Lisbon’s waterfront and its metropolitan area are both diverse and complex in its natural and cultural landscape. Holding a very strong human intervention this landscape is marked by buildings and transport infrastructure, by the design of public space and by the transformation of its ecological structure. The current geographic disposition of the river contour results from the progressive increment of the city over the river through successive landfills. The Portuguese urban models developed in Lisbon have been determining in shaping other cities with significant Portuguese presence. At the same time Lisbon received - and obviously every day is receiving - more outside influences. This dynamics continues to perform the interaction that has intensified since the 15th century. Both in Portugal and in other regions of the world where the lusophone culture is present there is a number of cities with large waterfronts and irregular topography, appropriate conditions to follow Lisbon´s example as a town that is integrated in the remarkable volumes of its seven hills. Belvederes over the river are placed to potentiate this natural setting. From the beginning of the 16th century, with the relocation of the Royal Palace of São Jorge Castle to the ‘Terreiro do Paço’ (downtown) until the 19th century, Lisbon had an inward expansion and a predominantly linear structure defined by a building area very close to the edge of the river. It’s on the riverside that many activities essential to the progress of Lisbon were concentrated, attracting every day the population to the most cosmopolitan area of the city. The attraction of the ‘riverside’ area and its symbolism and dynamism encouraged the political, economic and religious power to construct in that area many of the most significant buildings and public spaces in Lisbon.

Authors: Pedro Miguel da Silva Narciso, Fátima Cristina da Silva Oliveira, Rafael Borges Deminicis, Fábio Villani Simini and Dagoberto Lopes ABSTRACT The Management Program of Archaeological Heritage that has been done on the Harbour Area is part of a major redevelopment work conducted on the waterfront of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The archaeological excavations on Primeiro de Março Street and Barão do Ladário Square, revealed the remains of several structures in which the chronology goes back to the 18 th and 19 th centuries. When crossing the space and time stratigraphic data with historiographical sources, it is possible to observe different moments of space occupation, starting on the Mineiros beach, close to the old Manuel de Brito Path, by the end of the 16 th century, all the way up to old Navy Yard in 1763, by order of the viceroy, and later changes. The diversity and richness of the material culture, especially the Portuguese faience, present a great variety of data that supports the reconstruction of Rio de Janeiro's memory. The analysis of results of the archaeological research added to other researchers conducted not only on this Program, but others, will allow the restoration of the understanding on the Cultural Landscape of Rio de Janeiro's Harbour Area.

This paper is a continuation of research addressing relations between architecture and society on Brazilian urban beaches. Architectural variables that may contribute to-or hinder-urban vitality and social diversity are analysed and compared for three beaches in João Pessoa (Brazil): Bessa, Tambaú and Seixas. Although beaches in Brazil are perceived as democratic since they are legally accessible to all, different people tend to use different beaches. Assuming that space might help set people together or apart (Holanda, 2013; Peponis, 1989), and that spatial configuration impacts on built form and uses (Hillier, 1996), earlier research in Natal studied urban dynamics and processes of spatial and social segregation at popular urban beaches (Donegan, 2016). This study addresses popular urban beaches in João Pessoa which are also accessed by public transport, with warm swimmable waters and attractive natural landscapes. However location and built form vary, and seem interrelated. Spatial configuration, land use, building height and modes of interface between private and public spaces are explored and compared on these beaches, profiling coastal neighbourhoods. Praia do Bessa, generally considered a well visited urban beach, is located to the north and is accessible at intermediate scales, with mostly residential uses and some commercial and leisure activities, buildings under construction and vacant premises, forming a relatively less consolidated built area with weaker public/private interfaces at the seafront. Praia de Tambaú is more integrated within the city"s system, terminating the main expansion route of the city towards the sea; it forms a consolidated and dense urban area, with many leisure, tourist and commercial uses with strong interfaces with the beach. Although there are building restrictions by the coast, Tambaú buildings are more verticalized than the other beaches, with many medium to high buildings. Praia do Seixas is a secluded beach at the far south of the city, and has simpler and lower buildings, as an almost separate village with a few summer houses and beach huts, and little change over the years. Overall, levels of building renewal follow closely the most accessible areas, forming different types of urban economies. Relations between architectural variables reveal different profiles in which location helps characterize buildings and uses, and exhibit urban dynamics with some similarities with Natal, although with smoother distinctions between beaches. Do these softer boundaries help facilitate more urban vitality? How do these different architectural profiles relate to beachgoers and their views? The next stage of research will address how these architectural profiles relate to beachgoers and might reveal processes of social exclusion and/or social mixture.

