Winter School:The Place of the City 1rst edition - Programme https://ipps.iscte-iul.pt/images/Winter_School_The_Place_of_the_City_-_Mouraria__Daily_pr

 The city has meaning when it has a history and an identity. Without these we can not imagine the future, nor can we uncover the memory and contemplate the heritage preserved in it. Considering cultural heritage and criticism as fundamental instruments for the act of planning, the valuation of architecture is seen as a structuring factor of a development strategy of the contemporary city.

In Portugal, the question of culture as a city project has been particularly evident in recent years, especially due to the deep transformations of real estate speculation and rehabilitation of buildings in historical urban context. Such a situation obliges us to perceive the complexity of the interpretation of the past through a holistic vision that goes beyond a disciplinary culture. The richness of the theme, the diversity of stakeholders and the cross-perspective make the reading of the architectural heritage captivating and challenging. Architecture educates, innovates, launches issues and controversies, continually complements the in situ image of the city or globally, the conceptual, technological and innovative developments of each era. Architecture has the task of continuously writing new expressions in the city space, negotiating with tradition, arguing and reconstructing fragments of urban life.

It is from distinct critical readings of the various layers of the city that one can define strategies for diversified and pluralistic urban regeneration and give a new life to the legacy left by the ancestors, requiring to the various actors creativity, innovation, tolerance, understanding and wisdom beyond common. Rehabilitation, conversion, conservation and regeneration mechanisms should stimulate a network of social, economic, political and cultural development. In particular, projects should seek to mobilize local potential and resources to ensure their eventual self-sustainability, as well as to influence public policies. It is therefore urgent to re-evaluate strategies globally and implement an adaptive reuse of assets.

In this context, we organize a Winter School that intends to be a moment of critical reflection on the (re) design of the cultural place of the Portuguese city.