SÃO VICENTE CÁ FORA - Lisbon Pilot

Basic information

Project Title

Full project title

SUSHI – SUStainable HIstoric city districts - Lisbon Pilot

Project Description

SÃO VICENTE CÁ FORA was an experimental short-term initiative developed in the historic centre of Lisbon under SUSHI project (EIT CKIC).

SÃO VICENTE CÁ FORA explored the linkage between art-sustainability-creativity-innovation, as a path to engage local communities and to transform public spaces. The initiative brought together temporary artistic activities, workshops and talks about climate resilience, circular economy, and social inclusivity.

Learn more at : https://arcg.is/05C81i

Project Region

Lisboa, Portugal

EU Programme or fund

Yes

Which funds

Other

Other Funds

EIT Climate KIC, 2018-2020

Description of the project

Summary

SÃO VICENTE CÁ FORA was an experimental short-term initiative that was carried out between October and December 2020 at Calçada do Cascão located in the historic center of Lisbon. The main purpose of this initiative was to promote long-term and sustainable transformation in the historic neighbourhood. SÃO VICENTE CÁ FORA aimed to stimulate new uses of public space in close dialogue with the local community (fig.1).

The activity was developed under SUSHI project (https://bit.ly/3c6a4Dx ) which intended to contribute to a “Sustainable and Healthy Alfama for All”.

SÃO VICENTE CÁ FORA explored the linkage between art-sustainability-creativity-innovation, as a path to engage local communities and to transform public spaces. In this context the initiative brought together temporary artistic activities and a complete programme of workshops and neighbourhood talks about climate resilience, circular economy, sustainable mobility and social inclusivity. An artistic outdoor structure built with scaffolding and recycled materials and a painting mural were developed by young artists and used as the stage where the sustainability program took place.

To increase the impact of SUSHI project in Lisbon, the web-based GIS ALFAMA TOOLKIT was developed, composed by three modules: MAPPING, EXPERIMENTING and TELLING

SÃO VICENTE CÁ FORA is described in detail in the EXPERIMENTING module (https://arcg.is/05C81i) and the neighbourhood talks with residents and stakeholders that participated in the activity were gathered in the TELLING module (https://arcg.is/09HuDD0)

Several challenges were faced due to COVID19 that forced the project to move several activities from physical to digital format.

The activity was an opportunity to increase local community awareness about reuse of materials, sustainable energy and mobility and new uses for public spaces.

It was also a very fruitful experience to explore methods to activate the linkage between innovation, creativity, and sustainability.

Key objectives for sustainability

Under SÃO VICENTE CÁ FORA, sustainability and environmental awareness actions were developed with the goal of encouraging local commerce, promoting circular economy in the neighbourhood, improving climate resilience, and testing tactical urbanism activities as a way of co-creating and recreating the use of public spaces. The activity was developed in articulation with the European Green Capital Lisbon 2020 programme.

The activities were developed targeting the local community, with the aim of creating a space for experimentation and information on various topics related to sustainability. Workshops were created for experimentation and information on urban gardens, reduction of energy consumption, reuse of textiles through patchwork techniques. A set of neighbourhood talks involving several stakeholders with activities relevant to the theme of sustainability were also held in the physical space of the artistic esplanade. They shared with us innovative ideas on sustainable mobility, on the circularity of textiles and building materials, on social action and inclusiveness and on urban agriculture and new technologies. The conversations with neighbours were very enriching and allowed us to get to know new and old residents of the neighbourhood.

The initiative shaped opportunities to Increase local community awareness about reuse of materials, sustainable energy and mobility. It was also an opportunity to densify the network of local stakeholders and to test activities in the context of a future Alfama Living Lab.

Some challenges were faced, mainly related with the disruption caused by COVID-19. While the initial plan was to directly engage the local community, it was necessary to rethink the initiative in order to ensure effective and safe conditions. New dissemination strategies were developed for the digital format in order to reach the local community.

Another challenging aspect was the need to integrate different languages between artists and scientists.

Key objectives for aesthetics and quality

If we want to touch in the “heart” of the cities we need to touch the peoples´ heart !

This motto led us to use aesthetics, beauty, and emotions as engines to conduct SÃO VICENTE CÁ FORA activity in a historic neighbourhood of Lisbon. Temporary artistic interventions were co-created by young artists with the purpose of linking sustainability, local communities and creativity (Artistic Direction by ZetGallery, Technical Coordination by Lisboa E-Nova)

The activity was structured into four main actions integrating the same narrative used for the involvement and communication with the community.

The first action, Explanar (fig. 2), means to explain in detail, to communicate. This action was developed around a temporary and artistic scaffolding built for the purpose, where various activities were carried out, including sustainability workshops and neighbourhood conversations.

The second action, Extender (fig. 3), means willingness to extend the ideas started, from scaffolding to the rest of the implementation space. During this action, an artistic clothesline was created with the utilization of reused materials, which served as aesthetic inspiration and training for the community regarding the importance of reusing textiles and other materials.

The third action Extrapilhar (fig.4), represented the moment when functions and infrastructures that the community was interested in change or built in the neighbourhood were designed along the lines of tshirtyarn.

