Sustainable Networks of Public Spaces

Abstract

Considering the increasing importance of immigrants for demographic and socioeconomicsustainability of countries and regions, the research reported in this article aims atdeveloping a methodology for the planning of public spaces, especially targeted toimmigrants. It considers their specific demographic, socio-economic and professionalcharacteristics, as well as their needs and expectations. This study is applied, as a casestudy, to the Oporto Metropolitan Area (Portugal).The public spaces, where individuals interact, expose them to different types of conflicts,namely lack of safety, discomfort, and social exclusion. Thus, in the first part of the article,statistical data is collected and treated in order to identify the residential locations ofimmigrants in the studied territory. These locations, as well as density of land use, arecartographically displayed. Then an analysis is pursued, that relates spatial building densitieswith immigrantsŽ characteristics, in order to identify trends and problems. It consists in thedefinition of a typology for immigrants location, where some characteristics of immigrants(country of origin, economic activity, profession) are crossed with the places of residence,according to their morphological and typological characteristics (namely in the metropolitancore and in the suburban area).Considering the characteristics of residential neighbourhoods, a plan for public spaceprovision is finally proposed that stresses the need to qualify these spaces, so that they canproperly receive immigrants, according to their characteristics and needs. It is hoped thisproposal promotes higher sociability, mutual help and leisure levels in more sustainableoutdoor places.