A Rua Capitão Henrique GalvãoThis text is not about that specific street, but about how we can reimagine our urban space, particularly the residential areas. Could this street be different?
Before the intervention now carried out by the Areeiro Borough Council, Rua Capitão Henrique Galvão seemed frozen in time: its crooked sidewalks, the green lamps from other times, and the stream of buildings with only two floors (some with only one) gave it a characteristic and unique look - in an area of tall buildings, contemporary lighting, and more or less modern sidewalks.
The unique building on Rua Capitão Henrique Galvão is explained by its history: this street was once a municipal districtIt was called Bairro Municipal Presidente Carmona. It had this name until shortly after the 25th of April 1974, when the "named after a President of the Republic of the New State by a military man who became famous for the assault on the Santa Maria liner in 1961, as a form of protest against the lack of civic and political freedom in Portugal", as explained in the city's blog about Lisbon's toponymy.
The work on Rua Capitão Henrique Galvão has given it particularities that are part of Lisbon's modern streets: advanced sidewalks in the crosswalk area in order to improve pedestrian visibility, raised crosswalks to ensure reduced speeds and the safety of the most vulnerable, and sidewalks redone with slabs that provide greater pedestrian comfort and stabilize a straight, flat path with no ups and downs.
The iconic street lamps have been kept, just repainted. The sidewalk on one side, the one with the parking lot, has been slightly increased with a small narrowing of the road. The bollards that existed in front of the accesses to some houses, to prevent illegal parking, have been removed. You can see what the street looked like before:
The intervention in Rua Capitão Henrique Galvão has modernized it and brought new measures of calming and safety. However, it generated other problems. For example, the The repaving and reconstruction of the sidewalks has accentuated the gap that previously was practically non-existent between pedestrian and road space. Given the reduced width of the sidewalks and the low traffic on that artery, many people used to circulate on the road and could easily hide on the sidewalk to let a vehicle pass. This behavior is now more difficult, especially for people with reduced mobility or with a baby stroller, who will not be able to circulate properly on the new sidewalks due to the obstacles.
These obstacles are essentially the lampposts. These were not relocated and remain in the middle of the two sidewalks of the street, in the same positions they occupied when the municipal district was built (at a time when there was no concern with pedestrian accessibility). On both the wider and narrower sidewalks, the poles make it impossible for a wheelchair or a person with a stroller to get around. On the side where there is parking (a barrier), it can be difficult for some people, whether they are residents or visitors, to get in and out of their homes.
Could the street be different? We leave you with two suggestions:
- readjust the parking so that in the areas in front of the lampposts there could be a wider sidewalk, ensuring that anyone can get around, regardless of their physical condition or what they are carrying. With these readjustments to automobile parking, motorcycle and bicycle pockets could be created, or trees planted to increase the over and freshness of the street;
- turn the whole street into a coexistence zone. In this case, the entire floor would be uniform and at the same level. There would be no road and sidewalk: pedestrians and vehicles would share the same space with priority for pedestrian circulation. The speed limit would be reduced to 20 km/h.
If solving the lighting situation on Rua Capitão Henrique Galvão might be more difficult, vertical signs at the beginning of the street would have been easier. The location of the signs creates another impediment to pedestrian mobility; they could have been placed against the kerb or the buildings. According to the Public Space Manual of the Lisbon City Hall, "the signs must be placed in order to ensure good conditions of legibility of the messages contained therein and to safeguard the normal circulation and safety of users of public space - pedestrians and vehicles".
The Public Space Manual sets out some examples of how this signage could be solved by following the rule that the signage must be at least 30 cm away from the vertical of the road kerb. It also reads: "Alternatively, and also in order to free space on the sidewalk when it is narrow or non-existent, the possibility and/or advantage of using poles placed near the facades of buildings - flag support - or fixing the sign directly to the facade should be considered on a case-by-case basis."
As it says and writes Mikael Colville-Andersen, urban planner and mobility consultant, the sidewalk serves to "keep the roads free of annoying obstacles" And it's not just pedestrians. The road is where the power lies, where you walk best, while the sidewalks, in general, are narrow and obstructed by everything that can't get in the way of the flow of traffic. But does it have to be this way? Could Capitão Henrique Galvão Street and other streets in city neighborhoods be different, allowing pedestrians and vehicles to coexist?
