The Habitações de Renda Económica programme and the rise of metropolitan Lisbon (1959-1969)

Abstract

This article reflects on the rise of Lisbon as a metropolis. First, it examines how a public housing programme, Habitações de Renda Económica, was put into practice by a muncipal office, Gabinete Técnico de Habitação. Second it gives an account on how research carried out by that office supported alternative claims on Estado Novo housing policy in the 1960s. Third, the public housing programe and its urban counterpart, the universe of illegal housing, are put in relation. Perceived in an articulated manner, it is suggested, they contribute to Lisbon’s social and metropolitan history as well as to a sociological analysis of the suburban condition and experience.