Public spaces built in Porto from 1890 to 2010. Types and formal identity.

Abstract

We have analyzed the evolution of the spatial features of Porto's city public spaces from 1890 until 2010. Having as base the variation of intensity, by decade, of selected spatial features (dimensions, functional segregation, cloistered space, geometric regularity and formal identity), our objective was to pinpoint certain types of spatial characteristics that helped to interpret the diverse shapes of public spaces built in Porto during the period of time covered by this study. The making of these "clusters" was done by associating spaces (the object of our study) that showed greater similarities of spatial features (the variables that we listed above). The creation of 4 "clusters" made possible to confirm the set of dates of 1910, 1960 and 1990 as an important hinge in the spatial variation of the predominant types of spatial features. This allowed to verify that the set of clusters which presented the strongest formal identity was not, contrary to what might be though, comprised by the set that is made up of the cluster that share the more traditional compositional structure.