Lisbon City Council wants to boost Parque Mayer and open the space to the city

“Open Parque Mayer to the city, improving access, establishing new flows and dynamics that catalyze and facilitate the enjoyment of the space and cumulatively improving security conditions”, reads the proposal to which Lusa had access.

Authored by the Urbanism councilor, Joana Almeida (independent elected by the Novos Tempos PSD/CDS-PP/MPT/PPM/Aliança coalition), this proposal is on the agenda of the next public meeting of Lisbon City Council, which was scheduled for today , but which was postponed until May 8, indicated an official source from the municipality.

“12 years after the entry into force of the PPPM, it appears that, in the Parque Mayer area, which is part of Execution Unit II, the objectives were not achieved and the planned actions were not carried out, leaving this territory as a degraded and uncharacterized, in need of an integrated intervention that meets the guidelines and strategies defined for the city”states the Urban Planning councilor in the proposal.

The PPPM was based on the need to “organize, characterize and articulate three large areas of public use with the city” and relate them to the surrounding areas, providing for the creation of a “living space” of cultural animation, complemented by a multiplicity of features, which extend to adjacent areas of the Parque Mayer grounds, particularly through new urban routes.

According to councilor Joana Almeida, the lack of implementation of the actions foreseen in the PPPM for the Parque Mayer area has to do with the “inadequacy of the proposed solutions to the evolution of environmental, economic, social and cultural conditions, which make the urban model enshrined in the plan out of adjustment to the evolution of current development perspectives”.

In addition to suggesting the reinforcement of the opening of Parque Mayer to the city, the PPPM amendment proposal aims to implement a set of cultural infrastructures, in line with the program defined by the Culture department.

With this proposal, the Lisbon municipality intends to “introduce greater flexibility of uses, namely through the possibility of complementing the cultural project with other uses” and consolidate the protection measures for the Lisbon Botanical Garden, classified as a national monument, to prevent the Actions in the plan interfere with the existing walls or cause variations in the soil and climate conditions and water tables of this green space, which may jeopardize the existing plant species.

Another of the proposed changes is to reconcile the concepts and criteria of the PPPM with the Municipal Master Plan, particularly in terms of sustainability issues, “expecting to increase the green surfaces of the roofs and reduce the parking area in the basement (so to minimize the interference of buildability with groundwater flows)”, states the document signed by the Urban Planning councilor.

In this context, it proposes the opening of “a period of preventive participation of 15 working days”, so that citizens can speak out and make suggestions about changing the PPPM.

Located next to Avenida da Liberdade, on the western side, between Rua do Salitre and Praça da Alegria, Parque Mayer was opened on June 15, 1922, and is considered an iconic space in the city of Lisbon, intrinsically associated with revue theater .

The executive of the Lisbon Chamber, which is made up of 17 members, includes seven elected members of the “Novos Tempos” coalition (PSD/CDS-PP/MPT/PPM/Aliança) — who are the only ones with assigned responsibilities and who govern without a majority absolute –, three from the PS, two from the PCP, three from Cidadãos Por Lisboa (elected by the PS/Livre coalition), one from Livre and one from BE.