Housing and work in Porto at the time of the siege: the Santa Catarina quarter

Abstract

The evolution of the occidental urban area does not allow a distinction, until much later, between residential areas and areas used for economic activity. This article attempts to detect a clear spatial distribution of professions, which would to some extent correspond to outlining part of the social geography of the time. In addition, privileged information from military census enabled us to determine specific characteristics relative to the siege, to the state and quality of dwellings included, classifying them according to their appropriateness for housing the various military ranks. Such cross-referencing of information - some of a professional and social nature, other of an urbanistic and functional nature - permit a first impression of housing in Porto, how urban space was used and the economic circumstances that existed in the centre of the city of Porto in the second quarter of the 19th century. Also presented with this information is a brief introductory perspective on the condition of the infrastructures for water supply and waste disposal in the 1830s, which will give a better perception of the city whose housing situation and economic activities we have investigated.