Dr. Lluis Frago Clols is an associate professor at the University of Barcelona, working in the field of urban geography. His research focuses on retail restructuring, urban vacancy, and broader processes linked to planetary urbanization, analysing how global dynamics reshape local urban systems. Within CHARM‑EU, he is actively involved in the CHARM‑ED initiative, contributing to collaborative teaching and research activities that connect different institutions and perspectives.
Dr. Lluis Frago Clols – University of Barcelona
Role: Associate professor at the University of Barcelona, working in the field of urban geography.
Connection to CHARM‑EU: involved in the CHARM‑ED project “Inter-Institutional Guest Lecture and Research Integration on Retail Restructuring, Vacancy and Sustainable Urban Futures”; teacher on the Energy and Sustainable Cities track of the Master in Global Challenges for Sustainability.
How did you first get involved with CHARM‑EU?
I first became involved with CHARM‑EU through academic networks focused on international collaboration and innovation in higher education. I was particularly attracted by its interdisciplinary approach and its potential to address complex urban questions, including the contradictions and paradoxes of sustainable development in contemporary cities.
Your CHARM‑ED Project
What are you developing?
Our CHARM‑ED project, “Inter-Institutional Guest Lecture and Research Integration on Retail Restructuring, Vacancy and Sustainable Urban Futures”, aims to bring together students and academics from different universities to explore current transformations in cities from an urban geography perspective. The project addresses how retail change and vacancy are embedded in processes of planetary urbanization, and encourages students to critically analyse the contradictions of sustainable development.
Interdisciplinarity, challenge-based learning, and inclusiveness are key principles shaping our project. These allow us to better understand complex urban processes while engaging students with real-world tensions and paradoxes inherent to sustainable development agendas.
The inter-institutional and cross-disciplinary collaboration brings together diverse academic cultures and urban contexts, helping us better analyse urban geography phenomena such as retail decline and uneven development across Europe.
Vision & Future
In the short term, the project enhances students’ learning by exposing them to international perspectives within urban geography. In the longer term, it can contribute to a better understanding of how planetary urbanization and sustainability transitions are intertwined, often in contradictory ways. The model could be scaled and replicated in other thematic areas.
CHARM‑EU plays a key role in supporting educational innovation by fostering collaboration across disciplines and institutions. It provides a platform to critically reflect on major global challenges, including the paradoxes of sustainable development and the implications of planetary urbanization.