The fiftieth anniversary of the 25th of April (the political revolution that took Demacracy back to Portugal, in 1974) justifies a series of celebrations. The April Revolution had great importance for Architecture and the City in Portugal in the demand for the Right to the City and the Right to Housing, in the SAAL Process, in Popular Participation and in the Right/Duty to Intervene in civic and urban problems.

In accordance with these principles, FAUP is promoting a series of events dedicated to evoking that period and its importance. The centerpiece is the “Mais do Casas / More than Houses” initiative, which has organized Seminars and Meetings, starting in April 2023 and lasting until the end of 2024.

The adherence to this FAUP initiative by twenty five Schools, Faculties and other Institutions, public and private, linked or related to the themes of Architecture, the City and the Territory, proved to be extraordinarily broad, comprehensive and diverse. Each institution will participate as they see fit, but everything will converge in a Exhibition, to be held in Lisbon, in which some of the most representative results of what each institution intended to produce will be presented.  At FAUP, the option was to create a three-week break in the usual school calendar, in April 2024, in the form of a Continuing Training Unit (UFC, in portuguese), with the expectation of allowing the participation of all students, from all years of the Integrated Masters course, as well as from all teachers and researchers, from all disciplinary areas. Additionally, students from other study cycles, or from other Porto University Organic Units, may also participate. UP alumni will also be eligible.

The general objective seeks to promote experimentation, debate and the sharing of knowledge between multiple participants with different experiences and capabilities. That is, teams formed by students and teachers will be free to organize themselves and, faced with a set of areas-themes-problems in the city of Porto, orient themselves in order to study, define objectives and produce work in complete autonomy and freedom.  This work may take the most varied approaches: Observation, Analysis, Project, Essay... of Artistic, Architectural, Urban Planning, Historical, Anthropological, Landscape, Sociological aspects... and which, in the end, will be presented to the collective in different forms (panels, drawings, models, performances, videos and others... or any combination of these).

In parallel to the course of this UFC, but no less important, it is planned to hold a series of events, in the late afternoon, after the studio work has finished, with Conferences and cinema, video, music sessions..., which will be detailed and published in due course...

UFC Management will be ensured by Professors Luís Soares Carneiro, Marta Rocha and André Santos. These will be supported by a Monitoring Committee composed of Professors Rui Póvoas, Vítor Silva, Pedro Alarcão, Luís Urbano, Hélder Casal Ribeiro, Luís Viegas, Teresa Cálix and Nuno Brandão Costa. All MiArq teachers and/or CEAU Researchers will be invited to participate.

 

 

Objectives

The UFC “More than Houses: Freedom, Plurality, Prospective” seeks, by focusing on a set of problem areas in the city of Porto, to refocus the attention of UP students, and in particular FAUP, on concrete urban issues, of the social, the civic, not as abstract themes but rather as problems felt and observable in everyday reality and in a global context of broad transformations and climate crisis. 

Organized in vertical workshops, forming groups of Students integrating members from all years of the course, which also include teachers/researchers from any scientific area, the aim is, through the application and development of processes and methodologies to be selected and established specifically for each group, observe, record, analyze, propose, change, modify, intervene in the situations under study, taking into account the present and looking at the future.  

It is important that groups reflect on the issues of the Right to the City, the Right to Housing, the Right to Participation, but in effective contact with the problems and the population, in order to integrate them into their interests and priorities as necessary conditions for the exercise disciplinary. It is also important to consider the date of 2074 — the centenary of the 25th of April — as we should look at the scenarios, solutions and possibilities that foresight allows, rehearsing ideas and paths to achieve a better future for everyone.

Fields of Specialization

More than areas of specialization, this UFC seeks to establish cooperation capacity in large groups, with people with different experiences and backgrounds, to treat and approach complex issues. It is about testing the STEAM system (Sciencies, Technologies; Engineering; Arts; Mathematics) where the strategies and design capabilities of the Arts are instrumental as they allow addressing problems where the formulation of the problem itself goes hand in hand with its resolution.

Professional Abilities

“More than Houses: Freedom, Plurality, Prospective” seeks, by focusing on a set of problem areas in the city of Porto, to refocus the attention of UP students, and in particular FAUP, on concrete urban and social issues , of the civic, not as abstract themes but rather as problems felt and observable in everyday reality and in a global context of broad transformations and climate crisis.  Organized in vertical workshops, forming groups that integrate teachers and students, it is also intended, through the application and development of processes and methodologies to be selected and established specifically by each group, to observe, record, analyze, propose, change, modify, intervene in the situations subject to study, taking into account the present and looking to find new paths for the future.

Employment Prospects

The experience of a UFC like the one we are trying to create opens up skills and abilities for a very broad professional career path. In the future, simple problems will be solved by automatic and digital means. However, complex problems require group work, conceptual formulation that helps to characterize the issues before they can be clearly defined, formulated and resolved by technological means. It is for these new needs that the professional training promoted and desired by this UFC aims to equip participants.

Information

— This UFC will last 3 weeks, between April 8 and 26, 2024. According to the timetable approved by FAUP for the 2023-2024 academic year, the remaining classes and academic activities will be suspended to make way for this UFC. In the three weeks, around 6 hours of work will be carried out daily, on average, for 14 days, including the presentation and its discussion and evaluation. The total is 81 hours, 21 hours of which are contact time (including presentations and discussions) and the remainder are studio work.

— This UFC is predominantly aimed at FAUP MiArq Students. However, it also admits any students from UP Operational Units, and also UP Alumni. But it is, like any UFC, subject to a candidacy process.  

— UFC Application and Registration Process:
January 22 to February 9, 2024 - Student Application (online); February 12th to February 14th, 2024 - Student Series; February 14, 2024 - Publication of the Student Series;
February 15th to February 29th, 2024 - Previous Hearing regarding the Student Ranking;
March 1th, 2024 - Publication of Final Results of the Student Series;
March 4th to March 22nd - Student Complaints and Registrations.

— Selection Criteria:

Entry Conditions:
1. Students enrolled at UP;
2. UP alumni.

Selection and ranking criteria:  
1. FAUP MiArq students: 60 points;
2. Students of any FAUP course: 20 points;
3. Students from any UP OU: 10 points;
4. UP Alumni: 10 points.

Tiebreaker Criteria:
1. By younger age;
2. By date and time of submission of each application.

— Note: UFC will only work if it has at least 200 subscribers. And there is a maximum limit of 800 subscribers.

Contacts

FAUP

General information

Study Plan

Certificates

Predominant Scientific Areas