When the city’s groundfloors work they reinforce city life. Activities can supplement each others, the wealth of experiences increases, walking becomes safer and distances seem shorter (…)
Jan Gehl

Ground floor spaces are fundamental spaces of transition with the street, contributing to the construction of a city’s image and identity, to the equilibrium of the neighborhood’s ecosystem, the strengthening of local economies and the qualification of public spaces.

In the last few years, there was a significant increase in the number of vacant non-residential ground floor spaces in the historical centers of Portuguese cities, that lead to the transformation and deactivation of consolidated urban areas.

At the same time, many public housing neighborhoods, and urban areas developed during the last decades, show deficits in their offering of businesses and services, and a high percentage of vacant non-residential ground floor spaces, compromising the quality of these areas. 

Cities are the places where people meet to exchange ideas, trade, or simply relax and enjoy themselves. The city's public domain - its streets, squares, and parks - is the stage and catalyst for these activities.
Richard Rogers

Streets, parks, squares – public space – are a natural meeting point and they establish a basic network that supports the social dynamics of a city.

As a stage for life, public spaces must, by default, have a degree of qualification that promotes appropriation and fruition by passerby and residents, serving as a meeting and socializing arena.

Many consolidated urban areas located at historical centers saw, in the last years, the degradation of their public spaces, with a decreasing number of permanent residents contributing significantly to the vacancy and deactivation of many of these socializing locations. In the periphery and recently built neighborhoods, unqualified public spaces proliferate, not serving as meeting and socializing zones, neither contributing to the desired socio-territorial cohesion of the place.