Levels and scope of participated projects: Case studies in the Portuguese context

Abstract

In Portugal, there has been a growing concern, in recent years, about the participation of citizens inarchitectural and political decisions. The ineffectiveness of the traditional processes of participation of thedemocratic system proves incapable of responding to the contemporary problems of the citizens. In parallel ithas been seen in recent years the deepening of the economic and financial crisis of 2007/2008, which, inPortugal, led to a sharp rise in the levels of unemployment in the architecture market. The lack ofcommissioning of building projects and plans, that had previously generated work, led to new concepts andapproaches in particular in newly formed architects. On the one hand, there have been numerous collectivesof architects motivated by issues related to political intervention and dynamics of social and territorialinnovation. On the other hand, political decision-makers implemented new participatory instruments tosupport decision, such as Orçamento Participativo (Participatory Budget). This program has beenimplemented widely among municipalities in Portugal. Citizens' participation in project decisions is a recurring theme in the 1960s and 1970s, whichreappears with a new configuration at the beginning of the XXI century. These days are marked by years ofeconomic crisis and the universe of facilitated circulation of information in a wide network system accessedby a large number of citizens. However, some questions arise concerning the levels and scope ofparticipation. Since a conventional project involves a certain level of involvement of decision-makers,architects and users (Carlo, 2010), two questions arise: how can we now achieve a higher level of participationand involvement of stakeholders (citizens, Architects, policymakers) in the project? How can we achieve areal bottom-up procedure, in which context problems find the best formal solution (Alexander, 1964), duringa process implemented in most cases by groups of architects outside the community of citizens for whomthey work? Starting from a reflection on SAAL, a housing program promoted by the Central Government inthe post-revolution period of April 1974, research is carried out through the assessment of the participationlevel (Arnstein, 1969) of referred participated 574 projects. From a different typology, two Municipal programswith relevance at regional scale - OP Cascais and BIP ZIP Lisbon - are analyzed. The study of twoexploratory case studies - Casa do Vapor (Almada, Portugal) and "Building Together" (Guimarães, Portugal) -and an investigatory proposal - "City Mosaic Collective" project (Mendes et al., 2017a) – complete theselection. "City Mosaic Collective", which I am a founder member, aims to achieve a higher level ofparticipation, “Partnership” (Arnstein, 1969). The research points to conclude that even for the cases studied that do not reach the highest levelsof participation (partnership), the initiatives reveal valid potential for their evolution.