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The simulation and analysis of future land use and land cover—LULC scenarios using artificial neural networks (ANN)—has been applied in the last 25 years, producing information for environmental and territorial policy making and implementation. LULC changes have impacts on many levels, e.g., climate change, biodiversity and ecosystem services, soil quality, which, in turn, have implications for the landscape. Therefore, it is fundamental that planning is informed by scientific evidence. The objective of this work was to develop a geographic model to identify the main patterns of LULC transitions between the years 2000 and 2018, to simulate a baseline scenario for the year 2036, and to assess the effectiveness of the Chapecó River ecological corridor (an area created by State Decree No. 2.957/2010), regarding the recovery and conservation of forest remnants and natural fields. The results indicate that the forest remnants have tended to recover their area, systematically replacing silviculture areas. However, natural fields (grassland) are expected to disappear in the near future if proper measures are not taken to protect this ecosystem. If the current agricultural advance pattern is maintained, only 0.5% of natural fields will remain in the ecological corridor by 2036. This LULC trend exposes the low effectiveness of the ecological corridor (EC) in protecting and restoring this vital ecosystem.

The real-world urban systems represent nonlinear, dynamical, and interconnected urban processes that require better management of their complexity. Thereby, we need to understand, measure, and assess the structure and functioning of the urban processes. We propose an innovative and novel evidence-based methodology to manage the complexity of urban processes, that can enhance their resilience as part of the concept of smart and regenerative urban metabolism with the overarching intention to better achieve sustainability. We couple Life Cycle Thinking and Machine Learning to measure and assess the metabolic processes of the urban core of Lisbon’s functional urban area using multidimensional indicators and measures incorporating urban ecosystem services dynamics. We built and trained a multilayer perceptron (MLP) network to identify the metabolic drivers and predict the metabolic changes for the near future (2025). The prediction model’s performance was validated using the standard deviations of the prediction errors of the data subsets and the network’s training graph. The simulated results show that the urban processes related to employment and unemployment rates (17%), energy systems (10%), sewage and waste management/treatment/recycling, demography & migration, hard/soft cultural assets, and air pollution (7%), education and training, welfare, cultural participation, and habitatecosystems (5%), urban safety, water systems, economy, housing quality, urban void, urban fabric, and health services and infrastructure (2%), consists the salient drivers for the urban metabolic changes. The proposed research framework acts as a knowledge-based tool to support effective urban metabolism policies ensuring sustainable and resilient urban development.

The conceptual and methodological debate on urban form has grown in the last decades to recognize that social, economic, demographic and political processes can contribute to the development of new urban forms, especially those related to urban sprawl, as well as to find alternative methodologies for measuring them. Spatial metrics derived from landscape ecology arise as principal indicators to measure urban form. This paper proposes a typology of the urban occupation of Portuguese municipalities. It uses land use/cover data from 1990 and 2006 to extract built-up areas, and it presents five spatial metrics alongside seventeen statistical indicators from 1991 to 2011 most commonly used in the literature to characterize urban occupation. It uses a self-organising map as a visual tool to identify trends and relationships among variables and to cluster municipalities. Based on the self-organising map’s visual clustering, six types of urban occupation of Portuguese municipalities are proposed. In addition, the paper discusses the added value of using indicators that describe both the patterns and the characteristics of the municipalities for making spatial planning decisions in Portugal. The observed results show that spatial metrics are particularly adequate for measuring peri-urban municipalities (urban sprawl areas). These results represent the first multidimensional and systematic analysis of Portuguese urban occupation and they can be the first step in the integration of spatial metrics as indicators that are suitable for the analysis of spatial planning, and also for comparative purposes at a broader geographical scale.

Modern urbanism is called to face current challenges ranging from intensive demographic growth, economic and social stagnation to resources salvation and climate changes. Under the broader scope of sustainability, we argue that the transition to a holistic perspective of smart and regenerative planning and design is the way to face and yet to prevent these urban challenges. In doing so, we adopt systematic thinking to study the complexity of urban metabolisms at an urban place scale, emphasizing the ongoing coevolution of social-cultural-technological and ecological processes. Focusing on urban places, we give a city or region the sense of a place of stability, security, cultural and social interactions, and a sense of uniqueness. We plan and design innovative urban places that improve the environment and the quality of urban life, able to adapt and mitigate climate changes and natural hazards, leverage community spirit, and power a green-based economy. Designing the conceptual framework of smart and regenerative urban places we contribute to the field of modern urban studies helping practitioners, policymakers, and decision-makers to vision and adopt more environmental-friendly policies and actions using a user-centered approach.

