Urban Planning Revolution for Increasing Pedestrian Mobility in Lisbon, Portugal

Abstract

This paper focuses on the change in terms of spatial structure of the old cities with the urban renewal. The connection of places in the city through architecture and urbanism, encouraging walkability, will strengthen intergenerational and social interactions, will also reinforce cultural expressions, and provide social cohesion and security of the societies, as quoted in Habitat III -for better urban future. The permeability and connection between the different parts of the block, the street and the buildings will create links between space, shape and use will offer its users an increase in the quality of life, minimizing the use of motorized vehicles. The idea is to implement urban solutions that guarantee greater walkability by simulating an increase of passages in a neighborhood of Lisbon, Portugal. To test the feasibility of this idea, graph theory, space syntax, and data analysis methods and techniques were used to create several scenarios for increasing the pedestrian mobility in Lisbon. As results in all the three hypothetical scenarios created -increasing in number of passages and alternatives in a shortterm (Simulation 1), medium-term (Simulation 2) and long-term (Simulation 3) intervention logicthere were somehow improvements in terms of walkability and accessibility. As the passages through the interior of the blocks increase, the network is also more easily accessible. The proposed research confirms that urban passages (e.g., the pasáž in Prague) are essential for changing the walkability paradigm in old cities rehabilitation planning.

Innovative Approach to Promoting Walkability in Lisbon

“…Following the research carried out in [20] and the promising results that were obtained, the hypothesis of the urban fabric having an influence on walkability when passages are introduced in neighborhoods was tested. The results clearly show that the opening of passages in orthogonal neighborhoods contributes more to increasing walkability than in non-orthogonal neighborhoods.…”

“…This strategy includes increasing mobility [26] and connectivity [27,28] in consolidated cities. Choay [29] criticizes urban design based only on rationalist models imported from the modern period, arguing that cities should be more humanistic and less It is also intended to expand the study to other neighborhoods of Lisbon (the old city) with diversified urban fabrics, following the research work carried out in [20].…”

“…Combining movement, land use, and behavior factors, the space syntax method relates each space to all others, in terms of changes in direction and angular deviation The revitalization of empty and/or abandoned spaces is at the core of this proposal, which is where the passages would be opened. During a building's rehabilitation or its replacement with a new one, it is essential to consider these solutions, which include buildings that contribute to facilitating walkability or at least that do not reduce it [20].…”

“…This map is submitted to the calculation software, and the obtained results are analyzed and discussed. It is also intended to expand the study to other neighborhoods of Lisbon (the old city) with diversified urban fabrics, following the research work carried out in [20].…”