2024
16th Annual Research Conference on Planning - CITTA 2024
Fostering Urban Transitions
November 29, 2024
Welcome to the CITTA Research Conference on Planning 2024, dedicated this year to the theme "Promoting Urban Transitions." This event provides an essential platform for researchers, professionals, and policymakers from various fields, facilitating critical discussions about the future of urban areas in times of crisis.
The conference will take place in the historic center of Vila Nova de Gaia, near the famous Port Wine Cellars, in a location offering stunning views of the city of Porto. This remarkable venue provides participants with a unique opportunity to explore an area renowned for its heritage and beauty, enriching the overall conference experience.
Organized and promoted by CITTA – the Research Centre for Territory, Transport, and Environment at the University of Porto, the conference aims to advance progress in the areas of urban and transport planning, governance, and engineering. Through roundtable discussions, experts will explore applicable strategies to guide urban transitions toward sustainability, justice, and economic prosperity. This interaction will allow participants to gain practical insights, exchange experiences, and network. The panel exhibition will offer different perspectives on the conference theme.
In addition to the opening and closing sessions, the conference is structured around four main segments:
Opening Lecture – Ali Madanipour (in English)
Moderation: Paulo Pinho
The keynote speaker for the event is Professor Ali Madanipour (University of Newcastle), who will deliver a presentation on alternative, innovative, and comprehensive approaches to promoting urban transitions.
Session 1 - Fostering Urban Transitions for Sustainable and Climate-Resilient Environments (in Portuguese)
Moderation: Sofia Valente and Franklin Gaspar
This session explores how we can promote the urban transition towards greater climate resilience and environmental sustainability, with a special focus on existing and possible solutions and strategies for achieving these goals and for dealing with emerging or growing risks associated with climate change. Innovative strategies, effective public policies and cross-sectoral collaborations that make this transition possible will be discussed. In this sense, the debate will centre on the role of different types of solutions, namely Nature-Based Solutions (NBS), green and/or blue infrastructures, in managing climate-related risks and climate crises. The session will seek to promote a dialogue between representatives of the academic and professional spheres, discussing their main challenges and achievements in building more climate-resilient and environmentally sustainable urban environments.
Session 2 - Fostering Urban Transitions with Integrated Transportation (in Portuguese)
Moderation: Sérgio Pedro Duarte
Transportation plays a crucial role in ensuring the mobility of people and goods, and it must ensure the inclusion of all citizens in a sustainable and effective manner. Surrounded by conflicting objectives, the design and management of transport networks are of paramount importance for the quality of life in modern cities. In an increasingly digital world, will integrated transport systems be able to promote an urban transition that keeps pace with current sociodemographic transitions?
Session 3 - Fostering Urban Transitions for Transformative Governance and Socio-spatial Justice (in Portuguese)
Moderation: Isabel Breda-Vázquez
The session highlights the importance of socio-spatial justice for society and our cities, with a particular focus on access to housing and an urban experience compatible with the fulfilment of this right and the legitimate expectations of citizens at this level. It explores the emerging dynamics, causes and consequences, challenges and strategies (present and future) for planning to successfully intervene in the processes of urban segregation and to promote transformative governance, in which good practices and solutions are considered and debated'.
This conference is preceded by another event: the Practical Symposium for Doctoral Students, organised by a team of CITTA doctoral students and aimed at doctoral students in planning or associated subjects at any national or foreign university. All the symposium activities will be conducted in English.
We look forward to welcoming you!
Organization:
António Ferreira (Chair), Cecília Silva (Co-chair), João Bigotte (Co-chair), Sílvia Spolaor (Co-chair), Sérgio Duarte (Co-chair), António Lobo, Franklin Gaspar, Joana Bailão, Jorge Afonso, Lara Bomfim, Luísa Batista, Paulo Conceição, Sofia Valente, Vinicius Netto
Programme:
9:00 AM Reception
9:30 AM Opening of the conference and welcome session
10:00 AM Lecture by Dr. Ali Madanipour, Professor of Urban Planning and Design, Newcastle University, UK (in English)
11:00 AM Coffee break and poster presentations
11:30 AM Session 1: Promoting Urban Transitions for Sustainable and Climate-Resilient Environments
1:00 PM Lunch
2:30 PM Session 2: Promoting Urban Transitions with Integrated Transportation
4:00 PM Coffee break and workshop "Co-creating the final conference poster"
4:30 PM Session 3: Promoting Urban Transitions for Transformative Governance and Socio-spatial Justice
6:15 PM Closing session
6:30 PM End of activities
Keynote Speaker
We are honored to have Ali Madanipour as the keynote speaker for the conference.
