Technical Tours

24 September 2009: Sorry, we have to close the registrations for the Technical Tours. However, you can try to register at the registration desk in case that some participants cancel.

Technical Tours - Wednesday, 21 October 2009, afternoon

Note: All tours are for free, but registration is necessary. All tours will be guided by experts and start from the congress venue (FEUP).

Technical Tour No. 1: The light rail system /LRS) in Porto Metropolitan Area – The Metro Project 

The tour will begin by a presentation of the light rail system of the metropolitan area, considering the integration of this large infrastructural project in the urban fabric and the interfaces between this mode of transport and the other public transport networks. Participants will also visit some of the most impressive constructions of the project, due not only to its location below the city centre, but most of all due to its technical complexity (tunnels, stations, and intervention in existing bridges). The METRO project had also strongly contributed to recent transformations in the Porto public space. 

Technical Tour No. 2: Urban regeneration in the City of Porto

The strategy for urban regeneration and rehabilitation of the City of Porto, will be presented namely in the urban core, referring to the most important programs that took place in this area. We will try to evidence the programs and problems associated with this area of the city of Porto, namely focusing on:  RECRIA (Special Regime of Co-partnership in Rehabilitation of Rented Buildings), Porto European Capital of Culture 2001, and the role of ‘PORTO VIVO SRU’ (Urban Renewal Agency). The tour includes a visit to some of these interventions in the city centre.

Technical Tour No. 3: Environmental perspective of Porto Waterfronts (fully booked)

The tour includes a visit to some interventions along the seaside and the Douro waterfront.  Also, we will visit the Port of Leixões, which comprises the largest seaport infrastructure in the North of Portugal and one of the most important in the country. Matosinhos has been developing an important urban project involving the regeneration of a large brownfield area, and a systematic work of requalification of the coast line, protecting the dunes (with foot-bridges accessing the beach and appropriate car-parkings) and intervening deeply on the routes along the beaches. The urban park is an example of a relatively recent intervention of this kind. It is not so often that we find the design of an urban park from the middle 90s. This park, with the extent of fifty hectares on its first stage, is the largest green area in the city of Porto. Some of these projects represent good examples of the integration of environmental concerns in the regeneration or design of these parts of the city.

Technical Tour No. 4: Contemporary Architecture and Cultural Events (fully booked)

The tour includes a visit to some of the most important architectural icons of the city of Porto. Most interventions from contemporary architecture in the city have been related to cultural spaces, (museums, concert halls, auditoriums or conference rooms). The building of the Serralves Museum was designed by architect Álvaro Siza, who was invited in the early 1990s to design a museum project that took into consideration the specific characteristics of the physical setting and the need for integration within the surrounding landscape. Casa da Música is a major concert hall space in the city of Porto, and was designed by architect Rem Koolhas, with Office for Metropoltitan Architecture and Arup-AFA. It was built as part of the urban project for European Culture Capital in 2001, but was only inaugurated in 2005. The New Customs House, that accommodates the Museum of Transport and Communications, is also an example of a relatively recent architectural intervention by architect Souto Moura.