We examine a small coastal community located 20 kms south of Lisbon. In Almada e Trafaria/Costa da Caparica, competing stakeholders such as central government, local government, environmental NGO's and private companies each have... more
We examine a small coastal community located 20 kms south of Lisbon. In Almada e Trafaria/Costa da
Caparica, competing stakeholders such as central government, local government, environmental NGO's
and private companies each have competing development visions for the area. These include the
development of recreation and leisure facilities, a container terminal and the re-naturalization of unused
land. We illustrate the added value of the GIS-ANN tool in steering negotiations between these different
visions and the potential of a scenario building web application as a tool for problem solving.
The emergence of user-created GIS-based web content in Planning has transformed passive users and
consumers of geospatial information into active contributors to the development of spatial visions of the
future. It allows stakeholders to gauge alternative future land uses thus making planning and decisionmaking
processes potentially more transparent and democratic. In this paper, we detail a new method
that enhances GIS-web-based public participation. We build on a combination of GIS basic capabilities
and the data mining methods of Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), namely Multilayer Perceptron (MLP)
packaged in a friendly (GUI) user interface that runs on the Google Earth platform. Users will be able to
articulate different spatial development scenarios for a specific area, to conduct sensitivity analyses for
various competing scenarios and to explore causal connections between them.
Caparica, competing stakeholders such as central government, local government, environmental NGO's
and private companies each have competing development visions for the area. These include the
development of recreation and leisure facilities, a container terminal and the re-naturalization of unused
land. We illustrate the added value of the GIS-ANN tool in steering negotiations between these different
visions and the potential of a scenario building web application as a tool for problem solving.
The emergence of user-created GIS-based web content in Planning has transformed passive users and
consumers of geospatial information into active contributors to the development of spatial visions of the
future. It allows stakeholders to gauge alternative future land uses thus making planning and decisionmaking
processes potentially more transparent and democratic. In this paper, we detail a new method
that enhances GIS-web-based public participation. We build on a combination of GIS basic capabilities
and the data mining methods of Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), namely Multilayer Perceptron (MLP)
packaged in a friendly (GUI) user interface that runs on the Google Earth platform. Users will be able to
articulate different spatial development scenarios for a specific area, to conduct sensitivity analyses for
various competing scenarios and to explore causal connections between them.
Research Interests:
Para o planeamento integrado do território, a análise espacial dos dados e os SIG são as ferramentas com maior capacidade de suportar, gerir, e produzir conhecimento (ou, como a maioria dos casos, para descobrir o conhecimento) porque dão... more
Para o planeamento integrado do território, a análise espacial dos dados e os SIG são as ferramentas com maior capacidade de suportar, gerir, e produzir conhecimento (ou, como a maioria dos casos, para descobrir o conhecimento) porque dão origem a tomadas de decisão mais exactas, fornecendo, não uma única solução, mas um espectro de soluções que vai dos casos mais plausíveis às situações mais improváveis que podem ocorrer em situações extremas. Neste artigo focaremos os conceitos gerais sobre análise de dados (visualização, operação, exploração e modelação), análise espacial e SIG (a contribuição de uma maior interactividade entre SIG e a análise espacial de dados), planeamento e complexidade (focando a importância da análise multivariada, que confronta técnicas estatísticas lineares e não-lineares) e finalmente, um ponto de vista crítico e comparativo sobre os principais resultados e as diferentes metodologias e parâmetros processuais.
Research Interests:
This paper sheds a light on recent spatial changes in the Metropolitan Area of Lisbon. We focus on the relative urban explosion that has induced two main categories of urban forms. Then, specific spatial tensions are highlighted. Finally,... more
This paper sheds a light on recent spatial changes in the Metropolitan Area of Lisbon. We focus on the relative urban explosion that has induced two main categories of urban forms. Then, specific spatial tensions are highlighted. Finally, the urban regulation system is examined : it is the result of the post-1974 democratic process and its room for manoeuvre is limited by the current crisis context, which can be seen as a harmful determinant for urban and regional planning.
Research Interests:
Key Words: Mobility; Urban Transport; Accessibility; Urban sustainability; Urban and regional planning; Lisbon Metropolitan Area; Transport systems management Mobility in urban areas has been achieving a central role both in the... more
Key Words: Mobility; Urban Transport; Accessibility; Urban sustainability; Urban and regional planning; Lisbon Metropolitan Area; Transport systems management
Mobility in urban areas has been achieving a central role both in the political and technical debate of which the Green Book of the European Commission, Towards a new culture for urban mobility, published by the end of September 2007 and still in public consultation till March 2008, is one of the most recent examples.
The growth of population living in urban areas is visible in a more dispersed occupation of the urban territories leading to only to an increase of travels using motorized transportation modes but also to an increase in their range. The use of the automobile has been the support of the development of urban mobility models in different European agglomerations questioning its environmental and economic sustainability.
The present dissertation is a reflection on the issue of mobility in urban areas and on the role that public transportation management can have in the configuration of a more sustainable model of mobility, considering the Metropolitan Area of Lisbon as a case study.