Ali Madanipour is a Professor at Newcastle University. His research has explored the processes that shape urban space and their implications for disadvantaged social groups and the environment. His recent work has focused on urban temporality (Cities in Time, 2017, Bloomsbury), planning theory (Handbook of Planning Theory, 2018, Routledge), spatial justice (Relocal.eu, 2016-21), and public space (Rethinking Public Space, 2023, Elgar).
Session 1 - Fostering Urban Transitions for Sustainable and Climate-Resilient Environments
Ana Monteiro
Ana Monteiro is a Full Professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Porto (UP), a member of the Center for Geography and Spatial Planning Studies (CEGOT), and an appointed member of the Lisbon Academy of Sciences. She has served as both Director and Vice-Director of FLUP, as a national representative in various COST Actions, and as an evaluator for the 7th Framework Programme (7FP), Horizon 2020 (H2020), FCT, and similar international agencies. She has also held roles as president and member of A3ES.
Since 1983, she has taught and conducted research in areas such as urban climatology, bioclimatology, agroclimatology, air pollution, and urban planning, always aiming to transfer her research findings to society. Her work is reflected in over 17 books and book chapters, more than 200 articles in journals and conference proceedings at both national and international levels. She has supervised or co-supervised over 60 postdoctoral, doctoral, and master’s students both domestically and internationally.
Jorge Cardoso Gonçalves
Jorge Cardoso Gonçalves is the President of the Portuguese Association of Water Resources (APRH) and the Innovation and Training Manager at LIS-Water. He holds a PhD in Civil Engineering, specializing in Hydraulics, Water Resources, and Environment (from FEUP), has training in Management from the Porto Business School, and completed Advanced Management Programs in Water and Waste Services. An author and co-author of various works in the field of Hydraulics, he has served as a designer, researcher, operations manager, and engineering consultant. He is also a Partner at Water Services Consulting and Management, Lda.
Mariana Sardoeira
Mariana Sardoeira is the Associate Director of LJ-Group in Portugal. She graduated in Architecture from the University of Architecture and Arts of Porto in 2004. She fell in love with landscaping in 2012, living and working in Rio de Janeiro. There she had the opportunity to participate in a big variety of projects, from small houses to large luxury development projects, helping her to develop a deep knowledge in the landscaping field. In 2018, already back in Portugal, she was invited by Pedro Pedalino to rejoin LJ-Group, succeeding in her role as a strategic member to develop the design brand in Portugal.
Sara Cruz
Sara Cruz is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto (FEUP), and a Researcher at the Research Center for Territory, Transport, and Environment (CITTA). Her research focuses on the study of urban space and the processes that shape it, including its social and psychological significance, the meanings and values of public spaces, agents of urban change, and the implications of urban transformations for communities (particularly vulnerable groups) and the environment. She also examines space transformation within the framework of climate resilience.
She has been involved in various European and national research projects related to topics such as the transformation of urban spaces for climate adaptation, urban policies for resilient cities, citizen science for urban resilience, sustainable urban metabolism, the privatization of public spaces, the impact of gated communities, planning and active aging, and improving the implementation of environmental impact assessment.
Teresa Fidélis
Teresa Fidélis is an Associate Professor with Habilitation in Environmental Sciences and Engineering (specializing in Environmental Planning and Governance) in the Department of Environment and Planning at the University of Aveiro, and an integrated researcher in the Research Unit on Governance, Competitiveness, and Public Policies (GOVCOPP). She holds a PhD in Environmental Sciences (UA, PT), a Master of Philosophy in Regional and Urban Planning (UM, UK), and a Bachelor’s in Urban and Regional Planning (UA, PT). She teaches Environmental Planning, Environmental Impact Assessment and Strategic Environmental Assessment, and Public Policy Instruments in the environmental and risk domains in Master’s and Doctoral programs. She has extensive experience in scientific publications and in supervising doctoral theses and master’s dissertations. She has participated in numerous international research projects on water governance, land use, and nature-based solutions. She has led or been part of teams for regional spatial planning, watershed management plans, environmental plans, local Agenda 21 projects, and strategic environmental assessments. Additionally, she has significant experience in environmental governance, having served as President of the Central Hydrographic Region Administration, President of the Board of Directors of Polis Litoral Ria de Aveiro, SA, and as a board member and Regional Director of the Center for the National Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests.
Session 2 - Fostering Urban Transitions with Integrated Transportation
Arminda Almeida
Jorge Freire de Sousa
Jorge Freire de Sousa is a retired Associate Professor at the Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, and a Senior Researcher at INESC TEC. Initially, his research focused primarily on decision support in public transportation planning and operational management, as well as vehicle replacement policies. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the Porto Public Transport Company for over ten years, from 1998 to 2012. His recent work has concentrated on defining business strategies in transportation and engaging citizens in the formulation of urban mobility policies.
