A Primavera da Calçada da Ajuda: jacarandás num piso de peças pretas e brancas

 

in Jornal Público

Alexandra Guerreiro

21/03/2014

Nos próximos 18 meses vai nascer na irregular rua uma paisagem roxa.

"João Nunes, um dos arquitectos paisagistas do projecto de requalificação da Calçada da Ajuda, em Lisboa, apresentou esta semana numa sessão de esclarecimento ao público as obras de mais de um milhão e meio de euros. O objectivo é melhorar as condições de circulação dos peões e combater o estacionamento abusivo.

A Calçada da Ajuda vai ser refeita da zona de Belém ao Palácio da Ajuda, custando à Câmara de Lisboa (CML) mais de 1,6 milhões de euros. Em todo o comprimento da rua nascerá um passeio que conjuga a calçada portuguesa com modernas peças pretas e brancas horizontais e que será mais largo ou mais estreito conforme as zonas. ”Sofre alterações consoante o perfil da rua, mantendo-se sempre a faixa de rodagem da mesma largura”, explica João Nunes. Serão plantados jacarandás para fazer a ligação entre "o Jardim Botânico e o centro de Belém e o Palácio da Ajuda”, afirma.

O piso complicado e ondulante da Calçada origina estacionamentos abusivos na faixa de rodagem e em cima dos passeios. Para combater este fenómeno, a equipa de arquitectos da Sociedade de Reabilitação Urbana de Lisboa Ocidental (SRU) decidiu criar grandes passeios, dando prioridade à circulação dos peões. As árvores de flores roxas pretendem, além de colorir a rua, impedir que os veículos subam os passeios. “O estacionamento abusivo será combatido com a redução do perfil” da faixa de rodagem. Mas o número de lugares de estacionamento mantêm-se.

A reorganização do espaço será feita em três fases. No próximo mês, a empreitada começa junto ao antigo Museu dos Coches e vai até ao INEM. Nesta primeira fase, durante sete meses, a circulação no sentido descendente será cortada tanto para veículos privados como públicos, desviando-se o trânsito para a Calçada do Galvão.

A segunda fase ocorrerá no troço entre o INEM e o Jardim Botânico, durando oito meses, e a terceira concluirá, por mais quatro meses, a empreitada até ao Palácio da Ajuda.

A Empreitada para a Reabilitação do Espaço Público e Renovação das Infra-estruturas da Calçada da Ajuda é um projecto em estudo há quatro anos pela SRU, a empresa da CML que fiscaliza e licencia obras de reabilitação."

Fonte e imagem: http://www.publico.pt/local/noticia/a-primavera-da-calcada-da-ajuda-jacarandas-num-piso-de-pecas-pretas-e-brancas-1629246

Cities bypass slow government to lead the way on climate change

Bogota transport Photograph: Alcadia Mayor de Bogota

"Cities are where the greatest climate change challenges and opportunities lie, and where mayors are pioneering initiatives

Mike Scott 

Guardian Professional, Thursday 12 September 2013

Efforts by national governments to tackle climate change and other sustainability challenges have been mixed at best over the past 20 years, but there is one level of government that has embraced the challenge with gusto – and success.

"National governments have largely failed to act, while cities embody the spirit of innovation we need. When it comes to climate change, cities are where the most exciting progress is being made," said Michael Bloomberg, mayor of New York, speaking by videolink to the City Climate Leadership Awards in London this month. He added pointedly that, "mayors do not have the luxury of just talking about problems. They have to deliver results."

Partly, this is a matter of necessity – more than half the world's people live in cities, they consume two-thirds of the world's energy and generate 70% of carbon emissions. "If we want to win the war against climate change, it has to be won in cities," said Roland Busch, head of Cities and Infrastructure at Siemens, sponsors of the awards.

Many of the world's megacities are situated on the coast and their vulnerability to sea level rise and the effects of extreme weather events has been highlighted in recent years by disasters such as Superstorm Sandy, which devastated New York last year and Hurricane Katrina, which had a similar effect on New Orleans. But it's not just rising seas – each city has its own challenges, from the wildfires that threatened Melbourne in 2009 to the floods that deluged Bangkok in 2011, severely disrupting the entire Thai economy, to the choking smog that afflicts Beijing, New Delhi and Los Angeles.

But equally, the world's urban areas are where the opportunities lie – they generate more than 70% of global GDP and cities are growing faster than other parts of the economy. "If you want to provide infrastructure for people in the most cost-efficient and effective way, you do it in cities," said Busch.

Perhaps the fact that people in urban environments are "squished together" makes them more accepting of the need to take action, said Matthew Pencharz, an adviser on energy and environment to London's mayor Boris Johnson. While national politicians' pronouncements can sometimes seem too vague for people to get to grips with, "mayors have found a way to take action that is accountable to the population and brings them visible, tangible benefits that improve their quality of life."

Mayors have a lot of the right power, argues Rohit Aggarwala, special adviser to the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group and former director of planning and sustainability in New York. "The politics align well and, in addition, many of the interest groups that are most opposed to climate action are simply not as prominent in cities."

The consultants McKinsey argue in a new report entitled How to make a city great, "that leaders who make important strides in improving their cities do three things really well: They achieve smart growth. They do more with less. And they win support for change."

These improvements do not need to cost a lot of money if they are imaginative enough – McKinsey reports that the former mayor of Bogotá, Antanas Mockus, "famously hired 420 mimes to make fun of traffic violators: this entertaining public ridicule reduced traffic fatalities by more than 50%."

