Tenth International Conference on The Constructed Environment

Abstract

The paper discusses the contribution of ecologically relevant spaces in Lisbon Metropolitan Area (LMA) to the development, coherence and consistency of a metropolitan system of public space. It unfolds in three parts: 1) the conceptualization of a metropolitan system of public space as a potential spatial and territorial design framework to structure and qualify contemporary urbanized landscapes, defining such system’s components and attributes, 2) the identification of specific forms of entanglement between natural and infrastructural fields in the framing of the metropolitan system of public space, and 3) the mapping and brief characterization of recently implemented projects in LMA, where ecosystemic issues are combined with public space upgrade and network development. LMA is a particularly rich territory to explore natural and human interplay in territorial design, being shaped by large bodies of water and complex geological features. Since 1998, LMA underwent significant transition in its infrastructural and public space networks. In a context of population stabilization, and with most of its basic infrastructure (motorway and railway) implemented, a new generation of urban projects prioritised public space upgrade and green infrastructure. These projects have been developed in highly diverse areas across the region, in central districts, peripheral areas, prominent landscape areas or post-industrial sites. These projects are increasingly seen as more efficient in shaping and activating a metropolitan ecological network when compared to statutory spatial planning tools. Incremental, multi-level and trans-scalar dimensions of their implementation are highlighted, in order to assess their impact on a combined natural-infrastructural public space system.