The Human Scale
Porto / Portugal /Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto
1812
Matosinhos is a highly populated city in the litoral coast of Portugal, very associated with the sea and the beach. The exponential urbanization has increased the built impermeable land, and the green recreational spaces are being strangled. The fact that the city is surrounded by highways in all axis only worsens this separation. With a very high demand, rents increase, the center is gentrified and the population is constantly being pushed towards the edge.
“Biquinha’s” neighborhood, located on the southeast area of the city is physically and socially separated from the rest of the city, from the south due to the highspeed way, from the north due to our lost space: a very enclosed valley with a small channeled stream, that once used to flow freely and is currently heavily polluted.