“Smart city”, “sustainable city”, “ubiquitous city”, “smart sustainable city”, “eco-city”, “regenerative city” are fuzzy concepts; they are established to mitigate the negative impact on urban growth while achieving economic, social, and environmental sustainability. This study presents the result of the literature network analysis exploring the state of the art in the concepts of smart and regenerative urban growth under urban metabolism framework. Heat-maps of impact citations, cutting-edge research on the topic, tip-top ideas, concepts, and theories are highlighted and revealed through VOSviewer bibliometrics based on a selection of 1686 documents acquired from Web of Science, for a timespan between 2010 and 2019. This study discloses that urban growth is a complex phenomenon that covers social, economic, and environmental aspects, and the overlaps between them, leading to a diverse range of concepts on urban development. In regards to our concepts of interest, smart, and regenerative urban growth, we see that there is an absence of conceptual contiguity since both concepts have been approached on an individual basis. This fact unveils the need to adopt a more holistic and interdisciplinary approach to urban planning and design, integrating these concepts to improve the quality of life and public health in urban areas.

Este artigo analisa as consequências do encolhimento urbano na forma da cidade, produzindo o que aqui designamos de ‘cidade perfurada’. O estudo baseia -se num inventário das ‘perfurações’ no tecido urbano geradas pelo abandono – i.e., os espaços arruinados e vacantes – em quatro cidades portuguesas em declínio demográfico. Os resultados comprovam que ruínas e terrenos vacantes são presenças comuns nessas paisagens urbanas. No total, 7,7% da área urbana das quatro cidades corresponde a ‘perfurações’, mas em algumas cidades essa proporção chega aos 32%. O estudo demonstra que as ‘perfurações’ geradas pelo abandono tendem a ocorrer dispersa e um pouco aleatoriamente nas cidades, tanto em posições centrais como periféricas. A extensão e dispersão das ‘perfurações’ parece variar consoante a cidade é mais ou menos densa e o encolhimento é mais ou menos antigo ou foi mais ou menos severo., This paper aims to analyse the consequences of urban shrinkage in city form, producing the so -called ‘perforated city’. It is based on an inventory of ‘perforations’ in the urban fabric generated by abandonment – i.e., ruins and vacant land – in four shrinking Portuguese cities. The results show that ruins and vacant land are common in the four cities. In total, 7.8% of the urban area corresponds to ‘perforations’. In some cities, the proportion reaches 32%. The study also demonstrates that the ‘perforations’ tend to occur in a scattered and somewhat aleatory manner in the cities, in both central and peripheral positions. Albeit, the incidence and spatial position of ruins and vacancies appear to vary depending on if the city is more or less compact, and on the degree and temporality of shrinkage., Cet article analyse les conséquences du rétrécissement urbain sur la forme des villes. L’étude est basée sur un inventaire des “perforations” du tissu urbain créés par l’abandon – c’est -à -dire des espaces ruinés et vacants – dans quatre villes portugaises en déclin démographique. On a constaté que les ruines et terrains vagues sont des présences communes dans ces paysages urbains : soit 7% de leur aire urbaine en moyenne, mais jusqu’à 32% dans certains cas. Ces “perforations” apparaissent en général de façon dispersée et quelque peu aléatoire, en position aussi bien centrale que périphérique. Leur taille et leur dispersion paraissent varier en fonction de la densité urbaine, de l’ancienneté du rétrécissement urbain et de sa sévérité.

In this paper, we demonstrate the use of scenario building in the context of contested land use visions. We examine a small coastal community located 20 kms south of Lisbon. In Almada – Trafaria/Costa da Caparica, competing stakeholders such as central government, local government, environmental NGO's and private companies each have competing development visions for the area. These include the development of recreation and leisure facilities, a container terminal and the re-naturalization of unused land. We illustrate the added value of the GIS-ANN tool in steering negotiations between these different visions and the potential of a scenario building web application as a tool for problem solving. The emergence of user-created GIS-based web content in Planning has transformed passive users and consumers of geospatial information into active contributors to the development of spatial visions of the future. It allows stakeholders to gauge alternative future land uses thus making planning and decision-making processes potentially more transparent and democratic. In this paper, we detail a new method that enhances GIS-web-based public participation. We build on a combination of GIS basic capabilities and the data mining methods of Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), namely Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) packaged in a friendly (GUI) user interface that runs on the Google Earth platform. Users will be able to articulate different spatial development scenarios for a specific area, to conduct sensitivity analyses for various competing scenarios and to explore causal connections between them.

