CITTA is a research centre of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto - FEUP) and the Faculty of Sciences and Technology of the University of Coimbra (Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade de Coimbra - FCTUC).

Vision of CITTA

An innovative, creative, dynamic and productive European research centre, developing inter and multidisciplinary applied research, policy and design oriented, in the complementary fields of Spatial Planning, Environmental Policy, and Transport Planning and Engineering, focusing on the roles of cities, urban systems and their transport infrastructure and services under a distinctive post carbon paradigm perspective, able to feed and influence the international research agenda without jeopardizing the potential of knowledge generation associated to the specific nature of local, regional and national planning and transport issues.

Scope & Objectives

The Research Centre for Territory, Transports and Environment (CITTA – acronym for Centro de Investigação do Território Transportes e Ambiente, the designation in Portuguese) is a research unit of FEUP and FCTUC (the Engineering Schools of the Universities of Porto and Coimbra) officially created in 2012 and dedicated to the advancement and dissemination of knowledge in the fields of Spatial Planning, Environmental Policy and Transport Planning and Engineering. The unit is the result of the merging of a smaller homonymous unit of FEUP with the Spatial Planning and Transportation Engineering group of FCTUC’s Civil Engineering Research Centre (CIEC), in a process that was initiated in 2009.
The general objectives of the Centre are as follows:

1. Develop high-quality research in the fields investigated by the Centre, in particular in the framework of projects sponsored by the European Union and FCT, leading to books, book chapters, and papers published in leading scientific journals and in the proceedings of prestigious international conferences.
2. Contribute to the dissemination of scientific knowledge, in particular knowledge generated in the Centre, through the organization of national and international scientific and technical meetings and the edition of scientific publications.
3. Carry out scientific consulting activities, especially those related to the assessment of research programmes, projects, actions and scholarships.
4. Prepare national and foreign researchers with a solid scientific background, in particular through the organization of doctoral programmes and the supervision of doctoral theses.
5. Establish solid connections with foremost research institutions in the fields investigated by the Centre, notably through the joint participation in research programmes, projects and actions, the joint supervision of doctoral theses, and the co-authorship of scientific works.
6. Provide services with relevant scientific component to the community using the respective problems as a source of inspiration for part of the research activities carried out in the Centre.

At present, CITTA comprises four Research Groups: Spatial Planning and Environment (SPE), Governance, Public policies and Housing (GPH), Transport Planning and Environment (TPE) and Transport Engineering and Management (TEM). The two former groups are based at FEUP and the two latter at FCTUC, but they all involve researchers from both and other institutions.
CITTA covers the subjects required by a thorough understanding of how cities, urban systems and their transport infrastructure and services work, and, based on this understanding, develops innovative approaches to the problems they face in line with the post carbon paradigm – that will inevitably shape our future.

Organization

Research Centre's Regulations