The last action Expectar (fig. 5), means an expected result, namely in the use of art as a vehicle for sustainability. This activity acted as an artistic epilogue to the entire initiative and was materialized with the painting of a mural on the facade of a vacant building, representing the interior of a sustainable dwelling.

Key objectives for inclusion

The programme has been developed targeting the local community, with the aim of creating a space for experimentation and improve awareness on various topics related to sustainability. Workshops were created for experimentation and information on urban gardens, reduction of energy consumption, reuse of textiles through patchwork techniques. The selection of activities was envisioned to take advantage of the presence of various associations and organizations, which develop activities in historic areas of the city with some initiatives of an individual character or small groups of citizens living in the chosen area. Through this dynamic, it was intended to reach other inhabitants of the neighbourhood seeking to encourage the adoption of shared good practices, as well as inspire the development of other activities that contribute to the sustainability and inclusiveness of the local communities of Alfama.

One of the guiding axes of the design of the initiative was the concern that there would be a wide range of involvement of all types of population and local actors and that there would be a representation of the entire territorial dynamics.

An example of this was the encouragement for the participation of the older population and the new neighbours that arrived at the neighbourhood very recently. This last group is essentially composed by foreign population with a great desire of being integrated and proactively participate in the local community. Another concern was to give visibility and attention to homeless associations and local population present in the neighbourhood.

Results in relation to category

Designed for a pre-pandemic time, the COVID-19 caused the disruption of an entire initial plan, which intend to attract population, residents and visitors. It was necessary to rethink the initiative, to explore different formats and methodologies, to ensure effective and safe conditions for the continuation of activities. However, these new programming models ensured the fulfilment of the initial objectives: to explore new ways of using public space, linking concepts of art, sustainability, creativity, and innovation, through actions to raise awareness of local urban, climate and circularity challenges. To integrate different understandings and languages: artists and scientists. New disseminations strategies were developed for the digital format to reach the local community.

Based on the ease with which the invited organizations and population accepted to collaborate and participate, we can say that the activity had positive results, showing curiosity and interest in the target audience. At the same time, similar evidences were found in the number of views and reactions given through the website and social networks used to enhance the dissemination.

We can also mention that another relevant aspect that contributed to the objectives that were intended to be achieved was the reaction of the population during the entire process of implementing the artistic infrastructures. Even in a period of lockdown, during the presence of the artists to implement the different artistic installations, the population showed a lot of interest in the initiatives interacting and facilitating the artistic work.

How Citizens benefit

The activity SÃO VICENTE CÁ FORA was a fruitful opportunity to meet new facets of the Alfama community: the elderly residents that remember vibrant Alfama from the past; The new residents that have chosen Alfama and lives a sustainable life, creating communitarian gardens or experiencing new composting technics; The solidarity association that takes care of homeless people and promotes the reutilization of textiles. Although already mentioned above, it is emphasized that the combination of the results obtained, in the SÃO VINCENTE CÁ FORA activity, with the intervention programmes in public space carried out by the municipality could be an opportunity to move forward with the introduction of the inherent concepts of tactical urbanism. This approach has a huge potential to scale up to the entire territory of the city in future activities. In this way, it can be said that there is a benefit for the local community given that they have the opportunity to express their wishes and realize that their involvement is reflected in the evolution of the quality of the infrastructures and public spaces where they live in their daily lives.

Overall if we want to transform Alfama in a "healthy and for all " neighbourhood as we envisioned in the activities carried out, it was demonstrated for all the population groups involved, the importance that has the activation of the local community and their sense of belonging through artistic initiatives as a vehicle to spread the word of sustainability and innovation. This is just the starting of a "complex journey” towards the transformation of neighbourhoods into climate resilient and pleasant places to live.

Innovative character

SÃO VICENTE CÁ FORA was a tactical urbanism activity developed as an experimental initiative that aimed to test innovative participatory methodologies that will later integrate an extensive program of activities to be carried out under the envisioned urban living lab for the historic centre of Lisbon, ALFAMA LL (Living Lab).The conceptual design of ALFAMA LL was also part of the same overarching SUSHI project (https://bit.ly/3c6a4Dx).

We highlight four innovative aspects that influenced the results and the impacts of the SUSHI project in the historic centre of Lisbon:

The Long-term Stakeholders´ method. This was a continuous process started in early stages of the SUSHI project that last from 2018 to 2020. The activity SÃO VICENTE CÁ FORA was built upon this long-term maturated portfolio of stakeholders and it was only possible due to the confidence and interaction with local actors and inhabitants.
The Portfolio Approach. It was a systemic process used to developed key connected activities that converge in the mid run to achieve the same goal. These activities work like pieces of the same puzzle that come together. SÃO VICENTE CÁ FORA is one of those pieces used to test the design of Alfama LL.
The linkage between art-sustainability-creativity-innovation, as a path to engage local communities and to transform public spaces. This was the main principal that conducted the activity SÃO VICENTE CÁ FORA.
ALFAMA TOOLKIT SUSHI-Alfama (arcgis.com) is a web GIS tool conceived to support the future activities of Alfama Living lab. It targets different types of audience, from residents to visitants, to innovators and it is also a valuable tool for experts and technicians in urban sustainability The ALFAMA TOOLKIT has 3 modules: