Urban Rehabilitation of Alto de Bomba

The urban rehabilitation of a place with the precarious characteristics found in Alto de Bomba, requires the design team’s daily immersion in the neighborhood, seeing and feeling the everyday life of the residents. That’s why, since the launch of the project, two groups of 10 interns have joined the team, one from M_EIA University, University Institute of Art, Technology and Culture and one from Jean Piaget University, in order to ensure the apprehension for future generations of architects and engineers.



The materialization of the strategy takes place through the initial characterization of each area, the analysis of the collected data allows the construction of a strategic plan – we call it the intervention plan-, which sets the scenarios and provides possible solutions for physical and social issues. It contemplates the infrastructure, the design of surfaces, the collective equipment and, above all, creating moments of conversation that allow discussing each phase of the plan, listening to the voice of the citizens and the silences of the place, as well as including at least 50% of local residents in the estimated workforce of a starting project.

After installing our office in a local house, you could notice the enhancement/impact it had in the ongoing process of the transformation. The daily participation of residents, workers and our team in discussions about the project and the work is accompanied by meetings and actions on different topics – like rap and hip hop, agroecology, social participation, education, architecture, urbanism, among others- which reinforce the understanding and use of new public spaces, as well as increasing the proximity and allowing us to listen to and understand the constraints and courage that make Alto de Bomba this energetic place.
“We stop listening to voices that are different, silences that are different”
Couto, Mia (2005): 123

Since the conclusion of the first work, two places of encounter have been rescued and adapted, preserving and enhancing the micro sociability of the neighborhood: the tablegames-square, usually used for the elderly to find themselves in bisca and uril, and the basketball court, where the youngsters grow up and learn how to dribble and play. In the near future, more precisely during the third trimester, three more projects will be launched in Alto de Bomba, in order to completed the task and move on to two other areas, Fernando de Pó and Covada de Bruxa, to supply the urban deficit found there.

Just as the voices of Alto de Bomba slowly infiltrate this collective action, so do the local workers and available workshops: bricklayers, locksmiths and carpenters – are included in the design, production and execution of pavements, urban furniture, guards, among others. The web of relationships and actions that was built and is lived daily aims to strengthen, even more, the way of life of a place that arose from the resistance and resilience of its residents.

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