| Full Professor of Urbanism and Transports - IST Deputy Mayor of Mobility at Lisbon Municipality

Fernando Nunes da Silva

San Sebastian - Basque Country | World Urban Development Congress | “Rethinking your urban region”

OcTober’10

innovation is not

only

technology !Social initiatives in urban neighbourhoods

Renata Lajas | Member of Staff for Mobility Mayor Office at Lisbon Municipality

It’s a comprehensive preoccupation, taking in account the need to improve the role of European Union in the

global economy.

At the same time, the objective to attract creative people and high qualified technicians to support

that innovation, is something that only growing and powerful economies could successfully pursuit.

The current mainstream on innovation is usually centred in technological development.

However, in a small economy in serious

financial difficulties – as the case of Portugal – to restrict innovation to this technological

perspective, is an enormous limitation to the development of innovative approaches to

numerous problems of urban development and social life.

This presentation adopts a different perspective, based on real life experiences and on the evidence that there is an important field to be explored in what respects

innovation in the social domain, namely:

► In processes of identification of social and urban needs;

► In the pursuit of soft technological solutions for these kind of problems;

► In the mobilisation of stakeholders to find and develop more realistic and feasible solutions.

The examples chosen to illustrate this perspective are focused in two main domains:

► The identification of people’s needs and their possible solutions.

► The development of new urban policies and feasible improvements for everyday problems of urban life.

people

mobility [M]

public participation [PP]

social support [SS]

social cohesion [SC]

mobility [M]

public participation [PP]

social support [SS]

social cohesion [SC]

with peopledefining new policies & goals:

people

for people : looking for people needs & finding flexible solutions

defining new

policies & goals

for people

looking for people needs

& finding flexible

solutions

with people

[M1] electric bus as urban transport[M2] flexible neighbourhood transport[M3] safe routes to school & elderly

[SS1] young students elderly support[SS2] elderly residential support

[SC1] local community association [SC2] financed renovation neighbourhood program[SC3] cosmopolitan festival

[PP1] city budget based on public participation[PP2] local pedestrian accessibility plan

mobilizing people …

… influencing

behaviour

What ?“Serpentina”

Where : Serpa, Portugal

Iniciative : Municipality

Facts: fixed route with direct access to schools & elderly facilities – prices range from 0,5 € - 1 € (free for people aged above 65)

electric Bus as urban public transport [M1]

Innovative aspects:

Goals:• Integrated in the sustainable mobility city strategy to develop a better urban environment for all and decreasing at the same time CO2 emissions, this transport stands as one alternative to commute to the historical center

• but it also gives a direct support to the mobility of children and elderly people, by its fixed route that provides access to schools & elderly facilities as well as to the historical center

• What could be just an alternative to commute to the historical center turned out as an opportunity to help out children and elderly with their mobility needs

What ?“Lx Porta-a-Porta” – Free flexible urban neighbourhood transport with fixed route & flexible stops

Where : Lisboa, Portugal (82 km2)

Iniciative : Municipality

Facts: (2009) 8 different routes – total 45km600 000 km/year ; 160 000 pax/year

Flexible neighbourhood transport [M2]

Innovative aspects:

Goals:• potentiate the mobility in the old city center

• help mostly elderly displacements to different facilities: market, day center, supermarket, health neighbourhood units, etc

• continuously the itinerary suffers changes, when requested by people and urban districts and analyzed by municipal technicians

• due to the target group that was aimed for, the van is equipped with an elevator for wheel chairs and an electric step to ease the climbing up movement of its users

What ?“Verdinhos”

Where : Lisboa, Portugal

Iniciative : Municipality, Districts and elderly associations

Facts : pilot project involving 7 schools

safe routes to school & elderly [M3]

Innovative aspects:

Goals:

• promote a safer access for children on their way to school, by helping them to crossing streets safely

• promote road safety awareness for the children and respect for the elderly

• one can promote a safer access to school and at the same time integrate the elderly in community having them participating in several relevant tasks in the peak hours of school access

What ?Project: “Jovens alerta em Paranhos”

Where : Porto, Portugal

Iniciative : Municipality districts & Gabinete da Acção Social from Paranhos Municipal District

young students elderly support [SS1]

Goals:

• help the elderly in their daily routines, shop, grocery, pharmacy and providing company are the main goals of this specific volunteer project

Innovative aspects:

• with a higher number of elderly people living in Paranho’s District and a great university campus, the opportunity to set up a volunteer program with university students and young professionals seemed very strong

• the recruitment was specially announced at university campus and student cafes to have a higher impact

What ?“AmaSenior” – free access to medical assistance for the elderly

Where : Amadora, Portugal

Iniciative : Municipality, Medical Assistance Association & volunteers

elderly residential support [SS2]

