Mani-Polis-Acção: as mãos activas da cidade

Abstract

Considering the context of full re-emergence of the cities as strategic places since the middle of the twentieth century, it is assumed that the city, more than a centre of development, is essentially a place for experimentation and transformation. Its existence is therefore determined by an irreversible process in which it is inevitably subject to a series of mutations, stages and experiments. Each transformation undergone implies a special sequence of social, economic and environmental consequences and characteristics' regeneration. The prefixes metro-, mega-, megalo- and meta- allow the association of different qualities to the word pólis and identify four different stages of the city's evolution, distinct from one another when it comes to nature, prevalence and dimension. However, because a city means more than its size and a mere agglomeration of heterogeneous, and not necessarily contiguous, urban territories, it is considered, for the purpose of this study, a metapólis, in the sense used by François Ascher which implies a much more multifaceted dimension of the city. Always bearing in mind the over-human dimensions of the city, the interventions in each of its fragments are only possible and should be made at the citizen's scale as well as at the architect's scale and their own hands. Their action plan and mobilization only takes place at this scale. The combination of these components where, who, how and what, which mean polis, hands and action, respectively, aims to find a balanced and positive result from its association. Therefore one can infer the expression mani-polis-action which, once combined, can become homogeneous with the word in a homophony way, as well as metaphorically and implicitly, to the manipulation method.