PRODAC Norte | Common Outdoor Spaces | ateliermob

Public Space | Participation

Bairro Prodac Norte, Marvila, Portugal

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The neighbourhood's public space was severely inadequate and degraded. Taking advantage of, and continuing, the participatory dynamics initiated with the housing legalisation process, an application was launched, in partnership with the Residents' Association, for city council funding, through the CML's Bip/Zip program, for the rehabilitation of the public spaces of the neighbourhood, defined from a participatory process and collective involvement.

The Prodac Norte neighbourhood is, in almost all of its area, surrounded by walls that define its initial public impression. Of note are the repair and painting of the walls, as well as the rehabilitation of floors, the regularisation of the surfaces of ramps and stairs, and the placement of new barriers, allowing for safer circulation within.

The "Lugar para a Participação" (Place for Participation) project in the Prodac Norte neighbourhood involved the construction of an open-air amphitheatre. Creating this public facility strengthens the importance of bringing the population of Prodac Norte closer to its public space, allowing an appreciation of its living conditions and relationships within the community.

The initiative to set up a workers' fund set an important and necessary precedent for valuing the experience and knowledge of local actors by hiring them for actions carried out in and for the neighbourhood. Additionally, the participatory genesis of the project, the professional experience of the workers to be recruited and the real and active involvement of residents of the neighbourhood in the execution of the works, determined a natural appropriation and careful maintenance by its creators and users.