The (a)temporality of the urban layout. Lisbons Almirante Reis Avenue in pandemic times.

Abstract

Public spaces of cities worldwide have suffered transformations related to the effects of the COVID19 pandemic and measures undertaken to tackle it. Lisbon is not an exception and one of the most significant and debated transformations was the introduction of a cycleway in Almirante Reis Avenue.

Almirante Reis avenue configures the longest straight line of Lisbons urban layout, characterized by a permanent urban dynamic, compacity and overlapping of functions.

During 2020/21, the avenue partition transformations related to the introduction of a cycleway underwent sequent alterations aiming at its adjustment in the traffic system of this major arterial street of the city, not without political arguments and public opinion in favour and against these changes.

The present article reveals the partition transformations that occurred since the opening of the Almirante Reis Avenue, in 1903, contextualizing the changes undergone during the pandemic period in a longer time frame. This framing allows us to acknowledge both the metamorphosis of the partition and the persistence of the urban layout as essential factors of the avenue character.

Methodologically, interpretative morphological drawing is used to reveal and place in evidence forms and coincidences otherwise hidden. Based on historical photographs and cartography, each period of the avenue evolution is redrawn in sections with the same scale and representation criteria, retracing the preexisting form and highlighting transformations.

The comparative reading of Almirante Reis Avenue time strata allows to reveal the partition transformations from the distinct resulting sections and partition diagrams. Furthermore, this interpretative drawing series reveals a persistence, namely in the form of the layout of the avenue.

Commonly understood as a major transformation, the introduction of the cycleway is revealed as one more ephemeral transformation of the partition, dependent on the spirit of the time. The partition metamorphosis across almost 120 years of the life of the avenue was always supported by the same width of the section. The atemporality of the urban layout of the avenue confirms the longevity of a public space urban element that stands the test of time, with or without pandemic.