Research Tracks in Urbanism: Dynamics, Planning and Design in Contemporary Urban Territories

Maybe the Global Village metaphor has never been more accurate than it is today, where societies join forces in the fight against the COVID 19 pandemic, in a global coordinated effort, possibly never tested before in the known history of Humankind. Although we are sure that in the past some other shared demands have united the different peoples of the world, this has never been so strongly necessary, mainly in what the global scientific community is concerned. This is a fight for the survival of a society. However, we should not lose sight of what we are fighting for. We fight together for people. Not just for the abstract value of Human life, but for life in society as a whole, including its moral and ethical aspects. The topics of this book are based on this claim, on what makes it possible. We do not build our lives in a vacuum, or in distant Invisible Cities, but through a higher value, which represents physical life in society: the City, built by the discipline of Urbanism.

This book is a spin-off of the International Research Seminar on Urbanism_SIIU2020. Inspired by the contents of twelve research seminars, a group of researchers from the universities of Barcelona, Lisbon and São Paulo discuss the contemporary agenda of research in Urbanism. Following the conference, a selection of 35 original double-blind peer-reviewed research papers were brought together with different perspectives about such an agenda.

Eunice Helena S. Abascal is an Architect and Urbanist (Presbyterian Mackenzie University, São Paulo, 1982), Master on Communication and Liberal Arts, (Presbyterian Mackenzie University, São Paulo, 1994) and PhD on Architecture and Urbanism (Sao Paulo University, 2004). She got a post-doctorate at ETSAB, Escuela Tecnica Superior, Barcelona, Spain (2018). She is a full professor in Architecture and Urbanism at Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism on Presbyterian Mackenzie University, since 2020. She acts as a researcher at the Post-Graduate Program in Architecture and Urbanism, Presbyterian Mackenzie University, and she was the Coordinator of the Master and PhD Program (2013-2018/1). He develops the research activity in the areas of urban and spatial planning policies, urban design and urban projects, with a historical focus. Research Productivity Fellowship grantee from CNPq (Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development) Level 2. Ad hoc consultant of FAPESP, CAPES (Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel) and of CNPq. Alessia Allegri is an architect from the School of Architecture of Polytechnic of Milan (1998). Was awarded a PhD in Urbanism in the School of Architecture of Barcelona (2012 with a grant from the Science and Technology Foundation, Portugal. In 2015, she was FCT Postdoctoral Fellow at the Lisbon School of Architecture, University of Lisbon (FA/ULisboa). Currently, she is Integrated Researcher at the Research Centre for Architecture, Urbanism and Design (CIAUD) at the FA/ULisboa. Alessia is also Assistant Professor in the FA/ULisboa, where she teaches Architectural Design and Urban Planning in the integrated Master’s in Architecture. She was guest lecturer in post-graduate studies in Italy, Brazil and Chile. She is the author of several national and international conference presentations and publications. Co-founder of the research group URBinLAB - Urbanism & Territorial Dynamics. Her research focuses on the morphological and functional relationship between public spaces and their uses and the reading and interpretation of urban experience in the physical, symbolic and functional construction of the city. More recently, her main focus is on temporary and sharing uses in the contemporary city addressing their impact on society and revealing how architecture or spatial practice can extend beyond the normal scope of operation. Angélica Benatti Alvim is an Architect and Urbanist (School of Belas Artes, 1986), Master and PhD on Architecture and Urbanism (Sao Paulo University, 1996; 2003). She is a full Professor at Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism on Presbyterian Mackenzie University (PMU), where she has been working as a Director since 2016. She also acts as a researcher at the Post-Graduate Program in Architecture and Urbanism, where she was the Coordinator (2010-2013/1); she was General Coordinator of Post-Graduate Programs (2013-2016) at PMU. She was President of Asssociation National of Research and Post-Graduate in Archteture and Urbanism (2015-2016). Since 2013 she is a Research Productivity Fellowship grantee from CNPq (Brazilian National Council for Scientifical and Technological Development) Level 2. Ad hoc consultant of FAPESP, CAPES (Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel), CNPq and CIAUD/UL (Research Center on Architecture, Urbanism and Design of University of Lisbon). She develops the research activity in the areas of urban and spatial planning policies, urban projects, precarious settlements, environmental and urban mobility. João Pedro T. A. Costa is an Architect (TU Lisbon, 1993), Master on Contemporary Architectonic Culture (TU Lisbon, 1998) and PhD on Urbanism (TU Catalonia, Barcelona, 2007). He has the habilitation to full professor in Urbanism (ULisboa, 2012). He is Associate Professor of Urbanism at the Faculty of Architecture, University of Lisbon, where he is the President of the CIAUD – Research Center on Architecture, Urbanism and Design; and the Coordinator of the PhD Program in Urbanism. He develops the research activity in the areas of adaptation to climate change, waterfront rehabilitation, urban and spatial planning policies and urban morphology. He is the guest editor of the special issue "City and Port: Waterfront Integration for Sustainability", in the journal Sustainability. In the 2017 municipal elections in Portugal, he was candidate to Vice-President of the City of Lisbon, by the Social Democrat Party, being today a Councilman in the opposition at the City Council (without executive functions). Sabaté, Joaquin is Chair of Town Planning at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, vice-dean and coordinator of Postgraduate courses at ETSAB (UPC). He has been coordinator of the PhD, Research Master in Urbanism and of the European Master of Urbanism. Honoris Causa Doctorate of the National University of Córdoba (Argentina). He is founder of the International Laboratory of Cultural Landscapes (MIT-UPC) and director of the journal Identities: Territory, Culture, and Heritage. He has developed lectures, Master and PhD courses in over 80 different European, Asian, North- and South American Universities. His research activities are focused on the study of theories, methods and tools of urban and regional design, and on the relation between heritage resources and local development. He is author of more than two hundred books and book chapters, over hundred fifty articles in specialised journals and promoter of fifty PhD thesis. He is responsible for urban and regional plans in different European and South American countries. Three times awarded at the Spanish National Prize of Urbanism, and also with the Catalonian Prize of Urbanism and the Special Prize for Heritage Projects. He is advisor of the Research and Technology Commission of the Catalan Government, of the Spanish University Agency and also of research councils in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Holland, Italy, Peru, Portugal, United States and Uruguay. Schicchi, Maria Cristina is Full Professor and Researcher of the Post-Graduate Program in Architecture and Urbanism and of the College of Architecture and Urbanism of the Pontifical Catholic University of Campinas. Architect and urban planner, with PhD Degree from University of São Paulo (2002). Postdoctoral degree from Official Post-Graduate Program of the University of Seville. Principal researcher at FAPESP (São Paulo Research Foundation) from 2008 to 2020. Coordinator of the International Cooperation Project with Universidad de Oriente (Cuba) (2014-2018). Research Productivity Fellowship grantee from CNPq (Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development) Level 2. Former visiting co-advisor and coordinator of students enrolled in Mestrado Integrado em Arquitectura da Universidade do Porto (2010-11) and of Máster en Arquitectura Avanzada, Paisaje, Urbanismo y Diseño da Universid Politécnica de Valencia (2011-12). Visiting Researcher at Master’s Program in Architecture and Historical Heritage of the University of Seville) 2012 and 2013, with grant from Fundación Carolina (Spain). Member of Laboratorio Americano de los Paisajes Históricos de la Producción. RED APPLab network, linked to the University of Seville. Ad hoc consultant of FAPESP, CAPES (Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel) and of CNPq. Editor-in-chief of Revista OCULUM ENSAIOS Journal-PUC-Campinas (from 2014 to 2019).