A question I asked myself repeatedly when I was in Portugal.
The short answer: I am in Portugal to study people’s perception of riverfronts in urban areas.
Through UC Berkeley’s Institute of European Studies/Portuguese Studies Program, I had the wonderful opportunity to go to Portugal to evaluate a waterfront recently rehabilitated by the Portugal-wide urban redevelopment program, called the POLIS program.
Since then, there have been European as well as national efforts to develop indicators to evaluate these river rehabilitation projects. Colleagues of my professor Matt Kondolf, at Instituco Superior Tecnico (IST) in Lisbon, have been involved in these evaluation efforts, focusing on the Polis intervention in three cities: Leiria, Coimbra, and Bragança.
My research focuses on the perception of local stakeholders on the Polis intervention in the City of Coimbra (website). To give myself a broader perspective, I visited Lisbon and Porto, the riverfronts of which are renowned, successful public spaces. The latter are also historic riverfront areas, and I wanted to see a modern/recent riverfront area in light of an older, more established public space.
Friday, October 03, 2008
Monday, September 22, 2008
Parque Verde do Rio Mondego - First Impressions
Coimbra, 29 August 2008
My first interviewee met me at the Coimbra train station, and we headed to Parque Verde, the river park developed by the Polis program. When we arrived it was mid-afternoon, and the park was beginning to teem. We settled down in an Irish bar on the right (north) bank. Over the next few blogs, I will cover themes that come up through my interviews. Here's a brief overview to get you started.
What impressed me most about Parque Verde was the variety of activities and settings one can possibly part-take in. The Irish bar was one of 4 food and beverage establishments that form the core of activities. Umbrellas decked over bright yellow tables and chairs on the boardwalk, right up against the river.
It was a family-friendly atmosphere. A boy with his parents leaned over a viewing area, watching a family of ducks. The playground was already packed; a giant green bear watched over the happy children. The informally extended into a soccer field and a wide decomposed-granite alley where older kids pedalled on rented 4-wheelers.
The park also provided spaces for other uses. Further down in the orange groves area lay nested little glass cubes serving as exhibition space. At the far end of the park is an event space, Pavilhão de Portugal, designed by Siza, a renowned Portuguese architect.
Along the water are 7 jetties, where couples dangled their feet in the water. In the water were some canoeists, water bicycles (more pedaling), and a barca serrana (mountain barge) on exhibit. A pedestrian and bicycle bridge, Ponte Pedonal Pedro e Ines, arched gracefully to the other side, set elegantly against the high-mast vehicular bridge behind it.
As I was leaving I noticed a beautiful water feature separating the park and the car park. The rock reinforcement hinted the expanse of flooding possible.
My first interviewee met me at the Coimbra train station, and we headed to Parque Verde, the river park developed by the Polis program. When we arrived it was mid-afternoon, and the park was beginning to teem. We settled down in an Irish bar on the right (north) bank. Over the next few blogs, I will cover themes that come up through my interviews. Here's a brief overview to get you started.
What impressed me most about Parque Verde was the variety of activities and settings one can possibly part-take in. The Irish bar was one of 4 food and beverage establishments that form the core of activities. Umbrellas decked over bright yellow tables and chairs on the boardwalk, right up against the river.
It was a family-friendly atmosphere. A boy with his parents leaned over a viewing area, watching a family of ducks. The playground was already packed; a giant green bear watched over the happy children. The informally extended into a soccer field and a wide decomposed-granite alley where older kids pedalled on rented 4-wheelers.
The park also provided spaces for other uses. Further down in the orange groves area lay nested little glass cubes serving as exhibition space. At the far end of the park is an event space, Pavilhão de Portugal, designed by Siza, a renowned Portuguese architect.
Along the water are 7 jetties, where couples dangled their feet in the water. In the water were some canoeists, water bicycles (more pedaling), and a barca serrana (mountain barge) on exhibit. A pedestrian and bicycle bridge, Ponte Pedonal Pedro e Ines, arched gracefully to the other side, set elegantly against the high-mast vehicular bridge behind it.
As I was leaving I noticed a beautiful water feature separating the park and the car park. The rock reinforcement hinted the expanse of flooding possible.
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