Robert Doyle, Lord Mayor of Melbourne, explained how his city has a plan to double the number of trees in the city by planting an extra 30,000 saplings, which he said would cut temperatures in the centre by 4°C, as well as making the city more liveable and sustainable.

Singapore transport Photograph: Land Transport Authority of Singapore

Other initiatives are more complex and all-encompassing – Tokyo won the finance and economic development prize at the awards for introducing the world's first city-based carbon trading programme, which since its introduction in 2010 has cut the Japanese capital's emissions by 7m tonnes by focusing on emissions from buildings.

Meanwhile, Singapore's Intelligent Transport System, which incorporates a range of smart transportation technologies and allow the city state to enjoy one of the lowest congestion rates of a city its size anywhere in the world, was awarded the Intelligent Infrastructure Prize.

The old days, when the various aspects of city life were tackled separately, are gone, according to Busch. "A city is like a human organism – everything has to work together. A comprehensive view of infrastructure, disregarding silos, is the key to the future development of cities."

And while every city is different, they can learn a lot from each other about what works best – and they are prepared to do so, in a way that national governments do not seem to be. That is why Boris Johnson, opening the awards, said that whoever won the awards, "you can be sure that we in London will shamelessly nick your ideas".

One of the lessons cities have learned is the importance of measuring their impacts. "If you know where to start, then you know where to go," said Busch. One example of this is the decidedly chilly city of Oslo in Norway, which discovered that along with heating in the winter, cooling buildings in summer was a significant source of emissions. "We were surprised," said mayor Stian Berger Røsland, "but it enabled us to look at using seawater for both heating and cooling."

By refusing to wait for action from national governments and international bodies, cities are leading the way in addressing the risks posed by climate change, said Bloomberg. "Using innovative local approaches, cities are having an impact on climate change globally.""

Fonte e imagens: http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/cities-bypass-government-climate-change

Water sensitive design: integrating water with urban planning

The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh. A water feature in the heart of a city will enhance the micro-climate and reduce heat island effect. Photograph: Murdo Macleod

"For too long we have been designing water out of our cities when we should have been designing it in

Sue Illman

Guardian Professional, Friday 19 April 2013

In March this year, the Mayor of London and RoDMA announced a tender to create the UK's largest floating village in London's Royal Docks, on an area one and a half times the size of Green Park. Planners in Norwich, meanwhile, will be scrutinising plans submitted earlier this year for a rain square and flood park that aims to create 670 homes and new public spaces on a flood-prone site at the juncture of the Wensum and Yare rivers.

As long as we want to keep developing in low-lying areas, particularly around our tidal rivers and coasts, then creating whole settlements that rise and fall as the water ebbs and flows is a perfectly legitimate solution. The Dutch – the ultimate early adopters when it comes to water – already boast examples such as Amsterdam's pioneering Ijburg community. But for the majority of people living in urban centres, floating villages aren't the future. In fact, they often obscure what we really need to be focusing on when we think about the relationship between our cities and water.

Those who visited Ecobuild this year had the opportunity to hear Professor Tony Wong, chief executive of the Cooperative Research Centre for Water Sensitive Cities, talking about the steady progression up the agenda of water sensitive urban design (WSUD) in Australia. Successive years of flooding and some of the worst droughts in recorded history – which have not only threatened the health and wellbeing of the population but very nearly brought industry grinding to a halt – have prompted the Australian government to think differently about water.

The result has been a huge shift in mindset that has seen WSUD enshrined in planning and policy responses to climate change, and an acceptance that tackling flooding and drought doesn't have to be in isolation to creating liveable cities. A water feature in the heart of a city, for example, will enhance the micro-climate and reduce heat island effect, while whole productive landscapes can be supported by waste-water recycling.

A new report, Water Sensitive Urban Design in the UK, published by the CIRIA in March, reinterprets the WSUD concept for the UK and its conclusions might best be summed up simply as: for too long, we have been designing water out of our cities when we should have been designing it in. The introduction to the report sets out the challenge we face: "Water shortages, flooding and watercourse pollution are all signs of stress where developed areas have a troubled interaction with the natural water cycle and where, conversely, water has become a risk or a nuisance rather than an asset or an opportunity."

The evidence has been stacking up for some time. Flooding in 2012 caused the biggest insurance industry losses since 2007, when 13 people were killed and more than £3bn of water damage claims were filed. According to Defra, an estimated 5m properties in England alone are at risk of flooding – and their owners will be left even more vulnerable if the Association of British Insurers agreement to insure properties in high-risk areas is not renewed after July 2013. This isn't just about flooding either: 27% of water bodies in England do not meet European water quality standards, while 20 million customers in the UK experienced hosepipe bans in the 2012 to limit stress on water resources.

A survey of built environment professionals conducted as part of the report showed that 83% of respondents believe water management is considered too late in the planning and design process of developments. We have to start prioritising all elements of the water cycle when designing and developing new places. We can start by looking beyond the idea that a pipe in the ground is the best option for getting rid of rainwater. This is a 19th-century solution that is neither the best nor only solution to a growing 21st-century problem. Instead, we need a better understanding of the economics that allow soft-planted or bio-engineered drainage schemes to cost less while enhancing land values.

We already know, for example, that sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) – the creation of ponds, wetlands, swales and basins that mimic natural drainage – can be a cost-effective way to prevent surface flooding while creating valuable public amenities. But we need to go further than SuDS and start joining the dots between flood risk management and water resource management, and start putting water at the heart of discussions about what makes places great to live.

