Gaudí in Shaping Contemporary Urban Landscape Identity

Performativity of Form, Urban Performativity and Heritage-Making in Architecture, Street and Digital Media

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.62161/sauc.v12.6131

Keywords:

Antoni Gaudí, Architectural heritage, Urban identity, Urban creativity, Street art, Visual culture

Abstract

The study analyses how Antoni Gaudí’s legacy is reinterpreted in contemporary architecture, urban art and digital mediations. Combining a morphological and performative approach focused on motifs such as trencadís, organic geometries and growth simulations with an urban and cultural approach, Gaudí is studied as an urban attractor and an identity resource. In turn, artistic work linked to his buildings is subjected to tensions between heritage preservation, touristification and artistic experimentation. Methodologically, a documentary review and analysis are carried out of architectural referents, Hundertwasser, Bofill and Calatrava; urban artists who employ mosaics and ceramics, Invader, Ememem; and recent cases such as videomapping of Casa Batlló, digital projections on the Sagrada Família and murals with Gaudian iconography in Barcelona and Milan. The results reveal the existence of a “living Gaudí” that, between critique and spectacle, through culture contributes to the construction of an urban identity.

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Published

2026-04-24

How to Cite

De Souza Sánchez, P. M., & Naranjo Henríquez, H. I. (2026). Gaudí in Shaping Contemporary Urban Landscape Identity: Performativity of Form, Urban Performativity and Heritage-Making in Architecture, Street and Digital Media. Street Art & Urban Creativity, 12(2), 33–55. https://doi.org/10.62161/sauc.v12.6131