Commoning (in) the neighbourhood, righting the city

The advent of the urban commons as a response to the commodification of urban life (Foster & Iaione, 2016) and its excluding impact on the urban populations has consolidated a network of social actions, namely acts of commoning (Linebaugh, 2008) that produce and transform the city (Stavrides, 2015). While most of the commons-oriented initiatives largely depend upon horizontal relationships and values shared among active citizens, municipalities and public authorities also play a catalytic role in the level of citizen engagement with the commons through offering the appropriate institutional frameworks. One such instrument of public policy is the BIP/ZIP Program in Lisbon. Initiated in 2011 by the Department of Housing and Local Development of the Municipality of Lisbon, the program aims to promote quality of life and territorial cohesion in priority neighbourhoods by funding projects and interventions guided by partnerships among different stakeholders. Being the first participatory budget implemented at municipal level in a European capital (Falanga, 2019), BIP/ZIP has funded as of its 2021 edition 426 projects in 67 priority areas, addressing multiple urban issues and including diverse actors and activities. In the example of BIP/ZIP, the study seeks to unravel the network of institutionally supported commoning activities that are performed in the neighbourhood scale and can in extrapolation portray the Right-to-the-City in the urban scale. Towards this goal, the research initially conceives a framework to classify commoning practices based on their socio-spatial focus. The underlying themes that have emerged, organise commoning activities that 1. prioritise the most disadvantaged, 2. promote social development, 3. have a strong spatial character, 4. practice togetherness and solidarity, 5. enhance the value of the neighbourhood and 6. expand the boundaries. In parallel, the case study of BIP/ZIP is examined through the successful applications that correspond to the funded projects. These are seen as the dialogue between the grassroot commoning and institutional decision-making and hence define the negotiated Right-to-the-City in the local context. A data-driven approach is employed to firstly map the projects and compose an index that includes information on their attributes such as themes, objectives and activities and secondly organise them using qualitative coding (Saldana, 2021) into the six commoning categories. The produced taxonomy contributes to the conceptualisation of the BIP/ZIP projects as urban commons, identifying patterns and drawing meaningful conclusions on the definition of the Right-to-the-city for the city of Lisbon.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Pattern-driven design for small public spaces: An analysis of pattern books and toolboxes

Urban spatial patterns that can enhance the city's cultural, social, environmental, material and structural performance advance beyond the old notions of design patterns by incorporating the digital design. Pattern books such as Alexander A Pattern Language are revisited and toolboxes /toolkits are used in contemporary urban designs by laboratories and offices. The aim of this paper is to analyze the particularities and congruencies between some systems of patterns, pattern books, toolboxes and toolkits aimed at small public spaces, also considering the context of digital culture. The methodology proposed is the construction of a taxonomy that relates and classifies these selected patterns, by these following steps: a) selecting of patterns applicable to small public spaces; b) classification of patterns by "type" (location, behavior, processes and design components) and by "driven designs" approach (data-driven design, performance-driven design, and material- driven design); c) making and inserting in the taxonomy platform a table of elements and connections; d) filtering by classes for analysis. From the results obtained in the visualizations, it is possible to consider a larger volume of "location" type patterns and a smaller volume in "processes" indicating a field that can be developed.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

IDEAS: Interactive Database for Experimental Architecture and Spatial Practices

The interface of science and technology has become a fruitful transdisciplinary research field for spatial practices. To address this hybridization of space-related research, it is fundamental to ask what kind of practices are emerging within this context. To promote easy access and the dissemination of methodologies applied in innovative experimental spatial practices, the present study proposes the creation of a web-based Interactive Database for Experimental Architecture and Spatial Practices, IDEAS. Therefore, we will scope, observe, examine, and classify the digital cultural landscape in the 1960-2020 period. This paper describes the methodology applied to develop IDEAS.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Digitalization within the informal settlements. Participatory technologies in design for upgrading the informality in Maputo, Mozambique

Participatory Technologies in design offers an opportunity for architects to re-design cities and find new opportunities, in different scales, with their citizens, to create new economic, social, environmental values and provide better public realms and empowering the community by engaging them in participatory actions, aiming at the sustainability of urban public space and rapidly suppress its insufficiencies. Accordingly, the city and architecture of the future face the challenge of innovation in an evolution that involves society, economy, environment, etc. But what about the informal settlements which are dealing with socio-economic and environmental issues? These neighborhoods present the greatest challenges to human sustainable development and equity, safety, environmental quality, and resiliency central to the New Urban Agenda. As information and communication technology (ICT) becomes pervasive, the architect has to rethink the rules for communication between the citizen and physical urban space for adapting to the period in which we are living in. Over the last few decades, an increasingly collaborative work developed among spatial practitioners such as architects, urban planners, artists and, media designers; has produced a particular landscape of projects that engage information technology as a catalytic tool for interactions in the physical urban space. ICT, mobiles, applications, and digital technologies are tools to empower slum residents and their youth to have greater control over their lives. Communities and prosperity through access to information and knowledge are going to be more engaged and empowered. Basically, to develop a public realm or neighborhood or a barrio, the first tool is data. Architects and decision-makers will be the data users. Moreover, citizens will be the Data collectors and, in this system, they can get aware of individual impacts on themselves and the whole. Enabling communities to participate in settlement planning and upgrading including, the management of new infrastructure undoubtedly, requires action at the political level but, we cannot hesitate architect’s role to society aim to provide lasting solutions to specific needs and, the active participation of the community lends these additional values. In this context, the proposed paper will present an overview of the participatory digital technologies involved in civic engagement in informal cities in Africa. This analysis is essential to define the application of spatial acupunctures or plug-ins in the public realm and urban environment to upgrade the informality in Maputo, Mozambique.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Gamification in urban design for upgrading the informal settlements (open public space) in African neighborhoods

