The diversity of uses that occupy the street space led sometimes to the configuration of its space with partitions dedicated to a function and to the permanent or ephemeral ownership of these partitions for specific uses. Formally , these different parts are designed using various composition elements, the most common being the difference in levels and the use of different materials and textures on the pavements, occasionally with elements of other types such as trees, archways and permanent or ephemeral elements of urban furniture that contribute to the definition of distinct space partitions. Thus, another degree or level of definition of the public street space, besides the size and overall conformation of the space, corresponds to the spatial configuration of partitions and their formal and functional nature.
The most frequent partition of the street is established between the spaces closest to its lateral limits, where the access to plots and buildings is placed, and the central canal of the street, a space more dedicated to movements. This street profile with side partitions for sidewalks and a road central platform has been used since antiquity. Thus, the most common partition and seemingly more ancestral space of a street corresponds to the main functions essential to the definition of what is a street : address support and displacement or, if you prefer, place and route.
However, despite this tripartition of the street space remains the most common form of division in the streets of Lisbon, we can still find streets divided into more or less parts. Thus, based on the diversity of streets we found in Lisbon, we can aggregate them into categories on the number of partitions they have: streets with a partition; bipartite streets; tripartite streets; and streets that have more than three partitions. In addition to the number of partitions it also seems important the question of the proportion of space that is dedicated to each of the main functions of the street and their classification and aggregation as the ratio of pedestrian space / road space, ie streets with pedestrian ratio < road; streets with pedestrian ratio = road; and streets with pedestrian ratio > road. [ Sérgio Proença ]
