Imagining the Centre
Urban Walk by Vítor Belanciano
With this itinerary, we contemplate public space and common good, while looking at the Tagus River as a potential link for the transformation of the so-called metropolitan Lisbon.
As a rule, we tend to look at the river as a barrier, due to obstacles of the mind, biased social anathemas, lack of economic connection, intense cross navigation and inability to foster cultural constructions. Lisbon lives separately from Barreiro, Seixal, Almada, Montijo or Alcochete and vice versa. We see each other from afar, we cannot imagine ourselves up close. And yet it would be possible to look at the Lisbon Metropolitan Area as a unit of urban congregation with the river as its centre: the river itself as the centre of Lisbon.
Let's also face mobility as central. Imagining the centre, not as something static, but as the vital flow of the big city, facilitating and encouraging mobility between all the margins. Facing the river not as a limit, but as a connection, thus making it more alive. Like architecture, which can look at the ruins of a house and realise the potential is still there, just waiting to be activated and worked on. This potential is there also between margins. Let's face it.
Duration
90 minutes
Capacity
25
Extra Info
Departure point: Verride Palácio de Santa Catarina
Arrival point: Campo de Santa Clara (Feira da Ladra)
