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).

Qualidade de vida promotora de psycap?: Estudo acerca da percepção da qualidade de vida dos indivíduos como promotora de psycap

Os conceitos de Qualidade de Vida e Psycap tem vindo a ganhar popularidade nas últimas décadas. Vários têm sido os fatores que têm contribuído para este crescente interesse nas questões que envolvem estes dois conceitos. Por um lado, temos a qualidade de vida e a sua importância para o desenvolvimento da sociedade e por outro, o psycap e todas as vantagens que traz o seu desenvolvimento nos indivíduos. Partindo da importância que a qualidade de vida tem para o individuo pretendeu-se com este trabalho compreender de que forma esta poderá fomentar o desenvolvimento de psycap nos indivíduos. Utilizando a amostra do estudo "Os Melhores Municípios para Viver", estudou-se de que forma as perceções de qualidade de vida dos indivíduos fomentam o surgimento de psycap. A análise dos resultados revelou que o psycap dos indivíduos é explicado, ainda que de uma forma moderada, pelos indicadores da qualidade de vida urbana. /ABSTRACT: The concepts of Quality of Life and PsyCap has gained popularity in the recent decades. There have been several factors that have contributed to this growing interest in issues surrounding these two concepts. On one hand, we have quality of life and its importance to the development of society and secondly, PsyCap and all the benefits it brings to their development on individuals. Starting from the importance that quality of life has for the individual, the goal of this research was to understand how quality of life can encourage the development of PsyCap individuals. Using the sample of the study "Os Melhores Municípios para Viver", we studied how the perceptions of quality of life of individuals foster the emergence of PsyCap on them. The results showed that the PsyCap of individuals is explained, although in a moderate way by the indicators of quality of urban life.

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.

Urban-rural connections and development perspectives in Portugal

Portugal is characterized by a significant asymmetry in the population distribution/density and economic activity as well as in social and cultural dynamics. This means very diverse landscapes, differences in regional development, sustainability and quality of life, mainly between urban and rural areas. A consequence coherent with the contemporary dynamics: urbanization of many rural areas that loose their productive-agricultural identity and, simultaneously, the reintegration in urban areas of spaces and activities with more rural characteristics. In this process of increasing complexity of organization of the landscape is essential to restore the continuum naturale (between urban and rural areas) allowing closer links to both ways of life. A strategy supported in the landscape, which plays important functions for public interest, in the cultural, social, ecological and environmental fields. At the same time, constitutes an important resource for economic activity, as underlined in the European Landscape Convention. Based on this assumption, and using a multi-method approach, the study aims to analyse a) the links between urban and rural areas in Portugal and b) the reasons why these territories are chosen by individuals as places of work and mobility, residence or evasion, culture and leisure, tranquillity or excitement – meaning overall well-being. Primary information was obtained by a questionnaire survey applied to a convenience sample of the Portuguese population. Secondary data and information will be collected on the official Portuguese Statistics (INE and PORDATA). Understanding the urban-rural links is essential to support policy measures, take advantage from the global changes and challenge many of the existing myths.