This is what we mean when we talk about WSUD, a process of looking at how, for example, we could be holding on to more of our flood water for reuse in meeting demand for drinkable water, while at the same time taking the pressure off existing infrastructure by reducing the amount of water entering the sewers. And a fundamental part of a water sensitive city is that we integrate the design of those features into the fabric of our towns and cities as attractive livable landscapes.

WSUD can be applied at all scales, from a single house to an entire city, and it can be retrofitted to existing developments as well as built in from the start. What we need are policies that see this thinking being adopted in every local plan and a commitment from the government to a comprehensive water management programme for the UK.

Sue Illman is president of the Landscape Institute, which published Green Infrastructure: An integrated approach to land use about the benefits green infrastructure can bring by creating multifunctional landscapes."

Fonte e imagem: http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/water-sensitive-design-urban-planning

Philadelphia water management: from grey to green infrastructure

Philadelphia has become a leader in green water management. Measures include replacing 30% of its concrete roads with porous ones. Photograph: Corbis

"The city is emerging as a water management leader, investing in green infrastructure to capture water where it falls

• • Sadhbh Walshe
  • Guardian Professional, Monday 10 June 2013

Every year storm-water run-off causes nearly 10tn gallons of polluted water to be dumped into America's rivers and oceans. As cities across the country struggle to comply with federal regulations surrounding pollution, Philadelphia is emerging as a model of innovation in water management by opting for cost effective natural solutions to an expensive man-made problem.

Concrete and rainfall

It's not by chance that Philadelphia has become a leader in green water management. Two major rivers flow through the city, and historically it had a vast network of creeks and streams. Over the past 100 years or so of relentless development, many of these creeks and streams have been replaced with concrete pipes and sewers, and most of the city's naturally porous surfaces have been paved over, making it impossible for rain water to be absorbed where it falls.

As Larry Levine of the Natural Resources and Defense Council (NRDC) explains: "When we pave over the earth and prevent water seeping into the ground, we put barriers in the way of natural processes. Storm water has to go somewhere. Today, most of it goes into concrete systems."

Unfortunately, these concrete systems are not always able to accommodate all the storm water that comes their way. The Philadelphia Water Department (PWD) estimates that, when all the impervious cover in the city is exposed to one inch of rainfall, it generates about 327m gallons of storm water. This first inch of rainfall gathers most of the surface pollutants before being routed into the city's combined sewage systems. If the system becomes overwhelmed with excessive runoff, it is designed to overflow. When it does, you get raw sewage mixed with polluted storm water spewing directly into the rivers and creeks.

From grey to green infrastructure

A few years ago, when faced with having to come up with a viable long-term storm-water management plan to meet their obligations under the Clean Water Act, the PWD saw an opportunity to reinsert nature into what had become an unnatural equation. Instead of opting to expand the traditional grey infrastructure and build more pipes and tanks to treat waste water, they chose to invest in green infrastructure to restore nature's ability to capture water where it falls and treat it as a resource before it ever becomes waste.

When a cost benefit analysis showed the latter option to be far less expensive than the former (around $2.4bn over 25 years for the green approach as opposed to $8bn for the grey), the city became convinced that it was making the right decision.

Managing water the green way involves a multi-pronged approach, ranging from distributing rain barrels to residents free of charge and planting strategically located rain gardens in parks, on curbsides and on rooftops, to the more challenging and costly task of replacing 30% of the city's concrete roads and pavements with porous ones.

The ultimate goal is to minimise the need for large storage tanks and treatment plants by enabling the water to be captured where it falls. The PWD's public affairs manager, Joanne Dahme, is quick to point out, however, that the new green infrastructure is not meant to replace the old grey infrastructure, but to complement it. "The green approach could not work without a good traditional foundation. Pipes and sewers are the backbone of our system, but the green helps the grey do a better job."

Bills, bills, bills

So far the programme is mostly funded directly by the city's ratepayers, some of whom have not been happy to see their storm-water bills increase. However, the PWD did not simply institute an across-the-board rate rise,but switched from a meter-based system to a more equitable system based on parcel size. This has meant that some businesses, such as parking lots, which would have had relatively low bills based on water usage, are now paying much higher rates based on how much storm water their property generates to the sewer system. Meanwhile, high rises that do not have a lot of impervious cover will have seen their rates decrease.

The beauty of the new fee system is that it incentivises private property owners to retrofit their sites with green infrastructure. Those who take advantage of the credit incentives will not just see their rates go down but ultimately as the city becomes greener and there is less storm water to deal with, rates will go down for everyone. The new fees will not be fully phased in until 2014, but Dahme says that business owners facing higher storm-water fees have already expressed a lot of interest in working with the PWD to retrofit their properties, and the city is looking at several cost-sharing opportunities.

Private investment

The city is also working to leverage private capital to support the transition from grey to green. According to Eron Bloomgarden, a partner at EKO Asset Management, who specialises in this area, there are a lot of investors interested in environmental impact. The key is to develop compelling financial products for them to put their money to work in. "We can do for green infrastructure (GI) what the Energy Savings Corporations (ESCOs) did for green energy. ESCOs were able to encourage investment by demonstrating the long term energy savings, GISCOs can do the same thing for green infrastructure."

It's still too early to determine how successful Philadelphia's efforts to create private markets for storm water retrofits will be, but the city is seen as a test case.

Philadelphia's Green City, Clean Waters programme is also being closely watched by other American cities for benefits that have nothing to do with cost. Green infrastructure doesn't just give a city a prettier face, it has also been shown to remove pollutants from the air, lower asthma rates and other heat related illnesses, reduce heat island effect, create local jobs and increase surrounding property values. In other words, going green should be a win for everybody. If this proves to be the case, then Philadelphia's Clean Waters programme may well be the model for the future."

