Marta Serra is a Ph.D. Architect, professor and researcher in the Department of Theory and History of Architecture at the Vallès School of Architecture, Polytechnic University of Catalonia – Barcelona Tech. She’s Serra Húnter Fellow and has been teaching since 2009. She belongs to the research group Architecture, City, and Culture.
Her field of study is based on theory, history and practice of participatory design, the community dimension of architecture and urbanism. She explores power relations and the social responsibility of the architect within the design process and the autonomy of the user. Her dissertation was awarded cum laude 2014 with European Mention and it includes public space politics, creative spatial practices and critical historiography on contemporary urban studies. In education, she works through Participatory Action Research and Service-Learning. She teaches at the Masters in Architecture since 2015 and coordinates the theoretical subject in history Architecture and City for second-year BA students.
She publishes in national and international journals and has lectured at the Illinois Architecture Study Abroad Program among others. She has been the co-founder of the co-op Cíclica [space, community, ecology], where she has run community-based projects awarded by Bauwelt, Zumtobel and European Prize for Urban Public Space.