Geographical forms as etymology of the urban landscape: a contribution to the (re)design of Arrábida (Porto, Portugal)

Abstract

The current reading of the different landscapes idealised for Arrábida by the twentieth century, regard them divergent, insofar it does not recognise their similarities. The reading formulated from the perspective of the transformation of the Arrábida's landscape in the "long term" proposes that, beyond the appearance of the forms, a common perspective unites the various landscapes idealised for the place during that century. These landscapes are part of a design tradition that dates back at least to the 14th century and has its deepest reasons in geography. Geographical forms nourish the architectural creativity that designs Arrábida from the 14th to the 20th century; these forms are the heritage of a long succession of designers to modernity. The essential question of the future of the Arrábida landscape is a certain sense of geographical order that the architect inherits and reformulates to represent the quintessence of his contemporaneity.