130 - MetroPoLis - Lisbon and Porto shared metropolis

This brief note reports to the 4th edition of this meeting, which took place on October 25th, in the Portucalense University (UPT). This year, it was dedicated to the theme of the embryo research project “MetroPoLis. Lisbon and Porto shared metropolis. Sustainable tourism beyond city centre” supported by CIAUD-UPT.

The main speaker was the Councilor for Urbanism, Public Space and Housing of the Porto City Council, Arch. Pedro Baganha, who presented the city’s recent development and its current challenges to the UPT students of the Integrated Master in Architecture and Urbanism and the degree in Tourism. The morning session also included the participation of Prof. Helena Albuquerque, from the Department of Tourism, Culture and Heritage, and Prof. Rui Florentino, Principal Research of the project.

In the afternoon, the meeting took place among the students of the Executive Program in Sustainable Urban Mobility, with interventions by Mónica Alcindor and Telma Ribeiro, also professors of the Architecture and Multimedia Department and researchers of the project, and the international approach of Arch. Paulo Silvestre, specialist in urbanism, planning and mobility management. The event concluded in workshop mode, with the presentation of the ongoing projects by this course students.

Previously, on may 17th, the first meeting served to publicly present the research project, in a cycle of conferences developed by Portucalense University (UPT), within the scope of the “More than Houses” pedagogical program. We had excellent participations: Dr. Carlos Brazão, from the consortium for one of the new Lisbon international airport possible locations, Dr. Catarina Santos Cunha, Councilor for Tourism in the Porto City Council (CMP), and Architect Sergio Portela, which addressed the proposed theme, from the variety of scales and points of view.

After the interesting presentations by the speakers, and the introduction to the research topic, there was a debate concerning the tourism in the city of Porto and its implications for housing, as well as urban and metropolitan mobility. It was considered relevant to develop a territorial strategy focusing on the decentralization of flows, aligned with the concept of a “shared city”, between residents, tourists and services, aiming to ensure the quality and sustainability of the different centralities, enhanced by local and regional heritage.