Apresentação Pessoal

Pedro Leão Neto (b. Porto, 1962) received his Bachelor’s degree in Architecture from the University of Oporto (FAUP, 1992), his Master’s degree in Planning and Projecting the Urban Environment (FAUP-FEUP, 1992), his PhD in Planning and Landscape (University of Manchester, 2002), and obtained a post-doctoral degree with the research entitled “Mapeamento de Fotografia Documental e Artística: Um olhar Contemporâneo sobre Arquitectura e Espaços de Referência no Porto (MFDA-ARP)” (FAUP, 2018) under the supervision of Jorge Figueira and José Maças de Carvalho.

Until 1998 he was responsible for developing the research work centred on Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and for the use of these systems for spatial analysis and support to intermediate scale territorial management. Through his doctoral research, he developed research centred on the use of various methods of representation, interactivity, and computational visualization aimed at obtaining more efficient project communication amongst all the actors involved in the processes of planning and urban projects. He continued to conduct research in the fields of architecture, art, and image, with a special interest in photography.

Pedro Leão Neto has been an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Architecture, University of Oporto (FAUP) since 2002 where he coordinates the research group CCRE, the publisher SCOPIO, and the platform scopio network. Since 2010 he has been the Director of the Cityscopio Cultural Association and since 2018 the Coordinator of the AAi2Lab, part of the University of Oporto’s Media Innovation Labs (MIL), and Principal Investigator (PI) of the Scientific Research and Technological Development (RS&TD) project entitled “Visual Spaces of Change” (VSC), reference POCI-01-0145-FEDER-030605, financed by Portuguese funds via FCT/MECTES and co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) via the COMPETE – Competitiveness Operational Programme.

Since 2007, Pedro Leão Neto’s teaching focus has centred on coordinating the curricular units of The Photography of Architecture, the City and the Territory and Computer Aided Architectural Design (CAAD) I and II. Within the scope of the Erasmus+ programme, he has given lectures at the School of Engineering and Architecture at the University of Zaragoza (EINA-UZ) and at the Liverpool School of Architecture (LSA).

In the Assessment of Teaching Performance between 2008 and 2018, he received the distinction of ‘Excellent’ for five consecutive years.

Pedro Leão Neto’s research interests in the area of Architecture, Art and Image (AAI) are strongly linked to Information and Communication Technologies (ITC) and teaching via the diverse contented developed, collaborative platforms, and E-Learning. On these themes he has published and edited more than 30 books and more than 100 scientific articles, with more than 90 citations in Google Scholar, of which 3 SCOPUS articles refer to him as author with 14 citations and 6 softwares. He was the principal investigator for 5 research projects financed by competitive funds; he organised 5 conferences with peer-reviewed articles with published proceedings; he was the curator of 25 exhibitions and 10 international competitions. He has also sat on 93 juries, served on 20 scientific committees, and has given 16 presentations some of which at various universities across Europe. Of special note are the exhibitions under his curatorship: " Another vision of Álvaro Siza Vieira work" at the University of Zaragoza (Unizar, 2019) and at the Portuguese Institute of Architects Regional Section North (OASRN, 2019), The Thin Line (Museu de Arqueologia D. Diogo de Sousa - Encontros de Imagem, 2015), and the 4^th SCOPIO International Photography Contest (University of Liverpool & RIBA, London, 2015), the projects Arquitectura, Arte e Imagem (AAI): Dueto/Duelo, a cycle of debates within the scope of the project Dual (DGARTES, 2015 – 2016), VSC - Visual Spaces of Change (FCT/MECTES), and the coordination of five editions of the International conference On the Surface: Photography and Architecture, with the most recent held in Lisbon at the Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (MAAT) and the Electricity Museum.

