ABSTRACT
Today's metropolitan areas are characterised by great formal complexity, consisting of several interrelated layers that organise the urban system and structure the territory at different scales and in different patterns. Mobility networks are one of the most important layers, combining elements of different thickness and impacts. The motorway and main road network is a clear example of the way how these infrastructures interact with other systems across the whole metropolitan territory, and at different scales. On the one hand, they support the heaviest flows of circulation, while on the other hand, are often physical barriers that divide or fragment the landscape and local urban fabrics. The chapter takes EN10 – National Road 10 in Lisbon Metropolitan Area as a case study and an example of the transformation of a heavy traffic national road into a better integrated infrastructure, shaping a new form of street in which local spatial relations are combined with a larger-scale metropolitan character. The in-between space – a membrane where the infrastructure and the built fabric articulate – is considered as an architectural device that contributes to a qualified metamorphosis of the roadscape and to the consolidation of a multi-scale of public space.
