City design: housing neighbourhood project methodologies

• Autor(a) principal: Virtudes, Ana L.
• Data de Publicação: 2019
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.6/9481
• topic: Cities design; Housing neighbourhoods; Project methodologies; Urban solutions

City design is a subject taught under the subject of Architecture. This paper aims to present the results of a neighbourhood housing project which was done as part of the Urban Planning discipline in the 4th year of a Master Degree in Architecture. This project was prepared using a methodological approach based on the analysis of urban morphological elements and the continuity requirements in between them. The case study area is a peripheral housing neighbourhood, where the majority of buildings are single houses. Among its most problematic aspects is the fact that this is a mono-functional zone, with no diversity of recreational activities, a shortage of green spaces, and lack of commercial places. The urban continuity in between this block and the city is weak based upon a car lane with no sidewalks for pedestrians nor cycling paths. The most favourable conditions are the low density of existing buildings, the topography being flat and the social cohesion of local inhabitants. The urban design solutions propose the end of the existent urban voids, the continuity of the urban fabric with the city centre, the creation of new functional buildings including shops, offices and public spaces for sport activities.