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Francesc Baró

  • category
    professor
  • research groups
    Cosmopolis Centre for Urban Research
    Brussels Institute for Social and Population Studies
  • keywords
    children & youth
    ecology & environment
    planning & development
    sustainability & nature-based solutions
    spatial studies & geographic information systems

Francesc Baró is a Research Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and at the University Research Institute for Sustainability Science and Technology at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya – BarcelonaTech (UPC). He is also Guest Professor at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and a member of the Cosmopolis and BRISPO research groups.

Francesc holds a PhD in Environmental Science and Technology from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB). His research examines how urban climate infrastructure, including nature-based solutions, can contribute to more just, climate-resilient, healthy and sustainable cities. Combining advanced geospatial analysis with quantitative and qualitative methods and participatory approaches, his interdisciplinary work analyzes urban systems through social-ecological-technological and justice lenses. He has participated in several major EU-funded research projects, including URBES, OpenNESS, NATURVATION, GREENLULUS, CLEARING HOUSE and GreeNexUS. From 2022 to 2025, he co-coordinated COOLSCHOOLS, a European consortium exploring the potential of nature-based climate shelters in school environments.