Telecommunications and geospatial technologies (electronic devices, computers and software, communicating with each other in real time) nowadays form the backbone of urban structures that support the everyday lives of people around the world. Despite their recognized role, little attention has been given to the social and gender impacts of these techno-urban systems, and little has been questioned about how they can be used to foster more inclusive and equitable mobility policies with the participation of communities. On the other hand, mobility is one of the great challenges that institutions face, and research related to gender imbalance in the everyday use of space-time is scarce. Deepening knowledge about mobility and the use of time by women and men in Portugal, the research that led to this article used the methodology of real-time monitoring of a (business) day of workers in order to examine their commuting patterns. To this end, and relying on volunteers, smartphones and/or devices with embedded GPS (trackers) were used for data acquisition. The results demonstrate the feasibility and relevance of the methodology (telegeomonitoring of commuters), highlight gender inequalities in mobility and time use, and help encourage more inclusive social policies and work-life balance tools., Telecomunicazioni e tecnologie geospaziali (dispositivi elettronici, computer e software, comunicanti tra loro in tempo reale) al giorno d’oggi costituiscono la spina dorsale delle strutture urbane che supportano la vita quotidiana delle persone in tutto il mondo. Nonostante il riconoscimento del loro ruolo, poca attenzione è stata data agli impatti sociali e di genere di questi sistemi tecno-urbani, e poco è stato indagato su come possono essere utilizzati per promuovere politiche di mobilità più inclusive ed eque, con la partecipazione delle comunità. D’altra parte, la mobilità è una delle grandi sfide che le istituzioni devono affrontare, e la ricerca relativa allo squilibrio di genere nell’uso quotidiano dello spazio-tempo è modesta. Approfondendo la conoscenza sulla mobilità e l’uso del tempo da parte delle donne e degli uomini in Portogallo, la ricerca che ha portato a questo articolo ha utilizzato la metodologia di monitoraggio in tempo reale di una giornata lavorativa al fine di esaminare i modelli di pendolarismo. A tal fine, e basandosi su volontari, sono stati utilizzati per l’acquisizione dei dati smartphone e/o dispositivi con GPS integrato (trackers). I risultati dimostrano la fattibilità e la pertinenza della metodologia (telegeomonitoraggio degli spostamenti), evidenziano le disparità di genere nella mobilità e nell’uso del tempo, e contribuiscono ad incoraggiare l’adozione di politiche sociali più inclusive e degli strumenti di conciliazione.

Este trabalho tem por objectivo principal a construção de um modelo geográfico de indicadores de desenvolvimento sustentável em que os SIG são o instrumento mais adequado para os quantificar e relacionar. Salienta-se que o conceito de Desenvolvimento Sustentável tem sido objecto de discussões quase sempre exclusivamente teóricas e qualitativas.

Neste trabalho, explora-se precisamente o facto dos SIG permitirem a fácil integração de informação proveniente de diversas fontes. Esta potencialidade pode ser explorada na classificação de imagens de satélite, através da utilização de informação não espectral (auxiliar ou colateral). Neste contexto, propõe-se o desenvolvimento e validação, por experimentação numa área teste (área envolvente do Estádio Nacional – Oeiras), de uma forma melhorada de classificação de imagens que integra, em ambiente SIG, dados provenientes dos censos e de detecção remota. A metodologia desenvolvida - Integração de Dados Estatísticos na Classificação de Imagens de Satélite (IDECIS) - utiliza dados matriciais (raster) e vectoriais, correspondendo os primeiros a imagens SPOT (P e XS) e Landsat TM e os segundos aos resultados do Recenseamento Geral da População e Habitação (Censos) e ao Plano Director Municipal (PDM) da região em estudo.

