Contributo para repensar as cidades

: cidades verdes e criativas

Abstract

The present exploratory study aims to raise awareness among readers about the future of the cities, leveraging the challenges and responsibilities of the cities to provide and maintain the necessary conditions in order to offer a better quality of life for its citizens. The City itself plays the leading role in this proposal to rethink cities not only because it is the scene of our lives but also the motor of the economy and the identity of a people and their history. This study aims to present the different historical scenarios to which cities have been exposed and the strategies that have been adopted in order of its adaptation and thriving in society. The environmental context and chronology are introduced by a deductive reasoning that starts with a macro perspective of global environment challenges and incidents which is followed by the presentation of the main international initiatives (confirming an environmental concern that is spreading worldwide). Finally we approach urban sustainability in the European scenario, lightened by 3 important initiatives of the European Commission (Local21Agenda, Covenant of Mayors and European Green Capital Award). Cities face a great number of challenges and we feel that sustainable development and identity preservation are the points chosen as priority in the durability and viability of the cities. The Green City and Creative City concepts are explored in order to disclose their relevance in the challenges identified above. The cities of Hamburg (Germany) and Nantes (France) we selected as practical examples of avant-garde european cities, which have proven to be more aware of the urgency in adopting policies and behavioral patterns that encourage the sustainable development, and the need to preserve the culture and the identity of the city itself in order to avoid the homogenization of the cultures in consequence of an increasingly globalized society.

Date of Award	2015
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Laura Castro (Supervisor)