Luís Filipe Teixeira
Graduated in Civil Engineering from the Faculty of Civil Engineering of Porto in 1996, with a postgraduate degree in Civil Engineering specializing in Materials and Construction Rehabilitation from the University of Minho in 2007. He is currently enrolled in the postgraduate program in Future Mobility at ISCTE. He is currently serving as the Head of the Mobility and Transport Division at the Municipality of Vila Nova de Gaia.
Sandra Melo
Sandra Melo is the R&D Coordinator in Mobility at CEiiA, with extensive experience in designing and evaluating mobility solutions. She has been responsible for coordinating international projects in both academia and industry and has served as a trainer in sustainable transportation. Throughout her professional career, she has combined scientific knowledge with the design of products and services in the industry sector.
Session 3 - Fostering Urban Transitions for Transformative Governance and Socio-spatial Justice
Fátima Loureiro de Matos
Fátima Loureiro de Matos holds a degree in Geography and a PhD in Human Geography from the Faculty of Arts at the University of Porto (FLUP). She is currently an assistant professor at this Faculty and a researcher at the Center for Geography and Spatial Planning Studies (CEGOT). She is a member of the European Network for Housing Research, the Urban Commission - Urban Challenges in a Complex World of the International Geographical Union, and the H-Network - National Network for Housing Studies. She conducts research, teaches, and supervises students in the areas of Housing Policy, Social Housing, Housing and Quality of Life, Population Geography, and Social Vulnerability, which are also reflected in her publications.
Joana Lages
Architect, urban researcher, and co-founder of the Women in Architecture Association. She graduated in Architecture (2003) from the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Lisbon and holds a Master's degree in Architecture (2009). In 2017, she completed her PhD thesis in Urbanism, focusing on the challenges of urban interventions in self-built places in the pursuit of spatial justice. Since 2020, she has been an integrated researcher at DINÂMIA'CET - ISCTE. Her research intersects Architecture and Social Sciences, action research, and participatory projects. Her main areas of interest include housing precariousness, the right to housing, and spatial inequality. Since 2022, she has been the Principal Investigator of the project 'Care(4)Housing - A care through design approach to address housing precarity in Portugal,' funded by FCT.
Paulo Conceição
Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, researcher at CITTA, and coordinator of the research group Governance, Public Policies, and Housing (GPH). His research focuses on urban governance, public policy evaluation, and housing systems and policies, with particular attention to issues such as institutional dynamics and scalar articulations, collective learning processes, and methodologies for evaluating transformative capacities.
Vinicius Netto
Vinicius M. Netto is a Principal Researcher at the Research Center for Territory, Transport, and Environment at the University of Porto, Portugal (CITTA | FEUP). He holds a PhD in Advanced Architectural Studies from The Bartlett, University College London (UCL), and has been a visiting researcher at the Center for Urban Science and Progress, New York University (CUSP NYU). He is the author of the book The Social Fabric of Cities (Routledge) and has published over 100 articles and book chapters. His work examines cities as networks of information, cooperation, and segregation.
The conference took place at WoW - Cultural District, in the historic center of Vila Nova de Gaia.
For more information about the venue, you can visit the website: www.wow.pt
The event will take place at the WoW Gallery - see item number 11 on the map below, highlighted in red. Access to this room is via the Main Square (item number 8).
How to Get There:
It is recommended to access the event by metro or bus.
Metro: Use the Jardim do Morro or General Torres stations. The WoW space is a 15-minute walk from both stations.
Bus: Take the STCP lines 900, 901, or 906 and get off at the "GNR" stop. The WoW space is a 10-minute walk from the stop.
GPS Coordinates: 41°08'06.2"N 8°36'48.4"W // 41.1350, -8.6134
Notice for Individuals with Reduced Mobility: Some recommended routes by systems like Google Maps may lead users through staircases, which are common in this area of Vila Nova de Gaia. However, there are pathways without stairs—use the bicycle mode in these systems to find such routes. The venue has private parking available for those who have no alternative to driving.
**************************************************
Fostering City Transitions - Practical Symposium
The Practical Symposium for doctoral students is associated with the Annual Conference of the Research Centre for Territory, Transports and Environment (CITTA). This year, the conference will be held in Porto, focusing on the theme "Fostering City Transitions" and the various issues it raises. The Practical Symposium addresses this theme to promote the necessary skills to advance research in the field of territorial and transport planning. These issues serve as the foundation on which the Research and Development skills promoted by the European Union are considered, focusing on promoting good research practices and the PhD as the first step in the academic world. The Practical Symposium will also offer early-career researchers an opportunity to gain insights into the challenges and opportunities in PhD research. Overall, the participants will be able to grow professionally and expand their knowledge and contact networks in a supportive academic environment.
