STREET research

RESEARCH

STREET research explores street transformation projects in Portugal to understand their contribution in sustainable, climate adaptable and ecological urban environments, and in which manner functionality, durability and adaptability is integrated in street design? The research consists of in-depth study, on design and planning components, of street in several municipalities, with the goal of design an evaluation planning tool and produce an overview of sustainable street intervention components.

Streets are a complex social and spatial phenomenon. Their functionality and value for society is layered and multiple, and related with the Sustainable Development Goals (UN, 2015). Streets, at a local level (street space and network), can provide essential conditions for social accessibility and equality, space for flora and fauna, healthy living environment, clean water and sanitation, local economy, and sustainable cities.

The assumption is that improving existing streets in terms of sustainability and ecology, as streets do cover a major part of the public space in urban areas (Casas-Valle, Oliveira and Dias, 2023; Furchtehner et al., 2022), do make an important contribution to the transition towards sustainable urban living environments. The research object lays on the spatiality of streets (architecture, urbanism and landscape design).

The research focus on recent street transformation projects (2015-2025) to investigate which design and planning tools were applied to improve the sustainable conditions for street space and their surroundings. The main objective of the research is to investigate in which matter ´street design´ is used as an instrument in order to make cities more sustainable, at a level of the street space itself and as an component in a larger (green/blue) network. With a comparative approach recent street transformation projects and strategies will be mapped and analysed. The main outcome is an overview that provides possible design principles, solutions and approaches for sustainable, climate adaptable and ecological streets.

The research project is led by Ivo Oliveira and Daniel Casas-Valle.

Project funding: FCT 2023.13164.PEX.

STREET – Street Transformations, Rebalancing Ecology and Environment issues in urban Territories