October 26
“Worst Tour” – From Palácio de Cristal to Praça da República
14:30 – 16:30
Nr of participants: 25
Accessibility for wheelchair users: NO
The city is the stage for social struggles and conflicts. The city, more than Architecture, is a “political issue” par excellence. The city of Porto – simultaneously “bourgeois” and working-class – like so many other cities, is the physical representation in the public space of the social classes that make it up.
The city evolves, and with it, the Class Conflict evolves. In the struggle for the best located and most central square metre, the best locations and views, the city evolves to different stages of a “wider war”, “Gentrification”, “property speculation”, “expulsion”, “return to the centre”, etc.
Between the Palace and the Praça da República, various architectures express Culture and Politics, from the “Brazilians’ Mansions”, the “Bourgeois Houses”, the “Working Class Islands” in Lapa, the “SAAL” neighbourhoods of the post-25 April – Bouça and Lapa – the new 5-star Hotel in Lapa, the Igreja da Lapa and the Quartel da Praça da República. With an open future – as always – What is the future for the poor in the city centre?
What new social programmes could fit into half-empty buildings like the Palacete and the Quartel da Praça da República? What impact will the New Hotel in Lapa have? What solutions have not yet been attempted for the homeless in Praça da República?
Mediation and Discussion
Pedro Figueiredo (Portugal, 1975) Architect developing various activities related to the city of Porto: Drawing, Critical Tours, Local Politics and Research on Architecture and Urban Geography. Participated (2020-21) in the Book – “A Baixa do Porto – Architecture and Urban Geography – 2010-2020, coordinated by Prof. Geographer José Rio Fernandes. Since the beginning of the health crisis (2020), he has been drawing illustrations of Porto Architecture. Between 2016 and 2018 he participated in the organization of “Quiosque do Piorio”, a public intervention project of Ideas, Images, Propaganda and Drawings of Political Criticism. Since 2013, he has been a member of the project “The Worst Tours”/“Passeios do Piorio”, a group of walking tours and traveling discussions around the city of Porto on Urban Policies, Participation, Architecture and Urbanism. Architect graduated from FAUP – Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto, working as a Designer for several Architecture Offices between 1999 and 2012.
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How to get there
Meeting Point – Palácio de Cristal at 14.30
This is a walking visit