Innovative aspects:

Goals:

• taking into account the schedule limitations of the neighbourhood healthcare units, the municipality took the lead, developing a system that could help the elderly accessing medical care at home out the regular working time of health units and for free

• provide free access to medical assistance at home, when the neighbourhood healthcare units are closed

• special phone number created to support elderly with second-hand physiotherapy equipment

What ?“Renovar a Mouraria Association”

Where : Lisboa, Portugal

Iniciative : Local Community

local community association [SC1]

Innovative aspects:

Goals:• create political awareness for the existent problems in Mouraria Urban District

• promote social inclusion and intercultural inclusion

• promote artistic and educative actions, as well as cultural exchange experiences with visitors to open up a stigamtized neighbourhood to all and to the city

• Partners in a financed rehabilitation project (QREN), with the main field of expertise being community involvment in cultural, artistical actions as well as integration activities (ex: Portuguese course classes to foreign people - right photo)

What ?“Viver Marvila”

Where : Lisboa, Portugal

Iniciative : Municipality, Gebalis & local community

Financed renovation neighbourhood program [SC2]

Innovative aspects:

Goals:• Create an integrated program that would coordinate public investment applied to the renovation of Marvila Urban District in several domains: housing, social renovation, social cohesion, etc.

• Listen and involve residents with other public/private partners in the creation of different projects/program for them: “job shop”, “time bank”, etc.

• Involving people in direct investment programs, listening to their sensibilities in what concerns vital aspects of their neighbourhood live, ex: “color study with residents for their neighbourhood buildings”

• Conceive signage system for Marvila Urban District, Lisbon

• Promote participated urban design

• Contribute to enhance local identity

What ?City cultural Program: “LEM – Lisboa encruzilhada de mundos” produces “TODOS festival – cultural walks”

Where : Lisboa, Portugal

Iniciative : Municipality & Community

Cosmopolitan festival [SC3]

Goals:• “TODOS (= ALL) Festival” invites tourists and Lisbon users & residents to dive in the cultural hotspot of Lisbon: Mouraria

• the festival lasts 4 days and it’s composed by different initiatives along the main squares, public space and private houses in Mouraria neighbourhood: Music, Gastronomy, Dance festival, workshops, cinema & art.

• Mouraria its the most international neighbourhood from Lisbon: 11.000 emigrants from 25 different nationalities

Innovative aspects: • create awareness opening a stigmatized neighbourhood to all citizens and to the city, promoting the exchange of sensorial experiences at all levels

What ?“Orçamento participativo – Lisboa”5 Million € (1% of the total city budget)

Where : Lisboa, Portugal

Iniciative : Municipality

City budget based on public participation [PP1]

Innovative aspects:

Goals:

• the deliberative aspect of this public participation process

• with “vote assemblies” supported by city districts and a “voting bus”, it’s possible to reach people that don’t use internet to vote for projects for their city

[ www.cm-lisboa.pt/op ]

• the main goal of the participatory budget, is to involve people proposing and deciding what’s best for their city.

What ?“Plano de Acessibilidade de Lisboa”

Where : Lisboa, Portugal

Iniciative : Municipality

Local pedestrian acessibility plan [PP1]

Innovative aspects:

Goals:

• The plan relies a great part on a wide public consultation process

• The outcomes of this participation process are integrated and taken into account in the making of the plan and policies that are subjacent

[ http://acessibilidade.cm-lisboa.pt ]

• the main goal is to potentiate an accessible city, avoiding the creation of new barriers, adapt the existing buildings to the actual accessible legal demands and mobilizing community to participate in this process

• 54% already fallen

• 88% usually has afraid to fall

• 65% need more benches

On the sidewalk:

To reduce innovation to their technological aspects is, above all in a context of financial and economic crisis, to

introduce external limitations to social and political creativity.

It also favours the emergence of a deviation of the innovation concept, creating technological dependence

in the search of new solutions for old and emerging problems in the urban scene.

Main conclusions:

1

2

The improvement of public participation, engagement of stakeholders and a more open mind in the functioning of

local administrations - namely in what respects inputs and

suggestions of individuals and organisations of the society - can clearly contribute to the development of innovative and feasible solutions for a good number of problems of our urban areas.

The combination of affordable technology and technological innovations – namely in the area of TIC and

urban mobility – with social mobilisation and decentralised processes and solutions, is an important domain to be

explored and developed. Certainly in countries and municipalities with scarce financial and technical resources.

3

4

the need to stimulate…

DIVERSITY

fnsilva@cm-lisboa.pt

renata.lajas@cm-lisboa.pt