Fonte e imagem: http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/philadelphia-water-management-green-infrastructure

Tackling climate change: Copenhagen's sustainable city design

Copenhagen faces particular danger as sea levels rise and superstorms hit coastal areas with greater frequency. Photograph: Kontraframe

"Global warming poses a real threat to cities but planners in the Danish capital are taking visionary steps to ensure its resilience – and success – as far ahead as 2100

• • Elisabeth Braw
  • Guardian Professional, Tuesday 8 October 2013

Visualise the world in 2050: convex streets that collect water from superstorms and pocket parks that absorb heat and can be turned into reservoirs. Welcome to Copenhagen, where planners are preparing the city for the effects of climate change several generations from now.

"We've looked at how climate change will affect Copenhagen in the long-term future", says Lykke Leonardsen. "For Copenhagen, the most serious effect of climate change will be increased precipitation, so we've developed a plan that addresses how to catch all the rainwater in the city." Leonardsen, a city planner, belongs to the 10-person team working solely on long-term climate change adaptation, planning ahead to the year 2100.

Like any city located by the sea, Copenhagen will face particular danger as sea levels rise and superstorms hit coastal areas with greater frequency. "In adapting to climate change, cities can choose either grey or green infrastructure," says professor Stuart Gaffin, a research scientist at the Center for Climate Systems Research at Columbia University, who also advises the New York City government on climate change adaptation. "Grey infrastructure means building walls and barriers. In New York's case, we'd lose Long Island if we went for the grey option. The green option, which has growing support, includes green roofs, green streets that will capture storm water, and pavements that allow water to percolate through."

That's the option Copenhagen has chosen. Leonardsen's team envisions lowering the level of a local lake, thereby freeing space around its shores. This space will then be turned into a park, with playgrounds and running paths. When a superstorm hits, the lake and its surrounding park will be used for water storage.

And those convex streets? They are main thoroughfares designed by Copenhagen's city planners to capture water from storms and flooding and direct it to the harbour. Copenhagen in 2050 will also feature smaller streets with plenty of trees, which will slow anticipated flooding "so not everything comes bursting into the cloudburst boulevards at the same time", Leonardsen explains. Pocket parks will absorb heat and can be turned into water storage during weather emergencies. In addition to storms, flooding and rising sea levels, heatwaves are the most dramatic scenario facing cities as climate change worsens.

If all goes according to plan, Copenhagen's sustainable climate change adaptation plan – which recently won the Index Design Award – will be completed by 2033. To be sure, Danish city planners operate in an enviable setup, where politicians and local residents alike support sustainable climate change adaptation and are willing to commit the funds required.

Brian Vad Mathiesen, an associate professor of development and planning at Aalborg University, says: "The difference between Copenhagen and other major cities is that they're very concrete in the short term and also look at what they need to do for the very, very long-term future.

"But in Denmark, sustainable city planning is not a niche; it's just what we do. And you have to remember that sustainability is not just about the environment. It's also about creating local jobs."

Copenhageners, in other words, have realised that doing the right thing for the environment brings jobs – and higher living standards – to the city. "Both from a financial and a sustainability perspective, it makes sense to do as much as possible as early as possible," says Mathiesen. "If you don't build things like pocket parks, you'll have problems with flooding. We can't live with flooding that brings the city to a halt for several days each time."

Other cities are embarking on similar plans. Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York this year presented a record $19.5bn climate change adaptation plan, with 250 specific projects reaching into the 2050s. Toronto, Rotterdam and Boston, too, have advanced plans with solutions from floating pavilions to terraced levees. Some 20% of the world's cities now have climate change adaptation plans in place. "While governments are mired in negotiations, cities are leaping forward," observes Gaffin. "City populations recognise the threats from climate change."

But while pocket parks and cloudburst boulevards sound charming, green infrastructure remains experimental. It's uncertain how effective percolating pavements will be, for example, and the trees in green streets face daily threats from cars. Besides, nobody really knows what the world will look like in 2050, let alone 2100.

But as far as Copenhageners are concerned, sustainable city design is the only answer to climate change. Morten Jastrup, a senior analyst at Sustainia, a Copenhagen-based think tank, says: "These measures will contribute to a higher quality of life in Copenhagen. We have to consider what will constitute a successful city in the future, because we need highly qualified people to come and work here.""

Fonte e imagem: http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/tackling-climate-change-copenhagen-sustainable-city-design

Homenagem a Gonçalo Ribeiro Telles na Gulbenkian

in Jornal Público

07.12.2011 - 11:12 Por Lucinda Canelas

"Gulbenkian e Centro Nacional de Cultura celebraram ontem o paisagista Gonçalo Ribeiro Telles. Colegas do ensino e da política, alunos e amigos quiseram honrar o mestre e, sobretudo, o homem.

Gonçalo Ribeiro Telles falou no fim, como compete ao homenageado. Com o auditório 2 da Gulbenkian cheio, com muitas pessoas de pé, o arquitecto paisagista a quem muitos chamam "mestre" admitiu o desconforto: "Nunca estive tão envergonhado para falar." Deram-lhe a palavra depois de um dia de testemunhos de alunos, discípulos, amigos e companheiros de vida política, uns monárquicos, como ele, outros não.

"Conhecemo-nos no combate à ditadura e é curioso que, sendo ele um monárquico e eu um republicano dos sete costados, a nossa empatia tenha sido imediata", lembrou Mário Soares já na recta final do encontro Gonçalo Ribeiro Telles - Um Homem de Serviço, que a Gulbenkian e o Centro Nacional de Cultura (CNC) organizaram ontem em Lisboa.

