Decentralising the core: Notes on middle class mass housing in Portugal

Abstract

The impetus for mass housing complexes was entirely linked to the expansion of Portuguese cities to the periphery. This process overlapped with the aspirations of a heterogenous middle class – on the one hand, those who could not fnd in the sought living conditions in the historical city; and on the other, those who could not a ford to settle in the centre. The text focuses on neighbourhoods developed in Lisbon, Oporto and Coimbra after the second half of the 20th century to demystify the urban peripheries’ planning histories by analysing an “optimistic architecture” that helped shape the built environment and echoed its time’s urban and political concerns. Examples range from Oeiras to Portela in Lisbon, Boavista in Oporto and Calhabé in Coimbra, to provide an overview across geographies and time.