This paper compares the spatial configuration of urban beaches in Brazilian cities – Fortaleza and Natal – and looks for patterns that might facilitate arenas of urban vitality. Beaches in Brazil are important leisure and socialization places, and are generally seen as democratic arenas, being federal properties legally accessible to all. The beaches selected in Fortaleza-Barra do Ceará, Praia de Iracema and Praia do Futuro-and Natal-Redinha, Praia do Meio and Ponta Negra-have some similar traits: swimmable warm waters all year round, fine sand and access via public transport. Nonetheless, all beaches are characterised-and seem to be used-differently, albeit Natal's beaches receive a somewhat stronger stereotyping than Fortaleza's. Public spaces are essential assets of urban societies, having a role in fostering social diversity, and spatial form may help unite or separate people. This paper investigates the cities' and beaches' spatial configurations to understand how these might contribute to distinct characterisations and uses, and to qualities of urban vitality. For Natal, this was the subject of a doctoral thesis and showed that space, built form and social life interrelate. When we compare the spatial form of beaches in Fortaleza, we see that in both cities street patterns for each beach are very distinct, and that characterisations relate to space. However, in Natal natural boundaries help set the beaches further away from one another, and not well connected to the city's main routes of movement. Fortaleza, on the other hand, has an overall less fragmented system and beaches are less detached from the main structure. This might help explain a somewhat weaker social distinction between beaches in Fortaleza. In both cities beaches that seem to be frequented by the poorest economically (Redinha and Barra do Ceará) are the least accessible. In Natal, Ponta Negra contrasts with the others as being more connected with the wider urban fabric, and bears comparison with Praia de Iracema in Fortaleza, showing recurrent overlaps between inhabitants' and visitors' potential movement. However whereas in Natal both Praia do Meio and Redinha are spatial enclaves, this applies in Fortaleza only to Barra do Ceará, as Praia do Futuro shows some confluence of movement. The beaches' spatial configuration differences (and similarities) between the cities reveal some urban dynamics, and relate to apparently distinct social lives of beachgoers; further research can enlighten how these correspond.

This Bulletin #11 - São Paulo, Out Of Reach/São Paulo, Fora De Alcance has been released by Droste Effect Magazine and is the outcome of two months research in the city of São Paulo. This is the last chapter of a project that goes under the name of Practices as an Intersection in a Fragile Environment, an independent research investigating the relationship between Art and the Public Sphere in a state of cultural nomadism. The title São Paulo Out Of Reach originates from a 2012 exhibition by Brazilian artist Mauro Restiffe at Instituto Moureira Salles in Rio de Janeiro; a statement that points out very clearly the impossibility of reaching, defining and understanding the city in just one gaze. This chapter is dedicated to the city of São Paulo and mainly focuses on its Architecture and Urbanism through a multidisciplinary extension that involves visual artists, curators, researchers, architects, urban planners, anthropologists, and journalists. Each contribution stands by itself, but at the same time, it’s part of an extensive and complex narrative that tries to process the city in its different scales. This text, in a spontaneous and chaotic movement, follows the order in which the contributions have been sent over. This is therefore just a proposal: one of the possible readings. Thank you Droste Effect Pivô Bjcem - Association Biennale des Jeunes Créateurs de l'Europe et de la Méditerranéeand Ramdom for supporting