oitoo's walks (Oitoo)

“No one can find what will work for our cities by looking at suburban garden cities, manipulating scale models, or inventing dream cities. You’ve got to get out and walk.”
— Jane Jacobs, Downtown is for People (Fortune Classic, 1958)

As Jane Jacobs argued in her seminal book The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961), several factors create the conditions for a “healthy” city: a proper mix of functions in neighborhoods; attention to vacant buildings and public spaces; diversity of commercial activities; population density; and, crucially, the active engagement of residents in public life — the exercise of citizenship.

Jacobs strongly believed that cities should foster conditions for people to carry out small projects and initiatives, whether individually or collectively. The breakdown of neighborhood relations compromises the creation of an enduring public platform capable of supporting these initiatives. While small in scale, they are fundamental to the health and cohesion of communities. They operate like an ecosystem: every individual is connected to the next through a complex, tangible network that cannot be reduced to numbers or spreadsheets. Only through direct observation can this complexity be understood.

Guided by this philosophy, oitoo, with the support of the Association of Portuguese Architects (OASRN), has organized a series of walks in the northeastern neighborhoods of Porto: oitoo’s walks.

Through these walks, participants are encouraged to observe the city closely, noticing the seemingly mundane aspects of everyday urban life. The aim is to foster a renewed sense of neighborhood ties and civic engagement, demonstrating that understanding and revitalizing a city can begin simply by walking and watching. With guidance from the organizers’ experienced eyes, participants can uncover hidden opportunities in overlooked corners of the urban fabric.

These walks also serve a practical purpose: they form the basis of a critical mapping of the (often abandoned) city, identifying both needs and opportunities. By focusing on what already exists — the structures, spaces, and networks in place — we can reveal potential that requires only a subtle push to become active, useful, and vibrant once more.