The city and architecture of today and the future will face and are facing the challenge of innovation. Simultaneously, Informal African neighborhoods; present challenges to human sustainable development and equity, safety, environmental quality, and resiliency issues. As ICT becomes pervasive, architects have to rethink rules for communication between the citizen and physical urban space. Accordingly, the digital participation integration in specific Serious Games can be a tool to empower slum residents and engage communities to participate in settlement upgrading design based on SDG 11. Thus, the proposed paper will present an overview of the participatory gamification technology involved in civic engagement in informal African neighborhoods that fosters engagement and democratization. The research reaches from Literature review on some Gaming tools and participatory process Articles. Moreover, to achieve the goals, a detailed study on; authors and the extensive research of HABITAT on informal settlements and the United Nations, qualitative data analysis methods to organize and interpret the collected research findings. This analysis showed that Gaming tools and Gamification as a methodology; helps to; empower any residents with different knowledge to participate in settlement upgrading design in specific Minecraft can foster engagement, make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable with communities of different ages and specifically women and children without any expertise and knowledge.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Formal city vs informal city: from the clandestine neighbourhoods to the concept of UAIG (urban areas of illegal genesis)

Over time, the definitions of formal and informal city have been changed or acquired different meanings in the various fields of human activity. Since the 1950s, the industrialisation and changes in rural practices caused an accelerating mass migration of people from rural areas to major cities, which gave rise to numerous informal settlements on the peripheries of the cities. A large rural migration flows to cities searching for better living conditions. The main goal of this paper is to present the transformations that have occurred in the territory, with a focus on the peripheries of the city of Lisbon with the constructions of clandestine neighbourhoods, demonstrating through a mapping, the evolution of these informal territories in the formal city, to assess how the UAIG (Urban Areas of Illegal Genesis) developed and influenced the transformations and visions of the formal city, and the relationship that people have with the place they inhabit.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Generative solutions: adaptation and flexibilization in housing as a qualified social response

Housing for all is back on the international agenda. The economic crisis forces researchers and architects to rethink the concept of living and adopt more flexible housing design strategies as an alternative to typologies that impose rules of coexistence and do not reflect the social dynamics of a community. The introduction of rules-based housing design strategies allows the implementation of more dynamic processes. This ongoing research is a reflection on the potential of digital tools to develop spatial and formal parameters based on analysis of flexible housing models. This paper presents the initial phase of the research.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Local partnerships and urban governance: The case of Lisbon

Collaborative forms of governance in urban regeneration are increasingly gaining ground in cities around the world, contributing to the active engagement of citizens in decision-making processes that affect their neighbourhoods and lives. In some cases, municipalities embrace local grassroot initiatives, as for example with the implementation of participatory budgets, enabling active citizens to creatively invent ways to regain and co-manage the urban commons. In a similar vision, the Department of Housing and Local Development of the Municipality of Lisbon launched in 2011 a participatory budget program, namely BIP/ZIP, to annually fund bottom-up initiatives led by local partnerships in priority neighbourhoods that enable responses to social and territorial emergencies. The aim of this research is to investigate the matrix of local partnerships that have been formulated throughout the eleven years of BIP/ZIP and understand their dynamic role in the transformation of the urban governance in the city of Lisbon.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

UAIG (Urban Areas of Illegal Genesis) - (re) living to (re) integrate

This ongoing research intends to develop a strategy for the (re) qualification of the public space in the UAIG (Urban Areas of Illegal Genesis), through the introduction of an intervention methodology – collaborative participatory processes. The strategies of intervention in the public space have launched new challenges to research in architecture. In a demanding society with strong participatory and collaborative citizenship, public space increasingly assumes an important role in urban practices. The lack of public space in areas of illegal genesis in Metropolitan Area of Lisbon (MLA), shaped the PhD research question: How public space make UAIG ́s (re) living to (re) integrate it in Lisbon Metropolitan Area dynamics? Participation means the collaboration of people pursuing objectives that they themselves have defined. A public space is one which, in its design and in its use, stimulates a sense of belonging to a wider community beyond the bounds of the strictly private sphere. It is, then, a scenario that fosters contract between difference people mixing uses and meeting place for individual and collective interests. The answer is to adopt methods and instruments that allow the creation of a methodology for the analysis of a great transversality of scales – territory, neighbourhoods and public space. This research aims to contribute to a generic model of good practices applicable to any process of requalification of the urban space of the UAIG.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Investigating the impact of digital fabrication on architecture design practice through a taxonomy

The integration of digital tools in architecture has transformed the design process, but the full potential of digital fabrication remains unexplored. This study examines the importance of digital fabrication in architecture design and suggests more suitable methods. Digital fabrication offers architects new ways to address complex tasks and innovate construction techniques, yet misconceptions persist about the role of digital tools in project-based research. The investigation analyzes the impact of digital fabrication on architecture design and research methods, employing a taxonomy to categorize approaches and uncover connections within the design process. By studying select architecture firms, the research uncovers new modes of design thinking influenced by digital fabrication. These studios employ a combination of traditional methods and digital tools, fostering a symbiotic relationship that fuels the creative process. Ultimately, this study aims to contribute to the advancement of architecture design and research methodologies by revealing the potential of digital fabrication.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio