From the 8th to the 12th of July, ISCTE- Instituto Universitário de Lisboa held the ERASMUS+ Blended Intensive Programme (BIP), “From place to city: constructing collectively the habitat.” This BIP was organised by Alexandra Paio, Professor at ISCTE, alongside five partners from the fields of Planning, Architecture, Urban Tourism, and Anthropology: Giovanna Marconi (Iuav – Planning & Climate Change, IUAV Università Iuav di Venezia), Cornelia Dlabaja (Studienbereich Tourism & Hospitality Management, FHWien der WKW), Dorota Gawryluk (Bialystok University of Technology), Piotr Czyż (University of Gdansk), and Claudia Baptista (Lisbon Municipality), counting also with the visit of Professor Jochen Siegmund from TH KOLN.

The programme involved 40 students, 10 professors, and 8 tutors. On the first day, we took a field trip to the neighbourhoods under study. The rest of the week was structured with morning round-table discussions, thematic hands-on workshops, and afternoon design studio sessions. The students worked on-site in six different locations within one neighbourhood in Galinheiras, Ameixoeira, Lisbon. Each group was interdisciplinary, comprising students from architecture and urban planning, tourism research, and anthropology. The teams worked together to create concepts for improving public spaces based on three key questions: How is migration changing cities? How can design build community? What is the role of public spaces as places of social cohesion?

After a week of hard work, it was amazing to see the results and ideas for the recreation and adaptation of the project spaces.

Author: ISCTE