The Paths of Leça: (re)discovering the river-adjacent spaces in Ermesinde

Eduardo Rodrigues

The Paths of Leça: (re)discovering the river-adjacent spaces in Ermesinde, is a study that focuses on the relations that man establishes with the territory, how he occupies it and how that relationship influences the landscape and the overall space where he dwells. It is a study that aims to know the activities which occur in the territory and how those activities can influence a strategy for intervention that strengthens the bond between man and the urban setting.

This project translates in the drawing of a route line in the city of Ermesinde that connects two opposing points that are in a critical situation, passing through all of the river lands. The object of study is the Leça river that crosses Ermesinde’s urban center whose objective is to establish connections between the city and its people, connections that summon lost spaces and uses and proposes new uses. For this end, the route develops longitudinally to the city with which it establishes strategic connections, creating more links between the city and the river following a set of interventions articulated with the route that are intimately related with this territory.

It is a work that shows the many transformations introduced by Man. Through the characterization of those transformations the project tries to contradict the negative realities associated to most of them, identifying and empowering the more positive qualities that they contain.