Peio Royo Zabala (Bilbao, 1994) is an architect and researcher based in Barcelona. He completed his architectural studies at the Escola Tècnica Superior d’Arquitectura de Barcelona in 2019 with the design “Placificació. Transformation of a road infrastructure into a metropolitan equipment”. He further joined the MBArch Master’s programme in Urbanism at the ETSAB, completed in 2021, with the Thesis “Pedalling metropolis. Study and prospective of the cyclable infrastructure in the cities of Barcelona, Paris and Amsterdam”. In addition, he was awarded with an INIREC UPC grant for researching on the urban environments around the Vall Baixa railway stations in metropolitan area of Barcelona. Along this researching process, he has strengthened his interest on the interaction between public space and sustainable mobility.
His PhD research, in progress since 2023, is entitled “Véloterritories. Shaping European cycling landscape”. The investigation looks at unveiling the logics behind vélomobility concept in urban studies. In order to achieve this objective, a comprehensive methodology that deepens into the implementation of cycling infrastructure along multiple European contexts is developed. This approach enhances the identification of pivotal factors associated with urban design and territorial planning, which are instrumental in boosting cycling mobility at multiple scales.
The research, developed on a joint supervision scheme between the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya and the KU Leuven, is co-supervised by dr. Eulàlia Gómez Escoda (Research Group ‘Laboratori d’Urbanisme de Barcelona’) and dr. Maarten Gheysen (Research Group ‘Urban Projects, Collective Spaces and Local Identities), is funded by an AGAUR FI (grant to hire research staff in training) scholarship by the regional government of Catalonia.