Objectives
Promote the development of research skills: the Practical Symposium will highlight the core research skills, allowing them to be identified as the transversal tools they are. By examining how their multiple characteristics can be expressed in different research projects (both of the students and the activities developed at the symposium), the aim is to underline their role and importance.
Of the seven skills identified by the European Union ("Doing and Managing Research," "Managing Research Tools", "Managing Own Work", "Cognitive Skills," "Teamwork," and "Creating Impact") the Practical Symposium will offer different moments of reflection on their impact on the students' doctoral research and on planning practice.
Promote a collaborative environment: by integrating students, junior researchers, faculty, and planning professionals, the Practical Symposium will promote an environment of innovation and collaboration. This synergy aims to bridge the gap between theory and practice.
Engage with practical applications: the Practical Symposium will include the presentation of a practical case study by planning professionals. This concrete challenge will allow participants to discuss the role of planning in solving territorial issues, strengthening the relationship between academic research and practical application.
Activities
November 28, 2024
Mentors
Catarina Cadima
Catarina Cadima is a researcher at the Research Centre for Territory, Transports and Environment, CITTA. She participated in several scientific projects, namely the BooST project (which aims to provide specific technical know-how to allow starter cities to reach the next level of bicycle use), IPTC project (Public transport and urban development: Improving public transport competitiveness versus the private car, CITTA in partnership with the Norwegian Centre for Transport Research) and SPLASH project (Spatial Planning for Change - aims to prepare a body of transformative planning policies, implementation mechanisms and decision support systems, able to guide Portuguese planning practice towards a transition to low carbon and socially inclusive urban system (CITTA, DINÂMIA’CET and GOVCOPP research centres). Her scientific activity has involved Spatial Planning, Economic Geography and Sustainable Mobility. Her research focuses on active commuting to school, decision-making processes and mode choice. Catarina is starting the SWIT Project, which involves school mobility management, within the scope of the Scientific Employment (2021.01013.CEECIND).
Isabel Coimbra
While working as an architect, Isabel Coimbra suspected grass was greener on the other side and hopped onto a doctoral program on Spatial Planning, at the local Faculty of Engineering. After finishing her doctorate, she became an integrated member of CITTA-FEUP hoping for a long and interesting research career, something which is probably considered a curse somewhere. So far, her main research areas pertain to the dynamics of knowledge within territories; participatory and community-led governance; the specificities of spatial justice, identity & recognition, and cultural heritage; systemic capacity building; and housing policies and instruments. Isabel is intent on studying how collaboration, articulation and transformation happen (or fail to happen) within planning and governance. More recently, she has discovered that working on the articulation of actor networks might just be easier than looking after an energetic toddler.
Diogo Correia
Diogo Correia is an electronics engineer with over 7 years of R&D+I industrial experience, ranging from energy harvesting solutions to polymer research for developing electrical signal transmission and electromagnetic interference compliance. In recent years he concluded his Ph.D. at the MIT Portugal Program in the field of energy harvesting for airports, currently, he is a member of the Centre for Functional Ecology (CFE) at the University of Coimbra working as a researcher in the EU-funded (ERC) Bioelectronics and Bioenergy Research Lab, doing his work in energy harvesting, electronics and bioelectronics. In addition to his main field of studies, he has done several innovations and entrepreneurship formations, including the Babson College MBA at Wellesley, USA.
Silvia Spolaor
Silvia Spolaor is a postdoctoral researcher at CITTA-FEUP, working on the JUST STREETS project. She is a Brazilian architect with a PhD in Spatial Planning from CITTA-FEUP and an MSc in Urban Planning and Policy Design (POLIMI). Her main research interests include urban morphology, informal settlements, Southern urban theory, public participation, and methods and theories that bridge academic knowledge with planning practice and architectural design. In her research, she focuses on understanding how popular knowledge—shaped by social, economic, and cultural factors—influences the physical form of cities and how this comprehension can foster more inclusive planning strategies. Her key skills include qualitative spatial analysis, particularly using historical-geographical and process-typological approaches, along with mapping, to study the diachronic development and transformation of urban form.
Location
The event will take place in the GO Porto and Porto Ambiente municipal companies building (Rua de São Dinis 245, 4250-427 Porto). The building is renowned for its dedication to implementing sustainable solutions, having been awarded the international LEED certification for the energy, water and natural ventilation efficiency solutions applied in its refurbishment.
Organizing Committee
Ana Mélice Dias, Ana Rita Sousa, Anne Patrício, Lara Bomfim, Maria Beirão, Nathalie Andrade
For more information, please get in touch with us via the following email address: pdpt.feup@gmail.com.