The urban morphology of cities in the future: Évora and Setúbal – Portugal

Abstract

Abstract. The way cities have organized and developed, since their first human settlements, show the marks of the idiosyncrasies of the populations that gave rise to them, whether in the cultural, socio-economic, religious, and functional spheres. A comparative appreciation of the cities of Évora and Setúbal has been done in their evolutions during a period comprehended between the Middle Ages and the present time, while cities contained in walled enclosures, in the Middle Ages, until the present urban expansion. In the name of progress, at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, there was a very significant expansion and transformation of the urban fabric, creating the need to adapt to new circumstances brought about by the automobile, and the historic cities have seen many of their symbolic and identity elements disappear. The disproportionate urban growth and new trends, alerted to new organizational objectives, having returned to the previous model of the historic city with spaces for pedestrian circulation. In the future, it will be even harder to predict a morphological model to follow. Recent events, such as the pandemic, created a new paradigm of work, and if this trend continues, the movement of people will be drastically reduced. In a global society in constant and rapid transformation, with such mutable and unpredictable factors, it is sensible to consider flexible planning strategies regarding urban expansion, but relentless regarding its heritage essence, because unpredictability, everything will be open.