Urban recurrences as spaces generators

The area of Fontainhas, on the edge of the center of the city of Porto, has been identified as a physical pretext to investigate the possibilities of reactivating portions of the degraded urban fabric starting from the introduction of new forms and programs. Through the adoption of specific abacuses of generic basic elements as means for both the understanding of the city and the urban regeneration, the work we present is addressed through the division into three macro-areas of investigation, tradition, typology, topography, as distinct themes in continuous relationship with each other. The study works around the concept of recurrence, identifying both single recurring elements and repetitive aggregation mechanisms within the urban form. These recurrences can be observed, read, analysed, reworked and placed at the base of the proposal of new urban fabric, which appears therefore in direct continuity with the existing one. Studying the interaction between form, typology and topography the project work on the aggregation of the single components starting from a series of abacuses of variation of the recurrent basic general elements, proposing a method extensible to different urban situations.