Pensador e político com um sentido cívico inultrapassável, defensor da liberdade e do direito à originalidade de ideias, disseram muitos dos oradores, Ribeiro Telles é, sobretudo, "uma pessoa extraordinária", sublinhou Soares: "Quando se fala do Gonçalo, há o problema dos afectos. Admiramo-lo pela sua verticalidade, pela sua obra, pela sua coragem, mas, mais do que isso, temos-lhe um afecto enorme pela pessoa que ele é."

Aos 89 anos, o político que foi membro da Aliança Democrática (AD), governante e deputado, fundador do Partido Popular Monárquico (PPM) e do Movimento Partido da Terra, ou o arquitecto paisagista a quem devemos as reservas agrícola e ecológica nacionais, os jardins da Gulbenkian (com António Viana Barreto) e o Amália Rodrigues, sente que tem ainda uma palavra a dizer. "Quero ser útil ao momento presente", dissera ao PÚBLICO antes da intervenção final.

E ser útil hoje é falar do despovoamento do mundo rural, da morte lenta das cidades, da "paisagem que é ainda um problema", porque os políticos, desinformados, continuam a dizer que querem defender os ecossistemas e a achar, ao mesmo tempo, que um eucaliptal é uma floresta: "Eles não sabem que nos eucaliptais não cantam os passarinhos e na floresta sim." O que é que lhes falta para saber olhar para o território? "Andar a pé, conhecer o país inteiro, as pessoas", responde este homem para quem "é mais fácil deixar marcas na paisagem do que nas pessoas".

Saber falar com as pessoas é uma das qualidades deste paisagista afável e atento, garantiu o comentador político Luís Coimbra. E, para o provar, contou uma história dos tempos da AD. Andavam na estrada em campanha eleitoral quando Ribeiro Telles desapareceu. Como todos estavam já à espera para entrar nos carros, Coimbra decidiu ir procurá-lo.

Mais bosques e mais hortas
"Chovia muito e eu fui dar com ele à porta de uma vacaria, a explicar aos agricultores que era melhor deixar os animais à solta no pasto do que alimentá-los com rações", lembrou Coimbra, com quem o arquitecto paisagista se cruzou pela primeira vez em meados dos anos 60. Para ele, Ribeiro Telles é um "político falhado" a quem reconhece "convicções firmes" e uma liberdade de pensamento inegociável. Porquê um político falhado? Coimbra esclarece: porque, apesar de ter razão, "as suas ideias para um desenvolvimento sustentado de Portugal ficaram para trás", por falta de inteligência de governos e governantes.

É precisamente a inteligência que falta a muitos que António Barreto, Guilherme d"Oliveira Martins e Eduardo Lourenço elogiaram neste homem de família, professor e cidadão que tem formado gerações através do exemplo e defendendo sempre "o ambiente como uma causa total", disse Augusto Ferreira do Amaral, dirigente do PPM.

Avesso aos jogos partidários, o paisagista tem sido essencialmente, segundo Freitas do Amaral, "um homem bom", que encarou a política como acto de cidadania e "a ecologia como a causa de uma democracia reformista". Se Portugal cumprisse a "excelente legislação" que Ribeiro Telles ajudou a fazer, defendeu o professor de Direito, "sem violações e sem excepções superiores à regra, seria incomparavelmente melhor".Teria, certamente, mais "lugares de paz e sossego, mais bosques e hortas", garantiu o sociólogo António Barreto, que foi seu colega de Governo, numa comunicação intensa, em que não se cansou de falar da independência de Ribeiro Telles e da sua paixão pela cidade. "Homem generoso e doce, mas firme", disse-o várias vezes Barreto, vê em cada espaço verde desperdiçado e em cada ribeira destruída uma derrota.

Voz activa na sociedade portuguesa há mais de 50 anos, Ribeiro Telles foi muitas vezes ignorado, acrescentou o sociólogo, mas o tempo deu-lhe razão. E teve um raro privilégio, concluiu Barreto: "Realizou um dos grandes sonhos dos homens cultos - fez jardins."

Jardins que são tentativas de paraíso, lembrou Eduardo Lourenço, defendendo que o paisagista é um "poeta da relação com a Terra", um "utopista novo": "Gonçalo Ribeiro Telles é uma mistura do ecologista-mor que foi Francisco de Assis com o botanista maravilhoso e romancista fantástico que foi Jean-Jacques Rousseau."

Para que não restassem dúvidas, o ensaísta fez questão de explorar este paraíso que o arquitecto foi trabalhando e falou da paisagem como se ela fosse a cara humana que a natureza nos reenvia. "Sempre tentámos criar com as nossas próprias mãos o paraíso", insistiu o ensaísta. Ribeiro Telles tentou tanto e tão bem que merece um título especial - Lourenço chamou-lhe "o jardineiro de Deus"."

Fonte e imagem:
http://www.publico.pt/Cultura/quando-um-homem-cria-paraisos-devemos-chamarlhe-jardineiro-de-deus-1524106

Homenagem - GONÇALO RIBEIRO TELLES

"A Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian e o Centro Nacional de Cultura vão organizar no próximo dia 6 de Dezembro uma sessão de homenagem e reflexão dedicada ao Arquitecto Gonçalo Ribeiro Telles.

