ABSTRACT
In urbanised areas historically marked by the presence of water, open terrains bordering waterlines have come to be spaces where urban policy aspires to build a green, liveable future and to promote a new image of the city. At a time of renewed interest in the potential of watercourses (including their design potential), this chapter promotes a vision of the Tagus Estuary as the beating heart of the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, a system of water spaces that is the strongest unifying element of the city that set along it – the ‘City of the Tagus Estuary'. Focusing on the main riverbed of the Tagus, this research analyses public regeneration projects facing the estuarine system in search for commonly implemented practices and explores how the land-water interface is designed. The work records the formal aspects and materials used in twenty riverside public space interventions. The focus is on quality factors and components that work together with the visual stimuli of the liquid scenery. In making an overview of the implemented solutions, the concluding remarks indicate three types of interventions and emphasise the need to acknowledge and explore the potential of the proximity to water and the ever-shifting estuarine landscape.
