How innovation is not only technology, and how Social innovation & participation can take an important role to help discover solutions to everydaylife problems

1. San Sebastian - Basque Country | World Urban Development Congress | “Rethinking your urban region”
O cTober ’10
innovation is not
only
technology !
Social initiatives in urban neighbourhoods
Fernando Nunes da Silva | Full Professor of Urbanism and Transports - IST
Deputy Mayor of Mobility at Lisbon Municipality
Renata Lajas | Member of Staff for Mobility Mayor Office at Lisbon Municipality

2. The current mainstream on innovation is
usually centred in technological development.
It’s a comprehensive preoccupation, taking in account
the need to improve the role of European Union in the
global economy.
At the same time, the objective to attract creative
people and high qualified technicians to support
that innovation, is something that only growing and
powerful economies could successfully pursuit.

3. However, in a small economy in serious
financial difficulties – as the case of Portugal – to
restrict innovation to this technological
perspective, is an enormous limitation to the
development of innovative approaches to
numerous problems of urban development and
social life.

4. This presentation adopts a different perspective, based on
real life experiences and on the evidence that there is an
important field to be explored in what respects
innovation in the social domain, namely:
► In processes of identification of social and
urban needs;
► In the pursuit of soft technological
solutions for these kind of problems;
► In the mobilisation of stakeholders to find
and develop more realistic and feasible
solutions.

5. The examples chosen to illustrate this perspective are
focused in two main domains:
► The identification of people’s needs and their
possible solutions.
► The development of new urban policies and
feasible improvements for everyday problems of
urban life.

6. social
support [SS]
social
mobility
p
cohesion [SC]
[M]
eople
public
participation
[PP]

7. for people : looking for people needs & finding flexible solutions
social
support [SS]
social
mobility
p
cohesion [SC]
[M]
eople
public
participation
[PP]
defining new policies & goals: with people

8. for people
looking for [M1] electric bus as urban transport
people needs [M2] flexible neighbourhood transport
& finding [M3] safe routes to school & elderly
flexible
solutions [SS1] young students elderly support
[SS2] elderly residential support
with people
[SC1] local community association
defining [SC2] financed renovation neighbourhood program
new [SC3] cosmopolitan festival
policies &
goals [PP1] city budget based on public participation
[PP2] local pedestrian accessibility plan

9. mobilizing people …

10. … influencing
behaviour

11. electric Bus as urban public transport [M1]
What ?
“Serpentina”
Where : Serpa, Portugal
Iniciative : Municipality
Facts: fixed route with direct access to schools &
elderly facilities – prices range from 0,5 € - 1 €
(free for people aged above 65)
Goals:
• Integrated in the sustainable mobility city strategy to develop a better urban
environment for all and decreasing at the same time CO2 emissions, this transport
stands as one alternative to commute to the historical center
• but it also gives a direct support to the mobility of children and elderly
people, by its fixed route that provides access to schools & elderly facilities as well
as to the historical center
Innovative aspects:
• What could be just an alternative to commute to the historical center turned
out as an opportunity to help out children and elderly with their mobility needs

12. Flexible neighbourhood transport [M2]
What ?
“Lx Porta-a-Porta” – Free flexible urban
neighbourhood transport with fixed route &
flexible stops
Where : Lisboa, Portugal (82 km2)
Iniciative : Municipality
Facts: (2009) 8 different routes – total 45km
600 000 km/year ; 160 000 pax/year
Goals:
• potentiate the mobility in the old city center
• help mostly elderly displacements to different facilities: market, day center,
supermarket, health neighbourhood units, etc
Innovative aspects:
• continuously the itinerary suffers changes, when requested by people and urban
districts and analyzed by municipal technicians
• due to the target group that was aimed for, the van is equipped with an elevator
for wheel chairs and an electric step to ease the climbing up movement of its users

13. safe routes to school & elderly [M3]
What ?
“Verdinhos”
Where : Lisboa, Portugal
Iniciative : Municipality, Districts and
elderly associations
Facts : pilot project involving 7 schools
Goals:
• promote a safer access for children on their way to school, by helping them to
crossing streets safely
• promote road safety awareness for the children and respect for the elderly
Innovative aspects:
• one can promote a safer access to school and at the
same time integrate the elderly in community having
them participating in several relevant tasks in the peak
hours of school access

14. young students elderly support [SS1]
What ?
Project: “Jovens alerta em Paranhos”
Where : Porto, Portugal
Iniciative : Municipality districts & Gabinete
da Acção Social from Paranhos Municipal
District
Goals:
• help the elderly in their daily routines, shop, grocery, pharmacy and providing
company are the main goals of this specific volunteer project
Innovative aspects:
• with a higher number of elderly people living in Paranho’s District and a great
university campus, the opportunity to set up a volunteer program with university
students and young professionals seemed very strong
• the recruitment was specially announced at university campus and student
cafes to have a higher impact