After having edited “Photographs in the works of Eduardo Souto Moura” (2015) and “A talk on Architecture in Photography” (2017), Pedro Leão Neto published “Um olhar sobre Obras de Álvaro Siza Vieira” (2019). At present, he is the researcher responsible for the project “Visual Spaces of Change” which is focused on the creation of a network of public and collective spaces able to be the catalyst for emergent dynamics of urban change in the Oporto Metropolitan Region, with a significant component of contemporary photography combined with spatial syntax and information technologies.

In 1998, Pedro Leão Neto received the PRAXIS XXI, FCT 1998 award and in 2013 was given the Jens D rup E-Learning Award, EUNIS for the implementation of the project and programme of the 1^st E-Learning Café at the University of Oporto for which he held a top position: coordinator of the conception and construction of the E-Learning Café.

Since 2018, Pedro Leão Neto has been responsible for cultural management for the Chancellor’s Office’s Unit for Culture at FAUP. In addition, he is an editorial consultant for the City of Maia’s municipal publication on Urbanism, Architecture and Culture entitled Terramaia #1 - Publicação semestral do Município da Maia, whose first issue is to appear in January 2020.

In 2019, Pedro Leão Neto was the first author of 7 scientific articles related to the VSC project, namely: (i) Neto, Pedro; Barbedo, José. (2019). “Visual Spaces of Change: Embedding Photography and Image Manipulation into Critical Debates on the Urban Environment” in Utopia, Dystopia and Climate Change: 20th Conference of the Utopian Studies Society. Monash University, Tuscany; (ii) Neto, Pedro; Barbedo, José. (2019). “Visual Spaces of Change: an integrative approach to subjective perceptions of architecture and public space transformation” in the Tenth International Conference on The Image, at Manchester School of Art, Manchester Metropolitan University; (iii) Article submitted for the international conference (awaiting revision): Neto, Pedro; Barbedo, José. 2020. “Visual Spaces of Change: visualizing public space transformation through photography”. Submitted to the International Visual Sociology Association (IVSA) – Visualizing Social Changes: Seen and Unseen, 6-9 July, Dublin, Ireland; (iv) Article submitted for the international conference EAAE-ARCC International Conference & 2^nd VIBRArch, Neto, Pedro; Silva, Eduardo. (2019). "Visual Spaces of Change: the use of Image for rendering visible dynamics of urban change in contemporary cities" to be held on June 10-13, 2020, at ETSA-UPV, Valencia, Spain; (v) Article submitted for the 3^rd International Conference Ethics, Politics and Culture. Utopias. Neto, Pedro; Silva, Eduardo. (2019) “Visual Spaces of Change: Methodology of Study and Communication of the City and Urban Landscape through Documental and Artistic Photography of Architecture, the City and Territory”, 5-6 December 2019, NOVA FCSH, Colégio Almada Negreiros, Lisbon; (vi) Article submitted to a peer-reviewed scientific journal: Neto, Pedro; Barbedo, José. (2020). “Visualizing public space transformation through photography of architecture, city and territory: an inquiry on subjective perceptions of urban change in Porto Metropolitan Area". Visual Studies. (submission reference: RVST-2019-0093).

Also in 2019 Pedro Leão Neto was responsible, together with the Serralves Foundation, for moderating and organizing the Round Table entitled ‘Relationships and Complicities between Álvaro Siza and the Photographers of his work”, an event integrated into the public programme parallel to the exhibition “Álvaro Siza; in/disciplina” held at the Serralves Foundation – Museum of Contemporary Art, under the curatorship of Nuno Grande and Carles Muro. He also coordinated the AAi2 Lab+ international candidacy, a Twinning project of Horizon 2020 in the context of Pilar – “Spreading excellence and widening participation”, which enjoyed the support of the firm INOVA + and the Chancellor’s Research Support Unit.

At the present time, he is coordinating an interdisciplinary team of Portuguese and international researchers applying for 4 Portuguese and international financing programmes.

Áreas de Interesse

1. Technological sciences > Architecture
2. Humanities > Arts > Visual arts > Photography