Modern estates and the production of Lisbon’s suburbs: From the planned to the lived neighbourhood

Abstract

Alto da Barra and Portela are two modern estates designed by the same architect and located on two sides of the periphery of Lisbon: the west side, Costa do Sol, where the river meets the Atlantic and the east, with no label, which is upstream. The estates were planned and built in the same period (1960s to 1970s), the height of Lisbon’s urban development. This article presents a comparative analysis of these estates: their plans, implementation, social appropriation and resilience, by exploring the sociological profile and place-attachment perceptions of their inhabitants. The analysis also contextualises the development of the estates within the consolidation of these two quite different Lisbon peripheries: the west side traditionally highly valued in relation to the east. An intensive methodology was developed—case studies of the two estates—combining quantitative (survey, inter-census analysis) and qualitative (interviews and documentary analysis) methods. In addition to the differences between the two estates, which were largely due to their specificities in terms of geographic location and status, both reveal significant feelings of place-attachment and a rejection of the suburbia label.