Teresa Heitor

The cultural heritage of the fisherman's town of Fuseta, on the southern Portugal, is an interesting example of Mediterranean vernacular architecture. Totally built in just one-step at the turn and the 19th to 20th centuries, the historic centre presents a homogeneous urban fabric characterized by a typology of house covered by vaults' terraces, and pyramidal roofs, strategically located. Nowadays, the urban network extrapolates the original historic centre to the involving areas, with a demarcated rural structure.
This paper aims to reflect on the contribution of space syntax descriptive model, an alpha numeric's calculation software (Depthmap Software), based on visual and spatial networks' analysis, to the study of the urban evolution.
The almost non-existence of bibliography related to the urban history of this territory, enforces the use of alternative methods to increase the architectural morphology's theories and other theoretical approaches focused on the reading of urban territories.
The Depthmap modelling of the town's digital cartographics allowed the production of maps that expresses parameters and urban concepts universally defined. The main question consists in how deep this new urban modelling information is and how useful are these maps or they just descriptive.
In conclusion, the appliance of the Depthmap Software on the study of the Fuseta's urbanism made it possible to draw a reliable parallel between the unknown urban characteristics of the 20th century beginning with the well-known structure of today, at same level of measurements, detailing, information and parameterization.

This paper examines the evolution of eight fishing towns in Algarve, in order to identify the spatial typologies that characterise changes in the urban fabric. The star model (Hillier et al., 2012) and the mean and maximum variables of normalised integration and choice (NAIN and NACH) were employed to compare the spatial configuration's changes in two different periods: 1970 and 2014. The results show an increase in segregation from 1970 to 2014 as well as a more fragmented and less cohesive urban tissue in most of the towns.

“Sun & beach” tourism is often mentioned as one of the main generators of economic growth for coastal regions. Yet, to what extent is it possible to stimulate the adaptive capacity of the urban territory in order to promote and foster successful “sun & beach” tourism? This paper looks at new approaches to tourism development that are designed to preserve local identity, available natural resources and the socio-cultural heritage while reinvigorating the local economy and stimulating competitiveness. This implies a reconfiguration of urban planning strategies in order to support change, and it is argued here that improving the urban fabric and the tourism performance of coastal settlements requires, per se, a suitable application of space syntax methodologies, as well as an analysis combined with other morphological research methods.
The paper seeks to assess the effects of the industrialisation and massification of leisure activities and the impact of tourism input on four coastal fishing villages along two shorelines of the Atlantic Ocean: the Algarve coast (Portugal) and the Paraná coast (Brazil). Both regions were confronted with an unprecedented interest from the tourist industry, which led to an expansion of the built-up fabric and the road network, changing the relationship between the shoreline and the urban settlement. The lack of planning strategies has resulted in undesired impacts and has disrupted the biophysical and social systems of these habitats, with negative impacts that can be extremely costly for both the environment and society.
Different research methods were tested in the study of a sample composed of four coastal fishing settlements, using spatial analysis techniques related to space syntax theory (Carmona, 2014). Selected space syntax tools included axiality techniques, explored on two levels: the global analysis (the pattern of the relationship between the original/vernacular fishing nucleus and the whole settlement), and the local one (the size, scale and shape of the fishing nucleus). In loco surveys (observations and data collection) were also undertaken in order to identify the main physiographical characteristics and occupancy rates and to categorise the coastal front in three sub-sections according to the ecosystem type.
The results relating to spatial configuration indicated that: i) the two coasts have different structures as far as their geo-morphological and anthropogenic aspects are concerned: the Algarve coast has a "comb-like" linear structure, while the Paraná coast is organised in a "trident" shape; ii) the proximity between the integration core and the shoreline varies according to the urban network typology: two coastal fishing settlements present an integration core close to the shoreline, while the other ones present an integration core that is inside the urban settlement; iii) from the studied variables, the “shape” presents greater differences in the case of urban development, reinforcing the identity of the coastal fishing settlements.
The conclusions are that the built-up fabric of the coastal fishing settlement is undergoing a process of change, precipitated by both its internal needs and its external pressures, including the demands of “sun & beach” tourism. There is considerable evidence to suggest that there is an explicit relationship between the configurative properties of these settlements and their ability to support change, i.e. their adaptive capacity.

ABSTRACT In 2001, Lisbon was already the European capital with the largest proportion of seniors among its residents. Living inside the ageing city, the elderly will need urban spaces designed and conceived for their physical and psychological constraints. The first part of the paper reviews demographic tendencies and identifies the main needs of the elderly in public spaces. The second part discusses the advantage of active ageing neighborhoods, the issue of intergenerational spaces and new design solutions for inclusive urban spaces, focusing on case studies. The paper concludes that in terms of urban space, active ageing means, for the elderly, the possibility of leading a normal life in an urban environment free from obstacles, where they can easily move about, the possibility of shopping in local commerce, working in part-time or volunteer jobs in the community, while keeping the routines of visits from family and friends. KEY WORDS: assisted living / active ageing / accessibility / inclusive design.

... technology: Rio de Janeiro's Botanical Garden, Brazil and Cerco's Garden, Portugal. Aurélio Nogueira, Teresa Heitor, Maria Carreira, Gelly Rodrigues, Ana Pedroso Escola de Belas Artes Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, aurelio.nogueira@gmail.com; ...

