What if the Areeiro traffic circle were a large garden? And what if Almirante Reis road were pedestrian, cycling and tram-only in one section? These are some of the ideas that the landscape architecture studio Terra saw awarded in an international contest of ideas, the Urban Garden Award.

A green corridor that would start at the Clock traffic circle, continue along Avenida Almirante Gago Coutinho, pass through the Areeiro square, follow Avenida Almirante Reis, and only end near the Tagus River. This was the proposal that the landscape architecture studio Earth has been awarded a prize in a new international ideas competition.
In this first edition of Urban Garden Awardan award organized by the architecture platform IF-Ideasforward and by Portuguese Landscape Architects Association (APAP)the purpose was to celebrate the centennial of the birth of architect Gonçalo Ribeiro Telles and his idea of a Lisbon "with connecting axes (green corridors) between the city center and the outskirts (peripheral park)". Thus, with the motto "from the port to the airportthe participants were challenged to think of a green corridor along the whole axis of Gago Coutinho and Almirante Reis, starting at the departure square of Humberto Delgado Airport and ending at the square of Sul e Sueste river station. In the participation regulation, interventions in Rotunda do Relógio, Praça do Areeiro, Alameda Afonso Henriques, Praça do Chile and Martin Moniz had to be consideredin addition to the avenues already mentioned.

The winning proposal from Terra, the studio of Duarte Natário and João Francisco Coelho, suggests a green corridor along the entire axis, not forgetting any square. The reduction of car traffic is one of the central ideas of the project, along with the creation of a continuous bike path between the Airport and the Tagus, the introduction of a streetcar, the widening of sidewalks and, of course, the increase of green spaces.
Just outside the airport, atelier Terra proposes a Clock Roundabout with only three lanes for cars and a garden in the center, along with a cyclopedestrian bridge complex. On Avenida Almirante Gago Coutinho, towards Areeiro, a car-only lane, a BUS lane, a bidirectional bicycle path and a tramway lane are suggested. In the sector of the Avenida next to Mata de Alvalade, there is a kind of extension of that green space, with a reinforced pedestrian area and more trees.
At Praça do Areeiro, the Terra duo of architects, along with two other colleagues - Joana Azevedo and Camila Feital - designed a traffic circle with much less space for cars and more space for public transportation and soft modes. In the center of the square, a garden was designed with areas for sitting, playing and strolling, with space for walking and biking. The bicycle and tramway continues through this reinvented square, following Avenida Almirante Reis. In the section between Alameda and Rua Pascoal de Melo, the proposal is to completely eliminate car traffic: here, the space would be for people, bicycles and the streetcar. Cars would be diverted to parallel streets.
Then, Almirante Reis would gain a car lane only in the uphill direction, since the Rua de Arroios would continue to be used to go downhill; further on, now being Rua da Palma, there would be two-way car traffic but only on one side of the artery; the other side would continue to be for people. Martim Moniz would be a large green space, which would continue through Praça da Figueira and Rua da Prata. These areas would be totally pedestrian but would have the streetcar and bicycle lanes. In Terra's proposal, downtown road traffic would be diverted through Rua da Madalena and Rua do Ouro.

On their website, the architects explain that their approach is based on a "new model of urban mobility" and in "search for solutions that reduce car use in the city and implement greener alternatives", such as walking, cycling, and public transportation. The architects sought to create a continuous streetcar corridor along the entire route and to recover old streetcar lines. The proposal - they write - also involves the concept of a 15-minute city, which "argues that the best mobility is the one that is most reduced and that ensures accessibility to everything we need for our daily lives".
The team from atelier Terra says it was inspired by "historical context of these areas of the city of Lisbon" and us "Gonçalo Ribeiro Telles' teachings and projects. You can learn more about this proposal in the following posters or on the atelier's website. It is important to mention that this work was developed in the scope of an ideas contest, where it is possible to imagine beyond what reality allows us and where the objective is above all to launch the debate and promote reflection on the connection axes for the city of Lisbon.