ORGANIZAÇÃO

AURORA CARAPINHA

ENTRADA LIVRE

FUNDAÇÃO CALOUSTE GULBENKIAN • AUDITÓRIO 2

09h30Abertura
Guilherme d’Oliveira Martins
Presidente do Centro Nacional de Cultura
Emílio Rui Vilar
Presidente da Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian
10h00
O HOMEMAntónio Barreto • Eduardo Lourenço
Guilherme d’Oliveira Martins
11h15
Pausa café
11h35O POLÍTICO
Augusto Ferreira do Amaral • Luís Coimbra
Diogo Freitas do Amaral
13h00Intervalo para almoço
14h30
O PROFESSOR
Carlos Braumann • Aurora Carapinha
Ário Lobo de Azevedo
15h30
Pausa café
15h50
O VISIONÁRIOManuela Raposo Magalhães
Nuno Portas • Margarida Cancela d’Abreu
Viriato Soromenho Marques
17h10Depoimentos
Dom Duarte de Bragança • Miguel Sousa Tavares*
Pedro Roseta • Maria Calado • Alberto Vaz da Silva
17h45
Apresentação da Fotobiografia
de Gonçalo Ribeiro Telles (Ed. ARGUMENTUM)
Fernando Pessoa • Alexandre Cancela d’Abreu
18h00Encerramento
Mário Soares • Gonçalo Ribeiro Telles

*A CONFIRMAR"

Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian
Avenida de Berna 45 A - 1067-001 Lisboa
Centro de Arte Moderna José de Azeredo Perdigão
Rua Dr. Nicolau de Bettencourt

Transportes

Metro: São Sebastião, Praça de Espanha
Autocarros: 16/56/718/726/742/746/718

Fonte e imagem:

http://www.cnc.pt/Noticias.aspx?ID=1056 

Artigo no Jornal Público:
http://www.publico.pt/Cultura/goncalo-ribeiro-telles-homenageado-na-gulbenkian-1523936

Ribeiro Telles, entrevista no Jornal i

in Jornal i, por Enrique Pinto-Coelho, Publicado em 09 de Outubro de 2009

"Tem aversão pelos jogadores de golfe e paixão pelos reis. Critica a visão "mercantilista" do território e propõe umas "cidades-região" com mais hortas e menos edifícios.

Arquitecto paisagista e ex-ministro da Qualidade de Vida (1981- 1983), Gonçalo Ribeiro Telles foi pioneiro da defesa do ambiente em Portugal. Há 20 anos, coordenou uma série de projectos para Lisboa e a área metropolitana, incluindo um plano para unir o Parque de Monsanto à cidade através de um "corredor verde", bacias de retenção no vale de Alcântara e hortas sociais em Chelas. Actualmente combate em tribunal o Polis Costa da Caparica, um "desastre" que, segundo ele, vai erradicar as hortas e substituí-las por hotéis e auto-estradas.

Nasceu em Lisboa há 87 anos. Viu a cidade crescer e transformar-se, interveio, denunciou e agora a câmara está a recuperar projectos coordenados por si que tinham ficado na gaveta.
João Soares, quando deixou a câmara, deixou um Plano Verde para ser integrado na revisão do PDM. Esta revisão devia ter sido feita, por lei, em 2004. No entanto, a câmara da altura, do Carmona Rodrigues, borrifou-se para a revisão do PDM e entre 2004 e 2009 pôde-se fazer o que se queria usando um plano director que devia ter sido revisto. Afinal o plano foi aprovado na assembleia municipal há pouco tempo e por isso é que se estão a realizar os primeiros corredores ecológicos para resolver o primeiro problema da agricultura urbana, que são as hortas sociais.

É a favor das portagens nas cidades?
Para quê?

Para limitar a entrada de carros nas cidades.
Acho muito bem que se limite a circulação de determinadas maneiras, mas a melhor forma é através do urbanismo regional, ir às causas e não às consequências.

O problema é que há muitos carros na cidade, e as pessoas gostam de ir de carro e muitas vezes precisam de o fazer...
Ai gostam? Mas isso é que não pode ser... O prestígio da circulação automóvel face ao transporte público é fomentado por um mau urbanismo.

Tem ou teve carro?
Eu tenho carro, mas nunca ando com ele na cidade. Também porque não preciso: moro dentro da cidade e tenho o metro, os autocarros e o carro quando quero ir passear para a província. Na cidade só passeio de táxi (risos).

É um carro na mesma.
Sim, mas não é para passear, é para ir mais depressa numa situação de emergência. Mas prefiro o metropolitano.

A rede de metro não é muito grande e não serve para todos.
Mas está a aumentar e é fundamental.

As autoridades regionais são competentes?
A maior parte das autoridades regionais, e as locais, não têm sido. Há excepções estupendas, como Guimarães, mas de uma forma geral a luta contra a REN [Reserva Ecológica Nacional] e a RAN [Reserva Agrícola Nacional] e toda a base do ordenamento do território foi trágica para o país. Basta ver o que se passa nas hortas da Caparica.

Apesar disso defende a regionalização. Acredita que iria melhorar as competências das autoridades regionais?
Conforme... se for feita com base no costume, na cultura e na realidade das relações humanas actuais, na história e na memória, óptima regionalização. Se for feita com base aritmética, de votos ou de números, não.

Ajudou a fundar o Partido Popular Monárquico (PPM), uma formação que obteve menos de 1% dos votos nas últimas eleições legislativas.
Sim, mas já não tenho nada a ver com esse partido. Aquilo foi ocupado por um grupo de pessoas que arranjaram uma assembleia e a comunicação social achou que aquilo é que era o PPM. Toda a gente que era do PPM saiu...

