PRR Project

Summary

Despite the scale and seriousness of the housing crisis in Portugal, which is a prominent feature of the current political and media debate, and despite the government structures and response instruments recently created at national and European levels, IST-ID and specifically CiTUA do not have a robust scientific framework aimed at housing policies, capable of occupying and expanding the required spaces.Filling this gap would allow CiTUA to mobilize areas of knowledge that are currently dispersed at the housing level – such as architecture and urbanism, planning and environment, systems and management, and transport –, contributing to the goals and objectives set in terms of housing and habitat. It would also strengthen its presence and influence in the reading and formulation of current and future problems, taking into account their different territorial manifestations and the resources and tools available or to be created. Within the vast Scientific Area associated with the Arts, and specifically the sub-area of Architecture and Urbanism – which are given greater weight in CiTUA –, it is necessary to bring together different perspectives on housing problems, causes, challenges, and possible solutions. This is the path that we want to chart, based on four major tasks, anchored in the challenges and accumulated scientific knowledge.    1. The main global and European agendas, such as the 2030 Agenda and the New Urban Agenda of the United Nations or the so-called Amsterdam Pact, present housing as one of the priority themes and generators of change, following an interdisciplinary and integrated approach. The great challenge lies in creating and adopting intervention lines and practices that converge with the reality and complexity of the territories and existing housing models and typologies, on a national, regional, and local scale, and that are capable of involving and committing the various players. The first task will be precisely to map out and monitor the main objectives, metrics and principles that mark our future benchmark and the path traced in public housing policies to get there.    2. In Portugal, the launch of new government instruments and structures (the New Generation of Housing Policies and the "More Housing" package, the publication of a Basic Housing Law, and the creation of a Ministry aimed at the sector) reflects the recognition of a structural and systemic problem and introduces a narrative committed to an integrated and multidimensional approach to reality. However, there is still room for reflection and intervention directed at the proposed mechanisms, since the practice they promote reflects a segmented vision, unsuited to the existing territorial and institutional reality and therefore impervious to the recommended change. The second task will be to create and strengthen systems of contact with the concrete and institutional reality of the territories, in order to identify the practical difficulties experienced in carrying out diagnoses and operationalizing response programs and instruments.    3. The implementation of these instruments and the capacity of the current structures to act, even under unique funding conditions such as those made possible by the Recovery and Resilience Plan, demonstrate a difficulty not only in accessing existing resources but also in drawing lessons to inform future courses of action and intervention that are more inclusive and integrated. The lack of planning and monitoring of ongoing policies continues to be a reality, and a sensitive approach to territorial and socio-spatial specificities, as well as locally available resources, is particularly urgent. The third task will be to draw up a system for compiling data that allows for both permanent updating, in a network with the structures on the ground and the institutions concerned with the information considered relevant, and the production of contextualized and personalized knowledge about the problem.    4. Finally, the technical and scientific contributions available reveal an approach that is still very much based on dimensions strictly linked to the architectural object and its language, as well as the reality of large urban centers. The lack of spatial and territorial thinking capable of contributing to the definition and implementation of the objectives set highlights the need to rethink, reformulate, and expand the training and knowledge of technicians working in the field, as well as those who will occupy this position in the future. The fourth task will be to diversify and expand scientific production and dissemination on the subject, both nationally and internationally, as well as to put the knowledge produced from different realities and contexts at the service of practice and society, translating it into a language that is more accessible to all those interested.