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Drawing from an ongoing research project 'SPLACH - Spatial Planning for Change, which aims to inform a sustainable planning transition of Portuguese metropolitan areas, this presentation identifies the planning paradigms which have guided the urban planning of Lisbon, its region and metropolitan area, during twentieth century. The influence of specific theories such as the Garden City (1898-1902), the Chartre d'Athénes (1933-1943), the Doorn Manifesto (1954) and the Compact City (1997) on strategic planning documents inclunding the 'Plano Director de Urbanização de Lisboa' (1938-1948), the 'Plano Director Municipal de Lisboa' (1954-1958), and the municipal and regional masterplans established after the 1974 Portuguese Democratic revolution are here identified. Such analysis is constructed through an overview of municipal and subregional plans and of neighbourhoods created in them, which allows an analysis of the metabolic and morphological transitions which have marked twentieth century Lisbon Metropolitan Area (LMA) urban planning history. By doing so, we seek to establish which were the impacts of these transitions, inclunding on urban form, how have these changed the role of urban growth in LMA and how to interpret and optimize such built heritage today, when Sustainability urges for change. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Streets-in-the-sky were conceptualized by architects Alison and Peter Smithson as collective space, an articulation between individual and civitas. This essay argues that streets-in-the-sky are a particularly democratic type of urban element, which also has many positive sustainability potentials. The first use of this concept was in the Smithson's unbuilt Golden Lane estate (1952), which became a hallmark in post-WW2 debates over urban structure, domesticity, and social housing. Park Hill, the first streets-in-the-sky estate by Jack Lynn and Ivor Smith, was a success in the 1960s. The Smithsons continued to explore the idea in several urban projects, only to put it to built form in Robin Hood Gardens (1968–1972). These estates have adapted streets-in-the-sky and afterward evolved to very different states of maturity. While Park Hill is a refurbished Grade II listed building, Robin Hood Gardens is awaiting full demolition. Streets-in-the-sky were generally abandoned in more recent housing schemes, but the situation of these estates suggests that no consensus exists as to their urban value. Here, we analyze streets-in-the-sky at the time of their emergence as a concept. To assess their cultural, morphological, social, and political implications, we explore their development in built and unbuilt housing schemes, using the above mentioned case-studies to point out how streets-in-the-sky evolved, including their possible role in important urban debates of the present. Since many social housing estates employing streets-in-the-sky have been and continue to be demolished in redevelopment projects, we aim to understand what losses— aesthetic, functional, and environmental—may be implied in the decimation of this element of urban form. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

The present work reports on the development of piezoresistive TixCuy thin films, deposited on polymeric substrates (PET). The general idea was to analyse the influence of the Cu concentration on the signal response of the Ti-based transducers, exploring the possibility to use this thin film system as force and deformation sensors in biomedical sensing devices. The GLancing Angle Deposition, GLAD, technique was used to change the typical normal columnar growth microstructure into inclined (zigzag-like) architectures, aiming to tune the mechanical and electrical responses of the thin films, which may offer unique opportunities for several sensing devices. Inclined (zigzag grown) thin films were prepared with increasing amounts of Cu and characterized in terms of the most relevant properties for sensing applications. The piezoresistive response was analyzed trough the evaluation of the Gauge Factor, K. The incident angles of the particle flux  = 45º were used to prepare the nano-architectured zigzag TixCuy thin films. The Gauge factor ranges from 1.24 ± 0.03 to 16.34±0.43 for intermetallic Ti0.92Cu0.08 and pure Cu thin films, respectively. For the deposited thin films small voids are formed and the voids density decreases considerably with increasing Cu content. Taking in account the: electrical resistance linearity, low noise and the highest K value found for TixCuy films (K= 3.6±0.1), the most promising results were obtained when the polymer was coated with a stoichiometry ofTi0.37Cu0.63. The overall set of results also show the viability of these materials to be used as piezoresistive sensors, namely in biological environments, such as catheters, needles or endoscopes with sensing capabilities. ; The authors also thank FCT for financial support: A. Ferreira and C. Lopes thanks the FCT for grant SFRH/BPD/102402/2014 and SFRH/BD/103373/2014. The authors thank financial support from the Basque Government Industry Department under the ELKARTEK Program. SLM thanks the Diputación de Bizkaia for financial support ...

Abstract. In this paper, we report the observation of a significant decrease of the vertical component of the atmospheric electrical field in the Évora region (Portugal) during the M = 4.1 Sousel earthquake of 27 March 2010. The epicentre of the earthquake was 52 km from the observation site, which falls within the theoretical earthquake preparation radius. A simple interpretation based on hypothetical radon emissions is presented, and future experiments required to elucidate these observations are outlined. To our knowledge, this is the first reported observation of a decrease of the atmospheric electrical field preceding an earthquake.

Abstract. This paper presents a work that aims to monitor seismo-electromagnetic phenomena in the Western Part of the Eurasia-Nubia Plate Boundary. This region has a significant tectonic activity combined with relatively low electromagnetic noise levels, rendering high quality seismo-electromagnetic measurements possible. An overview of the seismicity of this region is presented and the research plan is discussed accordingly.