Os históricos?
Não, os que eram. O Luís Coimbra, o Henrique Ruas, que já morreu, eu... Não aceitávamos a criação de um partido exclusivamente monárquico. Ao PPM do antigamente deve-se toda a organização do território. Quem é que inventou a RAN? Quem é que estabeleceu a REN? Quem formou os planos regionais de ordenamento do território [PROT]? Todas estas leis foram feitas pelo PPM em 1983, no oitavo governo com o [primeiro- -ministro de então, Francisco Pinto] Balsemão. Aquilo acabou, agora são uns fulanos.

Ainda acredita que a monarquia faz sentido em Portugal?
Sem a monarquia, Portugal desaparece.

Depois do PPM participou na fundação do Partido da Terra (MPT), que também conseguiu menos de 1% dos votos...
A culpa é do mercantilismo das autarquias, que resolveram usar o território como mercadoria só para quem quisesse construir. E portanto temos o país todo construído, e a maior parte das casas estão vazias...

O mercantilismo não explica o insucesso do MPT.
Ai explica, perfeitamente!

E explica o sucesso do Bloco de Esquerda (BE)?
O BE cresceu mas não derrotou o mercantilismo.

Diz que a fragmentação é o maior problema do actual Ministério do Ambiente. Pode explicar melhor?
O que devia haver era um Ministério do Ordenamento da Paisagem.

Pode identificar as áreas em que o ministério está a falhar mais?
Ordenamento do território. Destruição dos melhores solos de cultura agrícola. Protecção à monocultura industrial de pinheiro bravo e eucalipto. Basta ver a lei que saiu agora que diz que a madeira passou a ser produto agrícola. É uma forma de conceder os melhores solos, os da primeira classe da RAN, aos eucaliptos. Isto é criminoso. Quer pior que isto? Outra coisa indecente são os PIN [Projectos de Interesse Nacional], que podem passar por cima de toda a legislação sobre o território."

Fonte e imagem:

http://www.ionline.pt/conteudo/26846-ribeiro-telles-sem-monarquia-portugal-desaparece

Urban planning needs green rethink, por Martha Schwartz

"When it comes to environmental concerns, there has been altogether too much fragmented talk of buildings.

We have consistently failed to recognise that buildings are situated in wider landscapes that desperately need greater attention.

As I go about my work as a landscape architect, I regularly deal with our profession's role within the green agenda.

Unfortunately, I have found that we lag behind architects when it comes to participating in the conversation around sustainability; in fact, we are often relegated to presiding over green roof technology.

This is most ironic, because landscape architecture is, in fact, the profession that deals with the "green" part of the agenda.

The reason for the focus on buildings, as opposed to that of the surrounding landscape, is down to the fact that the uses of resources and energy can be addressed with a degree of simplicity and directness.

Meanwhile, landscape architects are left outside looking in on the discussion because our professional remit rests outside these technologically oriented and building-focused discussions.

This is problematic because the nature of our profession is to focus on pressing environmental issues in a holistic fashion, in what I call the Softer Side of Sustainability.

This approach involves creating a sense of place, identity and belonging, in order to develop sustainable communities and - I hope - improve the environment.

Living landscape

We seem to have forgotten that sustainability itself is a cultural notion, and that a building or a place must have value to people if it is to be used sustainably.

It is therefore vital that landscape architects assert this both in our advocacy and in our actual work; for so long as we trail behind the architects by topping their buildings with green roofs, we are simply fiddling while Rome burns.

The landscape is the canvas upon which we live our lives, join together as communities and build our cities.

Embedded and integral to the landscape are the ecological systems that must be understood and respected, as well as the infrastructural systems connecting us all together.

I am not simply referring to gardens and majestic wildernesses; in fact, the most sustainable form of human habitation is the city.

This is where we collectively need focus our activities, and this is also where landscape architects can be of real use.

Encouraging people to live side by side more closely will help the local ecology to flourish, because the community can utilise superior water stations and sewage treatment plants, as well as improving electricity consumption patterns.

Cities also inspire a collectivisation of wealth, allowing local governments to better build and equip schools, libraries, and performing arts buildings.

So the reward of collectivisation can be true sustainability. City inhabitants, from a variety of backgrounds, can be quickly made aware of environmentally friendly ways to live.

This, in turn, can result in people influencing one another as they incorporate progressive lifestyle changes into the fabric of their diverse daily lives.

Landscape architects ought to help to make cities better places for all who live within them through the establishment of good connectivity and open spaces, the promotion of public transportation and, very importantly, ensuring water is used responsibly, with run-off being managed and put back into the ground.

In addition, landscape architects ought to ensure developers plant as much as possible so that we have an abundance of trees and permeable surfaces.

Careful and inspired design can make all the difference between a place that is viewed as no real significance to anyone, and a place that attracts people, creates vitality, and is cherished by its inhabitants.

The design of Exchange Square in Manchester, UK, is a good example of how careful attention to a community's history and a site's geology can foster the sort of intellectual and emotional investment in a place that leads to real sustainability.

Exchange Square is a wonderful outdoor living room created from a space that was formerly an ignored and ugly traffic intersection, bombed by the IRA in 1996.

The revamped square is now hugely successful; a vibrant and well-used space for everything from watching soap operas during the lunch hour to greeting the Queen.

10-minute rule

Currently, some urban authorities, such as New York, fall short of implementing the issues around the Softer Side of Sustainability, but they are heading in the right direction.

For example, PLAN NYC, the sustainability agenda for the eastern US concrete jungle, includes a proposal to ensure that all New Yorkers live within a 10-minute walk of a park.

