The Parque Urbano Quinta do Jardim comes out during the prelimitar study with a dual ambition.
On one hand, to strengthen the ecological structure at the municipal scale by promoting the creation of a new public green space in the northeastern part of the city.
On the other, to ensure the presence of a park close to existing and planned residential developments.
Finally, combining both ambitions, the park is intended to have a distinctive vocation where Public Health, Nature Sports, and Food-related issues serve as structuring vectors, making it unique among the city's parks.
The connection to Health arises from the presence of the S. Miguel Health Center, located to the northwest of the Park, as well as the new health facility proposed for the southern entrance of the Park. In fact, now more than ever, living requires complementary outdoor experiences. As supported by numerous scientific studies, proximity to green spaces has been increasingly recognized as fundamental to the regulation of physical and mental health.
These benefits include the promotion of behavioral changes, being associated with more active lifestyles, and the consequent reduction of risks related to mortality, mental health, stress, and cardiovascular diseases.
This is reinforced by the World Health Organization (WHO), which recommends that green spaces be located within 300 meters of residential areas to ensure positive outcomes in public health.
Parks thus emerge not only as infrastructures that benefit human health, but also as contributors to urban ecological balance. As such, the proposal is based on the definition of a Park whose design can uphold the principles of ecological regulation, with water as a central element, since the park is developed along a valley traversed by a stream, a tributary of the Ocreza River basin.
In this context, the Park is proposed as a place for observing natural ecosystems and geological features on the eastern and western slopes, while also reviving an agricultural structure in the valley—an area that historically served this purpose—thereby providing a complementary urban response to the residential vocation that this part of the city has been affirming.
This final aspect aligns with the concept outlined in the competition brief — One Health, which seeks a synthesis of collaborative efforts across multiple disciplines working at different scales, to achieve optimal health for humans, other living beings, and the environment.
