Espaço público e vitalidade: Parque linear como instrumento de reconciliação em área residual da infraestrutura viária

Quality of life in urban areas is often influenced by the existence of public open spaces. These places are co-responsible for the urban vitality and dynamics of the cities. Nevertheless, contemporary city planning is reflecting a contradictory distance from issues regarding social factors in urban open spaces. This is noticed by the amount of city space dedicated to buildings and roads. This paper recognizes the importance of public open spaces to the cities and addresses efforts to study a proposal for an urban reconciliation of a residual streetscape area, located in the Central region of Vila Velha municipality, in the State of Espirito Santo, Brazil. This area has great potential for a new public open space to attend local needs, able to reverse the rupture created by the infrastructure works that covered the Bigossi canal. The chosen strategy resulted in a linear park design, an academic project developed in the last year of the undergraduate program in architecture and urban planning. The design proposed a plural open space that embraced multiple activities and services configured to join people, environment and the city all together.