Capítulos de livros

The chapter considers the link between urban transformations in the Mouraria neighbourhood in Lisbon and the digital environment.The guiding thread of reflection is based on the tension between the production of sociocultural symbolic local references, and their (dis)appropriation by a creative economy that, relying on digital as a resource, helps to reshape the sociocultural local world into marketing. It concludes that digital has, not only a tangible social dimension, but also a tangible dimension in the processes of urban transformation. As such, it is pertinent to create alternative ways in defence of the right to the city that economize the social and its imageries taking more advantage of the articulated combination between real-digital.

This chapter is concerned with how digital technologies are changing habits, expectations and motivations in the use of public open spaces. These digital developments are a societal challenge with reflections on social practices and, on planning and design approaches to public spaces. This might also challenge the future development of information and communication technologies (ICTs). The discussion in this Chapter is based on knowledge and experience exchanges carried out within the COST Action CyberParks. The leading issue of CyberParks is how to use ICTs to transform our cities into more human environments, rather than just more high-tech places, and to understand that “smartness” should be people friendly. Through the structure of the project, the importance of comprehensive and trans-disciplinary development is introduced and justified. A theoretical approach and frameworks from ethnographic and technological perspectives that help us to better understand (potential) interactions are being developed, and both are at the centre of this discussion.

The aim of this chapter is to discuss the production of mediated public open spaces by investigating the impact of ICTs in a participation process, and from this discussion to develop arguments to base a theory on co-creating a cyberpark. It focuses on how digital interconnectivity, through its potential for engaging potential users, gives rise to new forms of agency in the design of public spaces.The conceptual framework is backed by the COST-Action Cyberparks, and the Project Flussbad, both tackle the reflection of the proliferation of ICT-related media in public open spaces.

UBEST aims at improving the global understanding of present and future biogeochemical buffering capacity of estuaries through the development of Observatories, computational web-portals that integrate field observation and real-time MPI (Message Passing Interface) numerical simulations. HPC (High- Performance Computing) is applied in Observatories to serve both on-the-fly frontend user requests for multiple spatial analyses and to speed up backend’s forecast hydrodynamic and ecological simulations based on unstructured grids. Backend simulations are performed using the open-source SCHISM (Semi- implicit Cross-scale Hydroscience Integrated System Model). Python pro- gramming language will be used in this project to automate the MPI simulations and the web-portal in Django.

This paper presents an overview of research carried out to assess the bonding suitability of Portuguese timbers. Most work developed in the last decades has focused Maritime pine timber, due to its traditional use in building construction, good mechanical properties and availability. Untreated, as well as preservative treated Maritime pine have been studied, as its impregnability allows deep treatment suitable for applications in Use Classes 3 and 4. Recent results on bonding preservative treated Maritime pine wood are discussed. Preliminary results regarding other species that are becoming available in the Portuguese market are also presented, as an attempt to reduce pressure on Maritime pine timber as well as to seek more valuable alternatives for their traditional uses.

The importance of sustainable urban mobility plans is widely recognized by local and regional authorities across Europe. Technological innovation opportunities such as those offered by current and future ICT can contribute for cities to advance towards sustainable mobility and accessibility for inclusive public spaces. This article is built on an innovative living lab experience of the Intermunicipal Community of the Algarve (AMAL), the regional transport authority, scientifically supported by the LNEC, in Portugal, that comprised the development of the designated “Actions Plans for Sustainable Urban Mobility” (PAMUS) for a network of sixteen cities. Following the Regional Operational Program 2014-2020, these plans were “to support the transition for a low carbon economy in all sectors”, including mobility and transport. Inspired by best practices in Europe, the development of the regional PAMUS included several interconnected components: an integrated approach for the development of the plans that included a collaborative platform of stakeholders, a formal commitment signed by all Mayors to work together towards sustainable mobility goals, a communication strategy to the public, the development of a technological component (app VAMUS) and the acquisition of real-time cycling data using the STRAVA interface. This article is focusing on the potential benefits related to using the technological component of the PAMUS - the app VAMUS which means “we go together” (towards sustainable mobility goals). The app is currently available for two major mobile platforms (iOS and Android) and it provides information on the available public transport options and their connectivity along with other indicators as an incentive for users to choose more sustainable travel options. The PAMUS effort emerges as a disruptive approach to trigger behavioral changes for more cycling and walking (instead of car), leading to enhancing public space and quality of life objectives such as social inclusion and low carbon mobility.

This chapter discusses the act of walking as a method of capturing the socio-spatial needs of users in a contemporary urban space. Walking as method is considered a way to assimilate a socio-spatial proximity experience, and to (re)invent the response to urban space needs in a fast-changing city. This reflection discusses the purposes of urban planning, provides a framework, which goes from socio-spatial urban needs to (possible) responses, and discusses the complexity of evaluating the information gathered. It highlights the role of walking in planning, but also the relationship between plan and walk, discussing some of the key aspects to bear in mind when taking the act of walking as a way to learn how to plan. From the sensitive act of walking to the rational processes of collecting information, e.g., techniques for basic information collection for urban planning, this chapter also presents the role that ICT can play as an instrument of socio-spatial design in capturing relevant information for urban planning professionals.

Advances in measurement and automation technologies enabled the deployment of monitoring systems with data acquisition at high frequency in Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTP). The aim of this work is the design of soft sensors to predict hard-to-measure quality variables of wastewater required for mechanistic modeling of the biological treatment system in a real municipal WWTP. The input data collected in the WWTP using a flowmeter and spectro-photometric and electrochemical online probes, sampling campaigns and on-line analysis, was used for the development of soft sensors by multivariate analysis, like Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Partial Least Squares (PLS) regression. Exploratory data analysis was performed in order to detect outliers, patterns and correlations. PLS models for soft sensors were developed using leave-one-out cross validation and the predictive capacity of independent data was evaluated by root mean square error (RMSE). The normalized RMSE obtained for organic nitrogen prediction were 19.5% and 18.1%, using sensors with analytical and spectral data, respectively. The possibility of using spectro-photometric probes providing measurements of a single wavelength was evaluated in order to reduce the online monitoring investment costs.

The chapter discusses how ICT can be used to enhance the understanding of the relationship between space, users and social practices. As an example of possible use of ICT for capturing and better understanding user’s needs, the new digital tool WAY Cyberparks is presented and discussed. A “cyberpark” is defined as a new type of urban landscape where nature and ICTs blend together to generate hybrid experiences and enhance quality of life. The WAY Cyberparks digital tool consists of a smart phone application, server/cloud and web services. Through the experiences from testing it in selected urban open spaces in Barcelona, Lisbon and Ljubljana opportunities are presented and lessons are drawn about relevant aspects of the ICT towards building a more participatory and collaborative process in planning of public spaces. A relevant aspect of the ICT lays in their ability to enhance communication with (potential) users, transforming the production of public open spaces into an interactive process, and enabling creative community participation and empowerment. Furthermore, some challenges of the increasing penetration of digital technologies devices (smart phones, smart watches, tablets, etc.) within the broader context of their use in public urban open spaces such as parks, gardens, squares, plazas are discussed, together with the consequences of this interweaving, which is growing at a rapid pace, unfolds research needs in the future.