State-Subsidised Housing and Architecture in 20th-Century Portugal: A Critical Review Outlining Multidisciplinary Implications

• Published in: Challenges (Basel) 2021-03, Vol.12 (1), p.7
• Main Authors: Ramos, Rui Jorge Garcia, Gonçalves, Eliseu, Lameira, Gisela, Rocha, Luciana
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 20th century; Affordable housing; Architecture; Dictators; Documentary films; Historians; Housing; Modernity; neighbourhoods; Politics; Portugal; Public health; Public housing; Research projects; Reviews; social housing
• ISSN: 2078-1547; 2078-1547
• DOI: 10.3390/challe12010007

Stable access to affordable quality housing is a core feature of public health principles and practices. In this report, we provide an update on the research project “Mapping Public Housing: A Critical Review of the State-subsidised Residential Architecture in Portugal (1910–1974)” (MdH), developed between 2016 and 2019 at the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto (FAUP) in Portugal. This funded research project (PTDC/CPC-HAT/1688/2014) brought together an international and multidisciplinary team composed of architects, sociologists, historians, an economist, an anthropologist, information scientists and archivists, from different academic levels (senior researchers, postdoctoral, PhD and Master’s degree students), adopting a variety of approaches and operating in a range of different contexts. The aim of the research undertaken was to investigate the reality of social and state-subsidised housing in terms of its architecture, while, at the same time, seeking to broaden our understanding of this phenomenon and of the transition to a democratic regime. Furthermore, this research project was designed to contribute towards the development of common ground for supporting decisions in the environmental, social and economic fields relating to housing management, as well as architectural heritage management and protection. This review is based on the submitted application (2015) and final report (2020).