Researchers in MIT Portugal’s Transportation Systems’ research project SOTUR (Strategic Options for Transport and Urban Revitalization) are bringing their work a step closer to the reality of day-to-day decision-making in Portugal. On Monday, January 25, 2010, SOTUR – which promotes desirable urban development patterns and travel outcomes – convened a stakeholder workshop in which more than 40 representatives from diverse Portuguese organizations came together to discuss issues of mobility and urban revitalization in Portugal. First of Three Workshops  Prof. Anabela Ribeiro (Coimbra) and PhD Student Luis Martinez (IST) at a Lisbon-focused breakout The workshop, the first in a series of three, included officials from municipal councils, local and regional planning agencies, transport operators, urban redevelopment coordinators, real estate associations, and other participants. The project focuses specifically on the cities of Lisbon, Porto, and Coimbra, although other cities were also represented at the workshop. The group gathered at the historic Quinta das Lágrimas in Coimbra, for a day of presentations and discussions. The three workshops aim to fulfill two main objectives: to engage stakeholders in SOTUR, and to appropriately situate the project’s analysis within the local political, institutional and economic context. The first workshop provided the initial step in a scenario-planning process, through which SOTUR will develop alternative urban futures against which various transportation and land development mechanisms will ultimately be tested. The scenario-planning approach has been shown to produce more robust strategies in times of increasing uncertainty about the future, and also to contribute to organizational learning and the identification of new potential strategies. During the workshop, participants discussed specific challenges faced by Portuguese cities and identified a broad range of factors that may influence the future evolution of the urban environment. The next workshop, to be held in Porto in early March, will focus on further elaborating the future “scenarios” and discussing potential strategies and policies to influence urban revitalization. Information from these workshops will aid the project team in applying advanced integrated models of mobility and land development. These models will, in turn, help demonstrate the applicability and potential effects of the strategies and policies. An Ongoing Process of Engagement The workshop coordinators, Profs. António Antunes of the Faculty of Science and Technology of the University of Coimbra, and Prof. Rosário Macário of Instituto Superior Técnico-Technical University of Lisbon, were gratified to have initiated what they hope to be an ongoing process of engaging key stakeholders in this domain. “This workshop represents the first moment of a process that offers the opportunity to a broad group of stakeholders to actively participate in a comprehensive, structured brainstorming session on the future scenarios for
integration of urban revitalization goals and transportation in the
country,” they said. “Given the importance of this topic for our cities and the
rarity of such participatory approaches in Portugal, we expect that we will be able to show the virtues and benefits that can accrue from such a process, and help induce its adoption in Portugal in a
more systematic way.” The SOTUR project is led by Profs. Antunes and Macário, and by Professor Chris Zegras at MIT. The two future workshops are scheduled for March (in Porto) and July (in Lisbon) 2010, and are expected to include the same group of stakeholders.
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