Affordable Futures Past: Rethinking Contemporary Housing Production in Portugal While Revisiting Former Logics

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2022

Authors

Lameira, G (Author) Other; Rocha, L (Author) Other; Rui Jorge Garcia Ramos (Author) FAUP

Journal

The Journal is awaiting validation by the Administrative Services.

Title: URBAN PLANNING

Vol. 7 No. 1

Pages: 223-240

ISSN: 2183-7635

Publisher: Cogitatio Press

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 1 Citation

Scopus - 1 Citation

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-00W-FC4

DOI: 10.17645/up.v7i1.4770

Abstract (EN): This article focuses on a specific term associated with the scientific, theoretical, and academic discourse on housing architecture in Portugal. Over the last 100 years, the term affordable has frequently been used in the vocabulary of urban housing in Portugal, being linked to other words commonly used in housing construction, such as econornica (economical), barata (cheap/inexpensive/low-cost), pobre (poor), cooperativa (cooperative), or even custos controlados (controlled costs). Therefore, we propose to explore the multiple appropriations and contemporary shifts in its original meaning, seeking in this way to: (a) further stimulate the contemporary discussion on types of buildings, public housing programmes (i.e., following a historical perspective), contemporary housing policies (e.g. Basic Housing Law and New Generation of Housing Policies), refurbishment policies, new regulations, and new models for the middle classes (in Portugal); (b) share perspectives about the updating of this concept and the materialisation of its respective types and models in contemporary architectural practice; and (c) build bridges between the past and the present (public and private models and solutions, and shifts in the target audience). Although a wide range of different words was used to describe affordable housing in Portugal from the early 20th century to the first decade of the 21st century, it is essential to stress the importance of several newly emerging concepts. In recently implemented laws, concepts such as economicamente acessivel (economically accessible) and custos controlados (controlled costs/low-cost) encompass the shifts in the meaning of the term affordable and broaden the contemporary discussion of the housing problem in relation to the type of property and target audience.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 18