develop methods of working. They organise different activities, including debates, competitions, forums and workshops, in order to reflect on the city in which they live.

'Laboratorio Urbano', in AAA and PEPRAV (eds), UrbanACT (Paris: AAA/Peprav, 2007), pp. 174-185.

"We identified the gaps in our architectural education especially with regard to urbanism and we decided to question the way we were taught: which realities were excluded from our official learning and what decision making mechanism were used."
- Laboratorio Urbano in, AAA and PEPRAV (eds), UrbanACT (Paris: AAA/Peprav, 2007), p. 176.

• Santiago Cirugeda
• Atelier d'architecture autogérée