But this reference to parks is the only mention of the landscape in the NYC sustainability agenda.

PLAN NYC is certainly a marvellous commitment to improving the lives of citizens by giving them access to fresh, green, open spaces. But it does not push the envelope quite far enough.

It does not advocate the vital commitment to landscapes that reflects the most forward visual thinking, through dynamic, inspirational design, and structured attentiveness to community histories.

The role of landscape architecture is once again one of green embellishment, adding parks here and there, rather than sustainability agenda-setting through thought-provoking design.

Although NYC embraces its image as the centre of the global contemporary art scene, it has supported neither adventurous architecture nor landscape architecture.

For the best examples of this, we have to look to areas like Germany's Duisberg Nord Parc in the Ruhr Valley, or the beautiful green spaces of the Park Andre Citroen in Paris.

So how are we to implement The Softer Side of Sustainability?

First, we should incorporate the expertise of landscape architects into the planning process leading up to the establishment of sustainability agendas such as PLAN NYC.

This planning process should include measures to encourage compaction of the urban landscape, along with more efficient public transportation.

Secondly, we should increase sustainability education for students of landscape architecture, architecture, and urban development.

Finally, American builders should learn from the design overviews used in much European urban planning, but extend their minds to reflect the sophistication of landscape thinking.

Three straightforward steps, but they are key to deciding whether cities can develop effectively for the 21st Century, or remain mired in yesterday's thinking."

Martha Schwartz is a US-based landscape architect specialising in master plans, art commissions, urban renewal, reclamation and redevelopmen.

Fonte:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7372184.stm

Imagem: http://www.marthaschwartz.com/projects/corporate_barclays.php#

E se o aqueduto fosse usado como pista para bicicletas?

in Jornal Público,
07.08.2009, Inês Boaventura

"A fragmentação da intervenção, entre Sete Rios, Praça de Espanha e Entrecampos, foi desafio a vencer, tal como os domínios do automóvel

A utilização do Aqueduto das Águas Livres como pista ciclável, a criação de acessos mecânicos à zona de Campolide, o surgimento de hortas urbanas em socalcos entre o Parque Eduardo VII e Monsanto e o estabelecimento de uma ligação entre o parque florestal e a área do aeroporto através de um conjunto de pontos verdes foram algumas das propostas ontem apresentadas, em Lisboa, por um conjunto de estudantes italianos e espanhóis, no âmbito do Master em Arquitectura Paisagista.
No seminário Refazer Paisagens. O Vale Central de Lisboa, cerca de 30 jovens diplomados em Arquitectura e Arquitectura Paisagista estudaram e apresentaram soluções urbanísticas para a área de Sete Rios, Praça de Espanha, Bairro Azul e Entrecampos. O Plano Director Municipal e outros planos urbanísticos em preparação para aquela zona de Lisboa foram a principal matéria-prima para um projecto que se prolongou durante 11 dias.
Divididos em seis grupos de trabalho, e orientados por professores de várias nacionalidades e de áreas diversas como o Urbanismo, Paisagismo, Ecologia, Engenharia e Botânica, os estudantes estrangeiros deram ontem a conhecer as suas propostas. Antonio Angelillo, do Centro Italiano de Arquitectura e responsável pelo seminário, frisou que "o objectivo não era apresentar um elenco de projectos de arquitectura", mas sim "sugestões" sobre as quais a Câmara de Lisboa possa reflectir.
No capítulo da mobilidade, defendeu-se a aposta na criação de um conjunto de vias dedicadas e equipamentos que ofereçam aos lisboetas a possibilidade de recorrer à bicicleta como meio de transporte quotidiano. Nesse sentido, o Aqueduto das Águas Livres poderia ser usado como pista ciclável e em Sete Rios, em frente ao Jardim Zoológico, poderia nascer um parque consagrado ao aluguer e estacionamento de bicicletas.
Para vencer o problema de diferença de cotas ao longo da zona de intervenção, propôs-se a instalação de acessos mecânicos, como elevadores ou ascensores, na zona de Campolide. Um outro grupo de trabalho sugeriu a renaturalização de linhas de água e a recriação de antigos caminhos históricos como forma de unir um território fragmentado, que os estudantes definiram como um puzzle cujas peças não encaixam.
A intenção do arquitecto paisagista Gonçalo Ribeiro Telles de unir o Parque Eduardo VII a Monsanto foi ontem repescada, tendo um grupo de alunos lançado a ideia de ao longo do percurso haver socalcos, nos quais nascessem pequenas hortas resguardadas por espaços verdes mais comuns em meio urbano. A entrada no parque florestal seria assinalada com um objecto que simbolizaria uma porta, junto ao qual haveria estacionamento para carros, autocarros e bicicletas.
Partindo do facto inegável de que Lisboa vem assistindo a um desenvolvimento das infra-estruturas viárias e de transporte público que não tem sido acompanhado pelo das "infra-estruturas ecológicas", um dos grupos de trabalho tentou arranjar uma forma de estabelecer uma relação "porosa" entre esses elementos. Para tal, tipificou um conjunto de pontos verdes, como bacias de retenção da água e zonas relvadas ou arborizadas, com os quais propôs que se pontuasse a faixa entre Monsanto e a área do aeroporto, criando entre elas uma união, embora não um contínuo.
A possibilidade de Sete Rios se afirmar como um bairro com identidade própria foi abordada pelo último dos seis grupos de trabalho, que mencionou a hipótese de o centro de congressos projectado para a Praça de Espanha se deslocar para junto da linha de caminho-de-ferro."

Fonte:
http://jornal.publico.clix.pt/