15. elderly residential support [SS2]
What ?
“AmaSenior” – free access to medical
assistance for the elderly
Where : Amadora, Portugal
Iniciative : Municipality, Medical Assistance
Association & volunteers
Goals:
• provide free access to medical assistance at home, when the neighbourhood
healthcare units are closed
• special phone number created to support elderly with second-hand
physiotherapy equipment
Innovative aspects:
• taking into account the schedule limitations of the neighbourhood healthcare
units, the municipality took the lead, developing a system that could help the
elderly accessing medical care at home out the regular working time of
health units and for free

16. local community association [SC1]
What ?
“Renovar a Mouraria Association”
Where : Lisboa, Portugal
Iniciative : Local Community
Goals:
• create political awareness for the existent problems in Mouraria Urban District
• promote social inclusion and intercultural inclusion
• promote artistic and educative actions, as well as cultural exchange experiences
with visitors to open up a stigamtized neighbourhood to all and to the city
Innovative aspects:
• Partners in a financed rehabilitation project
(QREN), with the main field of expertise being
community involvment in cultural, artistical actions
as well as integration activities (ex: Portuguese
course classes to foreign people - right photo)

17. Financed renovation neighbourhood program [SC2]
What ?
“Viver Marvila”
Where : Lisboa, Portugal
Iniciative : Municipality, Gebalis & local
community
Goals:
• Create an integrated program that would coordinate public investment applied
to the renovation of Marvila Urban District in several domains: housing, social
renovation, social cohesion, etc.
• Listen and involve residents with other public/private partners in the creation of
different projects/program for them: “job shop”, “time bank”, etc.
Innovative aspects:
• Involving people in direct investment programs,
listening to their sensibilities in what concerns vital
aspects of their neighbourhood live, ex: “color study
with residents for their neighbourhood buildings”

18. • Conceive signage system for Marvila Urban District, Lisbon
• Promote participated urban design
• Contribute to enhance local identity

20. Cosmopolitan festival [SC3]
What ?
City cultural Program: “LEM –
Lisboa encruzilhada de mundos”
produces “TODOS festival – cultural
walks”
Where : Lisboa, Portugal
Iniciative : Municipality & Community
Goals:
• “TODOS (= ALL) Festival” invites tourists and Lisbon users & residents to dive in
the cultural hotspot of Lisbon: Mouraria
• the festival lasts 4 days and it’s composed by different initiatives along the main
squares, public space and private houses in Mouraria neighbourhood: Music,
Gastronomy, Dance festival, workshops, cinema & art.
• Mouraria its the most international neighbourhood from Lisbon: 11.000
emigrants from 25 different nationalities
Innovative aspects:
• create awareness opening a stigmatized neighbourhood to all citizens and
to the city, promoting the exchange of sensorial experiences at all levels

23. City budget based on public participation [PP1]
What ?
“Orçamento participativo – Lisboa”
5 Million € (1% of the total city budget)
Where : Lisboa, Portugal
Iniciative : Municipality
[ www.cm-lisboa.pt/op ]
Goals:
• the main goal of the participatory budget, is to involve people proposing and
deciding what’s best for their city.
Innovative aspects:
• the deliberative aspect of this public participation process
• with “vote assemblies” supported by city districts and a
“voting bus”, it’s possible to reach people that don’t use
internet to vote for projects for their city

24. Local pedestrian acessibility plan [PP1]
What ?
“Plano de Acessibilidade de Lisboa”
Where : Lisboa, Portugal
Iniciative : Municipality
[ http://acessibilidade.cm-lisboa.pt ]
Goals:
• the main goal is to potentiate an accessible city, avoiding the creation of new
barriers, adapt the existing buildings to the actual accessible legal demands and
mobilizing community to participate in this process
Innovative aspects:
• The plan relies a great part on a wide public consultation process
• The outcomes of this participation process are integrated and taken into account
in the making of the plan and policies that are subjacent

26. On the sidewalk:
• 54% already fallen
• 88% usually has afraid to fall
• 65% need more benches

27. Main conclusions:
1
To reduce innovation to their technological aspects is,
above all in a context of financial and economic crisis, to
introduce external limitations to social and political
creativity.
2
It also favours the emergence of a deviation of the
innovation concept, creating technological dependence
in the search of new solutions for old and emerging
problems in the urban scene.

28. 3
The improvement of public participation, engagement of
stakeholders and a more open mind in the functioning of
local administrations - namely in what respects inputs and
suggestions of individuals and organisations of the society - can clearly
contribute to the development of innovative and feasible
solutions for a good number of problems of our urban areas.
4
The combination of affordable technology and
technological innovations – namely in the area of TIC and
urban mobility – with social mobilisation and decentralised
processes and solutions, is an important domain to be
explored and developed. Certainly in countries and
municipalities with scarce financial and technical resources.

29. the need to stimulate…
DIVERSITY

30. fnsilva@cm-lisboa.pt
renata.lajas@cm-lisboa.pt