The existing city must be redesigned with the elderly population in mind. This paper aims at questioning the way urban designers, architects and landscapers are forced to rethink the existing city and all new public spaces to fit the needs of an active-ageing population. In fact, if we want the elderly to remain living inside the city-centers, we must provide them with urban spaces designed and conceived for their physical and psychological constraints. Rethinking the transportation system will also be an important clue for a population who lives longer without a drivers’ license, therefore depending on easy public transportation. Lisbon is an example of this grey revolution: in 2001 it was already the European capital with the largest proportion of seniors among its residents. And for the first time in History, the elderly outnumbered the young in Portugal during the 1990’s (Machado, 2007). The paper is organized in four parts. The first one reviews demographic tendencies and ident...

In 2001, Lisbon was already the European capital with the largest proportion of seniors among its residents. Living inside the ageing city, the elderly will need urban spaces designed and conceived for their physical and psychological constraints. The first part of the paper reviews demographic tendencies and identifies the main needs of the elderly in public spaces. The second part discusses the advantage of active ageing neighborhoods, the issue of intergenerational spaces and new design solutions for inclusive urban spaces, focusing on case studies. The paper concludes that in terms of urban space, active ageing means, for the elderly, the possibility of leading a normal life in an urban environment free from obstacles, where they can easily move about, the possibility of shopping in local commerce, working in part-time or volunteer jobs in the community, while keeping the routines of visits from family and friends. KEY WORDS: assisted living / active ageing / accessibility / inc...

The increase of complexity in school buildings to support user comfort and social and functional demands is changing the resources consumption patterns, namely energy. Users indoor comfort conditions also play a significant role in energy demand in school buildings. A significant number of Portuguese public secondary schools were recently refurbished, under a national modernization program. The present paper shares the main results of a multiple case study, comprising eight secondary schools, regarding resources use monitoring (energy and water) and the observational field work concerning users' attitudes and behaviour.Promoting best practices to enhance school buildings sustainability has a double goal: addressing the environmental impact of a large stock of service buildings and simultaneously raise awareness among the younger generations. Introduction The increase of complexity in school buildings to support users comfort and social and functional demands is changing the reso...

ABSTRACT Buildings are complex dynamic systems composed of sub-systems and components in continuous interaction with human behavior. Occupancy and movement data are crucial to deepen the understanding of the built environment performance. Observation data is paramount in space–use studies. However, there is a lack of automatic observation techniques, which enable the continuous and systematic recording of the mobility behavior, the producing of non-arbitrary registries, the gathering of big data and the emergence of patterns. This study is divided into two companion, although autonomous, papers. The first paper [M. Kuipers, A. Tomé, T. Pinheiro, M. Nunes, T. Heitor, Building Space–Use Analysis System — a Multi Location/Multi Sensor Platform, Automation in Construction 47 (2014) 10–23] describe the video-based analysis system and give account of preliminary use patterns obtained by data fusion of video plus RFID inputs; the present paper expand the obtained results and focus on investigating analytical procedures aimed at the study of the functional condition of architectural artifacts, and promotion of a better understanding with the spatial conditions, based on computer vision based tracking. Computer vision allows the simultaneous recording of the user and the spatial container and a full description of the movement behavior. The proposed method for the analysis of the space–use interactions is evaluated in two main atriums of a university department building. It allows to: a) represent, describe and quantify occupancy/co-presence patterns and movement/navigation patterns; and b) establish correlations between the occupancy/movement patterns and the morphological properties of space. Several mobility indexes and its mapping are obtained, such as the number of users, time occupancy, average speed, and users' encounters. The results show how space–use data can be interfaced with spatial analysis tools to arrive at an understanding of the relationship between space–use and building design.

ABSTRACT Occupancy and movement data is key information in all phases of the life cycle of built environments, because it has direct repercussions on multiple aspects of their performance. Knowledge on how built spaces are really used remains scarce, despite the technological advances currently available. This paper proposes a system that combines the capacities of computer vision based tracking and the identification capacities of radio frequency-based sensing (RFID) to aid the analytical procedures of the study of the functional condition of architectural artifacts. This will enable us to gain a better understanding of the connections established within the spatial conditions. The process allows one to: a) represent, describe and quantify occupancy/co-presence patterns and movement/navigation patterns; b) characterize the types of users (e.g., professor, student, staff) associated to them; and c) establish correlations between the occupancy/movement patterns and the configurational properties of space.

ABSTRACT The increase of complexity in school buildings to ensure for users comfort and social and functional demands are changing energy consumption patterns. In the Portuguese context, a recent rise in energy consumption, after a major national refurbishment programme, confirms the need to improve energy management in schools in order to reduce their environmental impact. Besides building design and systems, users are also a determining factor impacting energy consumption in buildings. However, behavioural issues are still among the areas least covered by scientific literature.

4 Remote Collaborative Design: The Lisbon Charrette Experience Joao Bento, Teresa Heitor, and Jose Pinto Duarte INTRODUCTION Design is very often a collaborative activity, involving the cooperative work of experts from multiple disciplines. Moreover, design activities do ...