The 42^nd issue of CIDADES, Comunidades e Territórios opens with a dossier dedicated to the conservation and rehabilitation of buildings, from a social and urban perspective. Under the organization of Marluci Menezes and Maria do Rosário Veiga, this dossier gathers six articles selected in the framework of the ENCORE scientific event (4º Encontro de Conservação e Reabilitação de Edifícios), organized in November 2020 by the prestigious National Laboratory for Civil Engineering (LNEC), in Lisbon. From Brazil to Spain through Portugal, these six articles explore interesting cases, regulations and methodologies that add new readings and knowledge not only to the themes associated with the conservation and rehabilitation of buildings, but also to their social, cultural and symbolic contexts.

In addition to the dossier, this issue comprises seven more articles and two essays. The first article, “City, culture and urbanism: learning from Asunción”, is authored by Marcelo Tramontano and presents a thought-provoking testimony on the rise and fall of an interesting urban planning process that took place in Paraguay’s capital. The innovative, inclusive and diverse character of an urban plan tailored to the specificities of a historical centre meets an unexpected (or maybe not) interruption, which the author seeks to frame from different angles. This case study reveals some recommendations that may be considered useful lessons, both in terms of the more positive and innovative aspects of this example, and of the less successful aspects that ended up leading to the described outcome.

The second article, authored by Renato Leão Rego, carries on with the theme of urban planning by taking us to Nigeria and Brazil. “New capital cities in the global south: postmodernist context, modernist layout in Africa and Brazil” proposes a comparative analysis around the history and planning of two new cities in countries on continents in the same latitude: Abuja and Palmas. Besides the similarities and differences that contextualize the two cases presented by the author, it becomes clear how urban planning exercises end up being inextricably linked to power, politics and dominant ideologies, despite the planners’ good intentions, or their respect for the identity of the places, or even the search for innovative solutions in line with local values.

The third article retains us in Brazil with “Araguaína/TO - city and discourse in the Brazilian Amazon: the case of the Espaço Cultural Agnaldo Borges Pinto”. From João de Deus Leite, Miguel Pacífico Filho and Maria Cilene Pires, this article seeks to extract social urbanistic and symbolic meanings concerning the space of a community from the discursive analysis produced around an urban equipment. In this case, more than a functional equipment of collective use, the cultural centre of Araguaína is seen as an instrument for political power under urban planning arguments, also demonstrating in this case the close link between planning and power (political and economic).

From the Amazon we go to Rio de Janeiro with the fourth article, “Building communal ties in the Arranjo Local da Penha: women’s mobilization through agricultural practices in the favela”. Authored by Mariana Portilho, Camila Rodrigues and Annelise Fernandez, this article presents the leading role of a group of women who, through an urban agriculture project, considerably expand their capacity as social agents, inside and outside the community and for the benefit of the eating habits and health conditions of their families. Not diminishing the central role that agricultural activity assumes in this case study, it is clear how the gains achieved by this group of women extend to all dimensions of their daily lives and positively interfere in the production of physical and symbolic spaces of social experience.

“Tracing Lisbon Metropolitan Area’s foodscape transformation: from local initiatives to future planning policies” is the fifth article, and is authored by Carolina Neto Henriques, Teresa Costa Pinto, Pedro Costa and Teresa Marat-Mendes. The article proposes an analysis of the Lisbon Metropolitan Area food system, updating data and perspectives in light of the new global sustainability ambitions and challenges. The identification and work analysis carried out with 80 initiatives of the public and civil society sectors is one of the elements that stand out in this work. This fact results not only from the rare confrontation of urban planning with food system issues, but above all from the updated mapping of actors intervening in this sector, as well as from new dynamics to be taken into account in the Metropolitan Area of Lisbon. The analysis carried out also led to several inspiring guidelines that can be very useful for future planning policies, which is another important aspect to highlight in this work.

Going directly into the field of architecture, the sixth article, authored by Oscar Eduardo Preciado Velásquez, proposes an incursion through time to demonstrate the pioneering and innovative character of certain concepts, experiences, and architects, setting a clear contrast with the current times. “Community and architecture treble: Patrick Geddes, Team X and John Turner” relies on the key concept of community to make an interesting retrospective analysis of the unavoidable conceptual, professional and political “school-movement” that was CIAM (International Congresses of Modern Architecture). The starting point is clear, but the discussion allows broader reflections on the role of architecture in cities, as well as on the profession’s practice and the controversial issues surrounding authorship.

The seventh and last article also focuses on the exercise and didactics of architecture, demonstrating not only how the architect’s knowledge, involvement and connection with the place is central to the project, but also how collective work adds value to the produced results. In “Challenges of intervening in spaces of heritage and landscape value: designing and building in Minde, Portugal”, João Quintela and Filipa Ramalhete demonstrate the operative and conceptual richness that is inherent to the architectural project, through the description of a practical teaching exercise developed with architecture students, as part of their academic training. Through a case study developed in Minde, it is possible to understand how the heritage and landscape dimensions determined by the place were perceived and reflected in the project carried out but, above all, how the unique circumstance of experiencing and “absorbing” the place in various ways ended up being decisive in the results achieved, both in terms of work and in terms of academic and professional learning.

The following section presents two distinct essays. “The space-time of lived experience and critical everyday life: some reflexions”, from Rodrigo de Góis Queiroz, consists of a theoretical and conceptual reflection that positions different disciplines, authors and perspectives on the construction and perception of notions of space-time and everyday life. In addition to the challenging argumentative dialogue assembled by the author around all these elements, this essay also highlights the multidimensional character inherent to spatial production, where it becomes clear how space is inextricably linked to the society that produces it.

The second essay is entitled “The paintings on Mies Van der Rohe’s collages” and authored by Daniel Gomes, Mariana Veríssimo, Alexandra Casimiro and Carlota Morais. In this reflective exercise around a world-renowned German architect, the authors focus mainly on the artistic works and collages associated with them. In addition to the influences motivated by the architect’s own personal trajectory, from Germany to the United States, the authors also explore the use of different techniques and their relationship with other artists, as well as influences and inspirations from other artists and inspirational circumstances. Although architecture can also be considered an art, in this essay it is clear how Van der Rohe’s work reflects so well and in such an inspired way the complementarity that exists between architecture and the fine arts.

In 2021, the journal CIDADES, Comunidades e Territórios started publishing special thematic issues, which will intermingle with the two regular annual issues, comprising a thematic dossier and a varied set of articles and other written pieces. This doubling of annual publications of our journal is not only demonstrative of a growing recognition on the behalf of the authors, but also of greater visibility among the readers. Nevertheless, to maintain and even improve the quality of the materials that are published, it is important to remember the invisible and immensely generous work of the anonymous reviewers who collaborate with us. We cannot thank them enough.