Agora, the Pompeu 'do tank' that will be inspired by Barcelona to solve social problems

BarcelonaThe third building on the grounds of the old Fish Market will be dedicated to research to diagnose and, above all, find solutions to society's challenges. ThThe rector of Pompeu has insisted that the new project is presented as a do tank

and not as a think tank because the ultimate goal of the research will be to end up applying concrete actions and, in some cases, go further by measuring the impact of the proposed solutions to see if they have worked. In this way, the Àgora will complete the scientific complex of the Fish Market along with the future Barcelona Ciutadella Biomedical Research Park (PRBB Ciutadella) and the headquarters of the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (IBE: CSIC-UPF).

Youth as the main axis

As Nadal explained, the researchers of this new do tank will take the city of Barcelona as a model for transformation in order to generate "collective responses and build shared futures". It is foreseen that they will do so in aspects, above all, related to youth –they want to identify emerging problems and needs of young people between twenty and forty years old in areas such as housing, work, hope for the future– and they also aim to "reimagine" the system of rights and duties to reduce inequalities.

In this sense, the rector of the UPF has been clear: "The researchers will not come to do their challenge or their article, the challenges will be defined with public administrations and then the rest will follow". Now, from Pompeu, the tender for the Àgora Barcelona for the Well-being of Society is being finalized and it is foreseen that the building will begin to be constructed from the next months of June and July.