Margarida Paz

As transformações que afectaram a economia mundial a partir de meados dos anos 70 têm conduzido a uma nova geografia na distribuição espacial de actividades e emprego, sobretudo nas sociedades ocidentais (FONT & VESCLIR). Este tem sido um tema de debate em que são apresentados argumentos que relacionam os processos de globalização e de crescente regionalização da estrutura produtiva, com as dinâmicas urbanas em curso. (ASCHER, VELTZ, SASSEN). Na transição do modelo de cidade industrial, ou "fordista", para "pós-fordista", a estrutura - antes compacta, contínua e funcionalmente dependente das redes de transportes colectivos - reconfigura-se, dando lugar uma estrutura urbana descontínua, fragmentada. À semelhança do que sucede noutras regiões urbanas, como Barcelona (FONT & LORENA, 2007), as mais recentes paisagens construídas no território metropolitano de Lisboa evidenciam uma crescente polarização, com o surgimento e progressiva consolidação de novos padrões locativos de actividades e de áreas funcionalmente especializadas. A envolvente à Estrada Nacional 10 (EN10), até algumas décadas particularmente marcada pela indústria pesada, evidencia a reconfiguração territorial com alterações de uso e de forma, depois de um processo de desindustrialização que levou inicialmente à reconversão de anteriores zonas industriais em armazéns e posteriormente à substituição por complexos logísticos de cadeias internacionais ou por novas áreas de consumo. A especialização funcional e polarização estão inter-relacionadas com a melhor conexão à rede metropolitana de estradas de alta velocidade onde a EN10 possui uma ligação cada vez mais complexa.

The changes that have impacted on the world economy from the 70’s onwards have led to e new geography of the special distribution of activities and employment, above all in the western society (FONT & VESCLIR). The relationship between the processes of growing globalization and increased regionalization of the productive structure and the current urban dynamics has brought into this debate (ASCHER, VELTZ, SASSEN). Some authors argue that we are faced with a new urban cycle and a new type of city, decentralized and consistent with the social, economic, technological and cultural processes normally associated to the process of metropolisation (INDOVINA, SECCHI, PORTAS, DOMINGUES). In the transition from the industrial or “fordist “city to the “post-fordist” city the structure (that was previously compact, continuous de functionally dependent on the public transport networks) is reconfigured and replaced by a discontinuous and scattered urban pattern. As in other urban areas, as Barcelona (FONT & VECSLIR, 2007), the most recent landscapes built in Lisbon metropolitan territory shows a growing polarization, with the emergence and gradual consolidation of new standards activities, functionally specialized. In the 70’s the EN10 area was characterized by heavy shipyards, steel and chemical industry. The deindustrialization process led to abandonment but also to the conversion of former industry into residential areas, warehouses and logistical infrastructures, some recently replaced by multinational corporations or new specialized commercial areas. The polarized and functional specialization feature is interrelated with the improved connection to the metropolitan network of high-speed roads where the EN10 upholds an increasingly complex connection.

Based on the current research for the PhD in Urbanism, ongoing at the Faculty of Architecture of Lisbon, this paper is about the morphologic aspects of the spatial reconfiguration that is being occurred in the recent decades in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (LMA), from the urban development in the E.N.10 (National Road number 10). The profound transformations that have affected the world economy after the 70's, have led to a new geography in the spatial distribution of activities and employment, especially in western societies. (FONT& VECSLIR) In this globalization process, where the boundaries between urban and rural have been dissolved, an increasing regionalization of the productive structure and mobility has set important transformations on the spatial and functional structures, as well as in the landscapes of their territories (GRAHAM, SIEVERTS). Those relationships, built up by flows and connectivity, overlaps to some pre-existing urban structures, built up from physical closeness land and continuity logics, breaking pieces of rural and urban tissues, establishing new logics and new limits. In these transitions, from the industrial city model "Fordist" to the "Post-Fordist", the urban structure has been reconfigured, giving rise to a discontinuous urban fabric, fragmented, with a relocalization of business activities, new models less dispersive standards than those recognized in the residential function. In LMA, the more recent urban landscapes highlight a growing polarization, with an emergence and gradual consolidation of new standards activities, functionally specialized. The EN10, a few decades ago characterized by its heavy industry, (CUF, Quimigal, Mague, Lisnave, Margueira and National Steel Industry), is highlighting a territorial reconfiguration with changes in land use and urban shape, after a deindustrialization process that led initially to the conversion of former industrial areas in warehouses, and after replaced by international chains or logistic complexes and a new areas of consumption.