01_NEW CARTOGRAPHIES OF CONTEMPORARY CITIES
1-12 OCTOBER_PORTO
Taking as great objective and concept the regeneration of an urban area, situated in the frontier of Oporto down town and following the itinerary of an intervention and program that will endure three years long, including different actors and agents, we present a proposal for the realization of an European Exchange of young architects, urban planners, visual artists, sociologues and architecture students from five European countries: Portugal, France, Spain, Lithuania and Latvia.
“REGENLAB”, defined as an event connected with the city planning has like main objective working with architects and architecture students, stimulating the crossroad of public and the involvement of the population.
The IDEIAS EMERGENTES, as organizer, occupies since September 2006, a building in the intervention area of the exchange; as a space for dissemination, has sought to energize the surrounding area and proximity to the (s) community (s ) neighborhood. From the first moment that we realize it is a multicultural area where live and work different communities of Africans, Arabs, Turks, Chinese, Russians, Ukrainians, gipsies, among others, with mixed runs between day and night. Despite being a commercial artery, it reveals problems and malfunctions. After a first year of adaptation to this area of the city center, knowledge of their daily operations and movements changes associated with the local population, the working one or other foreign communities and the increase of vacant spaces, led us to aspire to counter this situation and implement our activities beyond the border of our building “door”. This will be a study case that will be presented during the workshop.
This exchange is thus intended to bring together young people from other European cities to work together, having a starting point Porto reality, as a reflection on their cities of origin, seeking a universal model of urban regeneration.
Each participant will prepare a “Home task”, depending on their area, in his hometown. The idea is for participants to collect representative documentation of their origin city, allowing, for example, the analysis of common problems to many cities. Also they will be invited to nominate the most representative places of the idea of creativity such as urban, nature, cultural heritage, multiculturalism, among others, and marking its paradoxes, different uses depending on the day time, or the city place. Each participant, according to their area, will prepare the task differently, creatively finding a way to present it. These materials will be the presentation of the city to the other participants and will generate common issues in the discussions and sharing of ideas.
The promotors will also ask the team leaders statistical documentation on their city of origin. We believe therefore that with this model, we will be encouraging interaction among participants in the various project activities, and also its effective influence and involvement in it.
We are facing a shift on the urban paradigm, according to an inseparable data: the cities and their centers are facing a crisis. Considering that the patrimony today goes beyond isolated building and comprises (CHOAY, 2000) the groups of buildings and urban net, blocks, neighborhoods, villages, towns and whole cities as enshrined in the heritage list by UNESCO –the city is a product of historical value. It is a pressing need to establish a systemic relationship between the various subject areas such as geography, sociology and architecture, with the socio-cultural, ecology and economics.
The study will be held i n the historical center of the city and in the surrounding area of ESAP.
The REGENLAB Project is a civic initiative that aims to equate the pre-existing city, working from the new approaches and “drifts” and seek in a creative and innovative way, new forms of engagement with the population, and in particular with young people and the community.