The dissertation is structured in four parts and is composed of nine chapters and also by some concluding remarks. In the first part, throughout three chapters the function of transportation in the organization of the territory and its relation with the urban development is discussed. A reflection on the problems and policies developed in the scope of transportation in urban areas is also presented. In the second part, composed of two chapters, ways of organizing and modal choices of transports in urban areas are discussed. This is followed by a comparative analysis of different transportation systems in ninety European urban agglomerations. In the third part, also composed of two chapters and dedicated to Portugal, the legal framework of service providing in public transportation in Portuguese urban areas is presented and discussed. The seventh chapter is about the recent changes in the demand of transportation and its relation with the evolution of the urban public transportation. In the fourth part, the case study is developed analysing the evolution of the occupation of the metropolitan territory and the change in the mobility patterns supported by the published data and information obtained in the survey conducted in the metropolitan area. In the final remarks, the main conclusions are presented.
Mobility in urban areas has been achieving a central role both in the political and technical debate of which the Green Book of the European Commission, Towards a new culture for urban mobility, published by the end of September 2007 and still in public consultation till March 2008, is one of the most recent examples.
The growth of population living in urban areas is visible in a more dispersed occupation of the urban territories leading to only to an increase of travels using motorized transportation modes but also to an increase in their range. The use of the automobile has been the support of the development of urban mobility models in different European agglomerations questioning its environmental and economic sustainability.
The present dissertation is a reflection on the issue of mobility in urban areas and on the role that public transportation management can have in the configuration of a more sustainable model of mobility, considering the Metropolitan Area of Lisbon as a case study.
The dissertation is structured in four parts and is composed of nine chapters and also by some concluding remarks. In the first part, throughout three chapters the function of transportation in the organization of the territory and its relation with the urban development is discussed. A reflection on the problems and policies developed in the scope of transportation in urban areas is also presented. In the second part, composed of two chapters, ways of organizing and modal choices of transports in urban areas are discussed. This is followed by a comparative analysis of different transportation systems in ninety European urban agglomerations. In the third part, also composed of two chapters and dedicated to Portugal, the legal framework of service providing in public transportation in Portuguese urban areas is presented and discussed. The seventh chapter is about the recent changes in the demand of transportation and its relation with the evolution of the urban public transportation. In the fourth part, the case study is developed analysing the evolution of the occupation of the metropolitan territory and the change in the mobility patterns supported by the published data and information obtained in the survey conducted in the metropolitan area. In the final remarks, the main conclusions are presented.
The conceptual and methodological debate on urban form has grown in the last decades to recognize that social, economic, demographic and political processes can contribute to the development of new urban forms, especially those related to... more
The conceptual and methodological debate on urban form has grown in the last decades to recognize that social, economic, demographic and political processes can contribute to the development of new urban forms, especially those related to urban sprawl, as well as to find alternative methodologies for measuring them. Spatial metrics derived from landscape ecology arise as principal indicators to measure urban form. This paper proposes a typology of the urban occupation of Portuguese municipalities. It uses land use/cover data from 1990 and 2006 to extract built-up areas, and it presents five spatial metrics alongside seventeen statistical indicators from 1991 to 2011 most commonly used in the literature to characterize urban occupation. It uses a self-organising map as a visual tool to identify trends and relationships among variables and to cluster municipalities. Based on the self-organising map's visual clustering, six types of urban occupation of Portuguese municipalities are proposed. In addition, the paper discusses the added value of using indicators that describe both the patterns and the characteristics of the municipalities for making spatial planning decisions in Portugal. The observed results show that spatial metrics are particularly adequate for measuring peri-urban municipalities (urban sprawl areas). These results represent the first multidimensional and systematic analysis of Portuguese urban occupation and they can be the first step in the integration of spatial metrics as indicators that are suitable for the analysis of spatial planning, and also for comparative purposes at a broader geographical scale.
Research Interests:
The historical accounts of the 1755 earthquake and tsunami in Lisbon are quite vast providing a general overview of the disaster in the city. However, the details remain unknown. Therefore, the objective of this research is to understand... more
The historical accounts of the 1755 earthquake and tsunami in Lisbon are quite vast providing a general overview of the disaster in the city. However, the details remain unknown. Therefore, the objective of this research is to understand and reconstruct the impact of the 1755 event (earthquake, tsunami, and fire) in downtown Lisbon. Thus, the historical data has been compiled and analyzed, to complement tsunami modeling and a field survey. Although census data are not very accurate, before the disaster there were about 5500 buildings and about 26,200 residents in downtown Lisbon; after the disaster, no records of the buildings were found and there were about 6000-8800 residents. There were about 1000 deaths in the study area. The results also show that the earthquake did not cause significant damage to most of the study area, which contradicts general knowledge. After the earthquake, a fire started that quickly spread throughout the city causing most damage to property. The tsunami hit mostly the west and central parts of the study area. The numerical model results show the tsunami hit the studied area about 60 min after the earthquake, inundating the seafront streets and squares up to 200 m inland. In addition, two major waves were calculated, which are in agreement with the historical accounts.