Disponíveis versões do relatório em Espanhol e Francês, O presente eixo de análise tem como principal objectivo avaliar a importância das políticas destinadas à implementação de postos públicos de acesso à Internet nas três regiões em estudo, nomeadamente avaliando a sua importância ao nível dos utilizadores. O trabalho que a seguir se apresenta está estruturado em 4 partes. Na primeira parte apresentam-se e comparam-se os conceitos de “posto público de acesso à internet” considerados na análise das três regiões. Na segunda parte, é feita uma análise comparativa das políticas desenvolvidas nos três países e regiões neste domínio. A terceira parte desenvolve-se com base num inquérito realizado aos utilizadores destes espaços nas regiões de Lisboa e Vale do tejo e de Midi-Pyrénées. Na quarta parte são apresentadas as principais conclusões.

En 2004, la moitié des européens affirment avoir utilisé Internet. Les moins de 24 ans semblent être les plus adeptes, avec 75% d’entre eux qui naviguent régulièrement plus ou moin sur la toile. En 2005, environ un foyer européen sur deux possède une connexion Internet. Au cours des vingt dernières années, l’informatique et l’Internet ont bouleversé l’économie, la recherche scientifique et l’administration au niveau mondial. Les réseaux informatiques maillent progressivement l’ensemble des territoires. Les politiques publiques centrées sur la Société de l’Information ont un rôle à jouer dans ce domaine. Les TIC représentent un des moyens de lutter contre l’exclusion sociale. Afin de mieux observer la diffusion des nouvelles technologies, le programme européen eAtlasudoe a pour objectif de transmettre aux chercheurs et aux acteurs publics des informations sur l’évolution des usages des TIC. Une équipe, formée de trois universités et de trois observatoires régionaux, a choisi de constituer une communauté de travail pour rendre compte de l’émergence de la Société de l’Information sur les territoires du Sud-Ouest européen. Les membres du projet sont répartis sur trois territoires : - Midi-Pyrénées, en France - Aragon, en EspagneRégion de Lisbonne, au Portugal1 Un des enjeux du partenariat est d’analyser les différenciations territoriales afin de déceler « les bonnes pratiques », les points positifs de ces trois régions dans le domaine des TIC, et les freins des non-utilisateurs. Parmi six axes de travail étudiés par l’ensemble des partenaires, les observatoires se sont engagés à mettre en commun des indicateurs sur un thème précis : la pénétration d’Internet au sein des foyers. Cet axe vise à s’interroger sur l’évolution des usages Internet des ménages, la connexion haut débit, etc. En terme de méthodologie, des interrogations restent en suspend, notamment concernant la structure de l’échantillon, le panel : qu’entend-on par foyers ? Interroge t’on un foyer au complet ou un individu au sein d’un foyer ? Ce dossier rassemble le travail qui a été réalisé sur les TIC dans les foyers par les trois observatoires régionaux. En première partie, nous découvrirons un panorama général sur l’utilisation d’Internet au niveau européen et national. La seconde partie concerne l’étude réalisée par le biais du partenariat eAtlasudoe, rassemblant des données chiffrées des trois territoires.

O presente documento corresponde ao estudo desenvolvido no âmbito do Eixo “DESENVOLVIMENTO LOCAL – ESTUDOS DE CASO”, estruturados segundo 3 temas de investigação: 1. Parques de Ciência e Tecnologia - O caso do Taguspark 2. Cidades e Regiões Digitais - O caso de estudo do RIBATEJO DIGITAL 3. As Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação no Desenvolvimento Local - Infraestruturas de Alto Débito e Desenvolvimento Regional e Local- O caso do Projecto “Lezíria em Rede”.

The ruination of the urban built environment is intuitively associated with areas of poverty and social deprivation in cities. The Chicago School’s theories on the city growth developed in the Interwar period of the 20th century have largely supported this belief. Ruination was presented in those theories as a 'natural' result of the centrifugal growth of cities, i.e. social mobility and suburbanization. In this paper, we are going to investigate the above-mentioned relationships between the deterioration of the built environment and the social geography of cities. We seek to ascertain whether the ruins may be simply seen as inscriptions of poverty in the cityscape or whether they are signs of social and economic changes in a broader sense. Through remote sensing supported by high-resolution aerial photography and fieldwork, all the ruined buildings situated in the Lisbon city center and in an old industrial suburb of Lisbon’s periphery – Barreiro city – were identified. Census data on the socioeconomic conditions of population was then cross-referenced and a multiple linear regression was used for determining relations between the two types of data.