Abstract:

Universities are dealing with strategies in order to improve their performances in terms of ranking classification, struggling for a good position. At the spatial planning and urban design domains the river fronts are very challenging territories to deal with, because they are sensitive areas, not only in environmental terms but also considering the urban continuity requirements. Mainly urban projects for the places of contact in between the urban fabric and rivers are focused on building issues and urban development questions rather than of ecological approaches encouraging the contact of inhabitants with nature. Therefore, this research presents solutions of rethinking the territories of contact in between the urban fabric and the river water fronts, having as pivotal concern ecological solutions. The urban projects are focused on requalification solutions in order to ensure a better urban continuity from the buildings to the water front. The strategy is driven by the river activities, nautical sports, low density buildings, preservation of local heritage and paths for pedestrians.

The river water front urban projects have as case study, a quiet town in the central region of Portugal, well known by its thermal baths, coming from the roman times. Every year, the city of São Pedro do Sul is visited by many tourists, looking for a very pleasant place, allowing them to improve their health condition going to the thermal baths or the contact with nature going to the river Vouga, water front.

This is a city plenty of greenery, high natural potential, no pollution, and where the majority of dwellings are single houses. The main architectural landmark of the case study area is the old train station, a building from the 19th century. In fact, since a long time ago that there are no more trains arriving to this city. Recently, the train track line was converted into an ecological corridor for pedestrians and bicycles. Besides of this effort to improve this area, the place remains waiting for an urban rehabilitation opportunity as a whole, with several urban voids, buildings in bad status of conservation, parking with no planning or a lack of functional diversity. Its huge potential regarding the presence of the river water front is, consequently, not preserved nor enhanced. In this sense, there was a university experience on behalf of the Urban Planning Unit at the Master Degree in Architecture at the University of Beira Interior, resulting from an agreement with the Municipality. The urban project solutions were proposed in this academic environment comprising several teams of international students, not only coming from Portugal, but also from Greece, Brazil, Slovakia, Lithuania and Poland. There was a competition and four prizes for the best urban projects, sponsored by the city hall, which was a motivation for students along to the project process. The conclusions show that all the solutions are proposing strategies to preserve and to enhance the ecological identity of the place. Thus, this article will present the contents, options and solutions of the second best urban project, which was designed by a team of international students from Poland. This experience is an example of a key strategy in the internationalization process of the university.

Keywords:

City project, River fronts, Urban fabric, International team, São Pedro do Sul, Vouga water front.