Through the later part of 2020, Porto was witnessing a resolute critique on several of the decisions (or lack thereof) that were being made regarding the city and its vacant and green spaces. The largest movement at the time was the claim for public gardens located in the old train station of Porto, located in Boavista — Jardim Ferroviário da Boavista(JFB) — Boavista's Railway Garden. The terrains in cause had been promised through contract to the El Corte Inglés group (one of the top 3 department store groups in the world) but the contract kept expiring and being renewed, despite the continued protests and the necessity for a different approach to an area affected by intense traffic and heat.
At the time the COVID epidemic was still at full strength and the status quo came to a halt. This allowed for a very peculiar perspective on our life, time, priorities and needs. Existing in society became complicated, methodical and to some point dangerous. The capital-focused urbanism and existence proved to be a virus's best friend. Lack of space and environmental health meant easy propagation and infection.
Given this chance and the realisation that I could initiate something like the JFB's efforts I decided to study the municiplaty's reports and delve into the Charca de Salgueiros and adjacent terrains (UOPG 7 - Regado). The reason for this choice comes from a familiarity and proximity to these places as they were part of my life for many many years. By March 7th 2021 the petition was online. It pleaded for an environment-focused revision to the urban planning, bringing attention to the role these areas play in the ecosystem, especially given they have a lot of trees, a forest-like area, a large body of water and farms. The idea was to aim towards a healthier city by increasing the amount of green area available to the population by creating a large park project instead of a reduced green corridor. Everything seemed to make sense because, as the reports stated, in 2018, Porto's green areas for recreational use were 7,9m2 per habitant, way below the World Health Organization's recommend 15m2, something evident to the population as green spaces were and still are felt as very scarce.
community and politics
Naturally, this sort of effort pertains to the surrounding communities as they are the ones immediatly affected. Reflecting on that, the first interventions were localized and offline by means of pasted-up pages with the petition's text and related information. It was important for me to inform and address what was to happen where it was to happen. Something that is not often done by the official entities. Although there are public discussions of the revisions of the municipal masterplan (Plano Director Munipal — PDM) we need to aknowledge the overall difficulty of popular participation in the political sphere. There is a schism between the population and the politicians in the polis. The hardships of day-to-day life and the barriers of technical lingo and accessibility to data are by far harder to address than the simple act of putting up a billboard or informative posters addressing future urban developments, discussions and projects to inform the population.
By understanding the issue as a problem of design and communication I analyzed the reports, simplified the data and built arguments focusing on the ecological aspect of the politics. Did an online petition and dedicated website. Juxtaposed and overlaid the urban blueprints with satellite imagery to facilitate the relationship between project and reality. Drew illustrations for posters that evoked a playful and joyful connection to nature and took photographs to further shed light on the otherwise inaccessible area. These efforts proved successfull in reaching the community as signatures started adding up for the petition.
Unfortunately, by what I later understood as intensified side-effects of the pandemic existence paired with personal anxietes, a work group was not created for this petition. This would have given the whole project resilience and strength as things could be tackled as a team. With efforts distributed, shared reponsabilities, strategies discussed, knowledge crossed and most important of all, involving people directly and creating physical human connections.
To a certain extent a macro-community was created around several petitionary efforts. This had impact on the outcome of some of the urban development and planning as organized protests occupied the street (Passeio Solidário) and political discourse in the chambers and out of them. In the end the strongest bargaining chip is the amount of people you can collect signatures and critical mass from.
The most important takeaway from this is that politics should be done together as they are after all the outcome of collective human existence. It's not about personal gain or interest but a march towards a better future for all, human and non-human, improving everything for everybeing.
revisit with exodus and ping!
09/04/2024 and 11/05/2024 with Galeria Municipal do Porto
Walk, discussion and intervention in public space.
Link GMP