A multi-scale approach of public space networks in the scattered city

Scattered metropolitan cities are characterized by new urban realities that offer a variety of typologies and services – new centrality areas – that function as cores of attraction, but show a lack of integration between local and wider territorial scales, triggering problems of fragmentation and polarization. In addition, public space is often reduced to its minimal and infrastructural function, ensuring critical connections but lacking design qualities. In this article we will try to understand how it is possible to articulate these multi-scale centralities with local urban fabrics, focusing on the role of public space. We will analyse, within the scope of the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, the South Bank, and in more detail, a number of areas of the Almada municipality developing an analysis methodology for identifying problems and opportunities. The hypothesis we place is that public space, in a systemic and multi-scale perspective, as ‘the connecting element’, can link different territorial scales, forming a coherent structure and acting as a reference for scattered urban contexts. We discuss how public spaces as multi-scale connectors can work as binding elements, proposing some design actions and strategies to tackle these urban problems, contributing for the urban design practice.