Lisbon’s metropolis infrastructural strata reached a stage of transition shaped by (1) the multi-scalar recombination of various mobility, supply and communications networks, (2) the development of well-connected urban patches bridging or regenerating spatial and functional gaps in the metropolitan fabric; and (3) the introduction of landscape and intermodal interfacialities in nodal spaces.
Despite the protection status of large areas in the metropolis (natural parks, national ecological reserve, Natura 2000 sites), the considerable innovative action in landscape has been targeted at the urban/natural interfaces:
1 Regeneration and reclaiming of waterfronts and small rivers combined with new urban facilities and soft mobility actions in cities and sprawling settlements;
2 Recovering of sensitive ecosystems, implementation of interpretative pathways, public space links between urban settlement and landscape features;
3 Shaping of multi-infrastructural basins through investment in flood control, sewage drainage and treatment and water cycle improvements, combining natural features (valleys, streams, coastal areas) with urban fabric, public space and infrastructural networks.
In a metropolitan approach these interfaces must be considered from a transcalar perspective. More than specialized use, circumscribed spaces or environmentally sensitive areas, they’re transforming into complex morphological and multifunctional formations. Its infrastructural, open space and buildings strata are becoming a fibrous landscape that goes well beyond dichotomous references to urban/rural or central/peripheral territories.