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Abstract
This article describes the rise and fall of modern scientific town planning in Portugal with a view to revealing the political and ideological circumstances of its emergence and decline. The paper shows the construction of the modern paradigm of scientific town planning and identifies the planning theory and practice of the Portuguese capital as a product and a model of French urbanisme, integrated in an international ideological movement. Using Lisbon as a case study, it identifies three key periods, each speaking to different ideological concerns. An initial expansionist period began at the end of the nineteenth century, characterized by hygienist concerns, park creation, and early attempts at regulation. It was followed by a second scientific and legalist era, whose functionalist ideals, search for order, and meticulous obsession with regulation, were very much in tune with the totalitarian military dictatorship of Salazar, the authoritarian ruler of Portugal between 1932 and 1968. Finally, the democratization of society saw the advent of new flexibility in political power, and a corresponding turn amongst planners away from scientific rationalism towards public participation and urban regeneration concerns.
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Notes
1. This paper is a development of a communication presented in 2008 at the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning/Association of European Schools of Planning 4th Joint Congress, in Chicago (Mini-Track—Planning ideas and planning practices, sponsored by the Journal Planning Theory and Practice). The author would like to thank Tiago Oliveira (Arup, Dublin) for his revision and suggestions and also the Editor, Heather Campbell, and three anonymous referees for their encouragement and their very helpful and insightful comments on an earlier version of the paper.
2. “colocado en la alternativa de inventar una palabra, o de dejar de escribir sobre una materia que a medida que he ido profundizando en su estudio, la he creído más útil a la humanidad, he preferido inventar y escribir, que callarme, el uso de la palabra nueva no puede ser censurable siempre y cuando la necesidad lo justifique, y lo abone a un fin laudable” [“placed in the alternative to invent a word, or to stop writing to size on a subject that, as I was deepening in study, I have believed it to be more useful for the humanity, I have preferred to invent and to write, than to shut up, the use of the new word cannot be objectionable as long as the need justifies it, and it is used to a praiseworthy aim”] (Cerdà, Citation1867).
3. Such as Ilídio do Amaral, José Manuel Fernandes, Manuela Fonte, Maria Clara Mendes, João Sousa Morais, Rafael Moreira, Walter Rossa, Manuel Teixeira, Margarida Valla, etc.
4. IUP archives, vol. 3: Registres d'inscription, Premier Registre: IUP, Années Scolaires 1925–26 à 1933–34; vol. 4: Registres des Diplômés du 16 Novembre 1922 au 16 Juin 1954.
5. Architectes Pierre Lauga and Froux were selected, but Bouté's application was also considered. The three were IUP students. Source: Étienne de Gröer archive box 8, University of Coimbra.
6. Post-graduate diploma in regional and urban planning (Universidade Técnica de Lisboa) which in 1982 was adapted into the mestrado in regional and urban planning.
7. Decree 23052 of September 23.
8. The two volumes, published in 1932, belong to the Duarte Pacheco archive (CML: GEO), having been acquired at the publication date (Acciaiuoli, Citation1991).
9. Preamble to Decree 24802.
10. Art. 9 of Decree 24802 of 21 December 1934.
11. Decree 24625 of 1 November 1934.
12. Decree 28797, 1 July 1938.
13. Henri Sellier, quoted by Magri and Topalov, Citation1987, 421–422.
14. Located on a plateau in the suburbs of Paris, the district was to accommodate 10,000 inhabitants. The unit was characterized by its autonomy obtained by the public services it offered, social diversity, and especially, by the landscaping, a new “green” way of life: designed public gardens, small squares, individual gardens and lawns. Suresnes became a model subdivision by its low density, associating autonomy (district) and dependence (to the downtown area).
15. Decree 16055, of 22 October 1928.
16. “facilitar a construção de habitações independentes e ajardinadas, semelhantes às que em Inglaterra—propriedade das famílias—têm produzido interessantes efeitos” [“to foster the construction of independent houses with gardens, similar to those that in England—property of the families—have produced interesting effects”], preamble to the Decree 16055.
17. This visit took place, according to the correspondence addressed to Louis de Soissons and to other local executives, 27and 28 September 1938. De Gröer indicates as a reference for the contact, his predecessor at the IUP, Auguste Bruggeman, director of the IUP. De Gröer archive box 8 (letters to Letchworth Estate Office, Lisbon, 19 September 1938, and Welwyns Estate Office, directed to Louis de Soissons, Lisbon, 20 September 1938).
18. Although only about 7 km away from the city centre, the neighbourhood was isolated and had no access by public transport. Its location near the airport ended up raising an agreement in 1947 to house airport workers.
19. However, Michel Godet's influence in the strategic management of the city (namely in Lisbon's 1992 Strategic Plan) shows that some connections to French thought persist in an age of globalizing planning cultures.