Rethinking Le Corbusier: Urban Design and History

It is generally assumed that Le Corbusier’s urban planning made a break with the past, and that the public spaces designed by him had nothing to do with anything that existed before – a conviction fostered by both the innovative character of his proposals and by the proliferation in his manifestos of watchwords that mask any evocation of the past – words like civilisation machiniste, l’esprit nouveau, l’architecture de demain. However, in his writings, Le Corbusier often mentioned the powerful analogy that exists between the architecture of other times and the logic of modern production. Vers une architecture, for example, contains a mixture of photographs showing silos, cars, aeroplanes, ships (i.e. the fruits of 19th and 20th century civil architecture and mechanical engineering) alongside photographs of Greek and Roman buildings. While Le Corbusier, at the end of the 1920s, claimed “I have only one teacher: the past; only one education: the study of the past”, a series of sketches in the first volume of the Œuvre complète, done during his youth at the archaeological sites visited during his Grand Tour, shows that his interest in the past went far beyond a simple reference.

Urban public policies: towards the improvement of landscape ecological system. The case-study of the city of Évora, Portugal.

The Charter of European Planning 2013 presents a Vision for the future of European cities and regions, highlighting the sustainability of cities and the preservation of urban ecosystems, integrating the man-made environment with the natural ecosystems and contribute to the well-being and quality of life of their inhabitants and other stakeholders. Thus, urban public policies are crucial to the improvement of the landscape ecological system, achievable by city planning and design. The paper aims to analyse if public urban policies in Portugal have been integrating strategies and/or guidelines to enhance the ecological system of the landscape. Then, which new perspectives are possible, framed by the recently approved law Bases of Public Policy of Soils, Land Management and Urban Planning (2014). This new law, in contrast with the previous ones, don’t allow reserving land to urbanize, in municipal master plans. Moreover, it is possible to revert land classified for urban purposes in those plans into rustic soils (when it is not yet infra-structured or built). It allows creating new planning and design dynamics, convert several areas and including them in the urban ecological structure, essential to the enhancement of landscape ecological system. This is a filed of work where landscape architecture has huge responsibilities, by associating and harmonize man-made environment with natural systems, enlightening sustainability consistent with conservation and improvement of Nature while contributing to the well-being and quality of life of Man. A sustainability that is ethical, aesthetic, ecological and cultural. The study is supported by a case study – the city of Évora. The ultimate goal is to propose measures to promote larger and better integration of ecological component in urban public policies, framed by the new territorial management law, taking into account and highlighting the specificities of the landscape system – Man and Nature – at the local level.

Contributos para o planeamento da rede de espaços verdes públicos, de recreio infantil e recreio sénior, para a cidade de Coimbra

Os espaços verdes públicos de recreio infantil e sénior são indispensáveis para a qualidade do ambiente e da vida urbana, pela sua importância e pelos múltiplos benefícios que lhe estão associados. A criação deste tipo de espaços deve ocorrer de modo concertado com o crescimento das cidades. Neste sentido, as politicas de planeamento urbano devem dar resposta a uma rede coesa deste tipo de espaços na cidade concebendo-os de modo a que sejam acessíveis a toda a população. O presente trabalho apresenta uma metodologia de planeamento de uma rede de espaços verdes públicos de recreio infantil e recreio sénior para a cidade de Coimbra. A metodologia é apoiada numa primeira fase em fichas de levantamento e numa segunda fase recorre-se à aplicação dos Sistemas de Informação Geográfica (SIG); ABSTRACT: Public green spaces for the recreation of children and senior are essential for the quality of the environment and urban life, given their importance and the multiple benefits associated with them. The creation of such spaces must occur in parallel with the growth of the cities. Therefore, urban planning policies must meet a cohesive network of this type of spaces in the city, designing them to be accessible to the entire population. This work presents a methodology for the planning of a network of public green spaces for the recreation of children and seniors for the city of Coimbra. The methodology is supported initially in survey forms and a second phase refers to the application of Geographic information Systems (GIS).

Efectividade do programa de planeamento urbano saudável da cidade de Viana do Castelo

Esta dissertação debruça-se sobre a perspectiva Epidemiológica da Efectividade aplicada ao Programa de Planeamento Urbano Saudável (PPUS) - um programa interdisciplinar e transectorial dado os vários campos e matérias neste envolvido, concebido pelo município de Viana do Castelo e enquadrado no conceito de Cidade Saudável desenvolvido pela Organização Mundial de Saúde. O estudo centrou-se concretamente na acção do Plano Estratégico que previa a alteração do arruamento e circulação rodoviária no centro da cidade, com implicações ao nível do Plano Director Municipal (PDM), cujo objectivo era o de diminuir os níveis de Poluição Atmosférica através da aplicação do Projecto Ambiente Urbano, desenvolvido a partir do referido PPUS. O nosso objectivo foi o de identificar a Acessibilidade, Viabilidade e Conteúdo do Programa como valores inerentes à verificação da pertinência programática para alcançar a sua Efectividade. Para tal definimos a verificação de alguns aspectos estruturais programáticos, nomeadamente os objectivos, as metas, a génese, a acção e o conteúdo do PPUS. Isto tendo em consideração os seus antecedentes, apesar de os sabermos enquadrados em dimensões políticas diferentes, tanto ao nível internacional, como ao nacional e local. Como resultado, concluímos pela não pertinência deste Programa, não excluindo, no entanto, o facto de novos e mais profundos estudos poderem fornecer dados diferentes daqueles que aqui apresentamos. ABSTRACT: This master thesis deals with the Effectiveness of the Epidemiologist perspective applied to the Healthy Urban Planning Program (PPUS) - an interdisciplary and transectorial program involving several fields and subjects - conceived by the city of Viana do Castelo and framed into the concept of Healthy Cities developed by the WHO. The study was based on the action of the Strategic Plan that foresaw the alteration of the streets adjustment and cars circulation in the city centre, with implications on the Urban Environment Project, in order to reduce the atmospheric pollution levels. Our aim was to recognize the Program Accessibility, Viability and Contents as intrinsic values for the verification of its programmatic relevance in terms of effectiveness. ln order to achieve this, we defined the verification of some structural aspects of Program, such as the aims, the goals, the concepts and the contents. This having in mind the previous political dimensions either at international level as well as national and local. As final result, we concluded that the Viana do Castelo's Urban Planning Program was irrelevant. However, this doesn't exclude the possibility of further studies provide different elements from the ones we present here.