Navegando Entre Eixos: Desafios e oportunidades da Via B na estruturação urbana da Póvoa do Varzim

Abstract

This dissertation falls within the scope of the study of urban transformations in the city of Póvoa de Varzim and the relationship between territorial growth, mobility, and contemporary urban structure. Based on the analysis of the city's historical evolution and the consolidation of its main structuring axes, the study seeks to understand how Via B, a recently implemented infrastructure located between the EN13 and the A28, contributed to processes of urban expansion, territorial fragmentation, and the reorganisation of the relationships between city, mobility, and landscape. In this context, Via B is analysed not only as a road infrastructure, but also as an integral element of a broader urban structure, associated with the urban growth processes of recent decades and with dynamics of accessibility, land use, and functional specialisation of the territory. Its intermediate and partially undeveloped condition allows it to be interpreted simultaneously as a result of the city's recent transformations and as a potential structure for urban and territorial reorganisation. The research was developed through an approach combining historical investigation, territorial analysis, and design-based reflection, seeking to establish a critical reading of the urban evolution of Póvoa de Varzim and of the constraints associated with contemporary urban growth. The project-based component of the dissertation emerged as an instrument for territorial investigation and interpretation, exploring hypotheses of urban rearticulation based on principles of spatial continuity, integrated mobility, ecological enhancement, and the qualification of public space. The dissertation therefore seeks to contribute to the reflection on the contemporary challenges faced by medium-sized coastal cities, particularly in the context of the relationships between mobility, urban expansion, ecological structure, and territorial cohesion.