Three open meetings with the residents were held during April and May 2022, as part of the Participatory Process to discuss the future of Marquês de Abrantes palace. The discussions focused on the management and compatibility of the building different uses, and also on its surrounding territory: mobility, public space and proximity commerce. Among many others, residents raised questions on the possible uses of the courtyard (like occasional markets or other activities), on mobility (the pedestrian cross of the railway line, the lack of parking places, the physical limitations to buses’ circulation) and also on very specific issues like whether or not to preserve the palace’s front gate, or the complex of concrete washing tanks (as a symbol of its past, a place of deprived and densely inhabited housing); on that particular point, it was interesting to note that some residents spoke out against its maintenance, precisely because of what it represents.
Participatory process on site: meetings with the residents
