Pushed to the periphery: Lisbon’s rehousing policies lose the life of the neighbourhoods they demolish
The demolition and replacement of Lisbon’s
bairros de barracas ignores their complex history and reality
Last year, the council of Oeiras, in Lisbon, Portugal, sold a plot of land to a Chinese company for €14.5 million. The price and the nature of the sale – it’s thought the company will build housing on the site – reflect the effectiveness with which Portugal has been marketed in recent years as an attractive destination for both real-estate speculation and tourism. Perhaps unbeknown to its buyers, however, this plot of land was, until not long ago, home to Pedreira dos Húngaros, one of Portugal’s largest self-built neighbourhoods, housing some three thousand people over two decades. One of the early targets of the Dedicated National Rehousing Plan, the PER (Programa Especial de Realojamento), which began in 1994 and is still running today, the televised demol
A group of musicians from Valletta’s King’s Own Band, under the direction of Mro Sandro Camilleri, will come together to play some festive music tomorrow.
The programme includes a number of Christmas classics like White Christmas and Oh Come, All Ye Faithful together with more modern anthems.
The public is invited to attend the concert at the basilica of Porto Salvo and St Dominic in Valletta at 6.30pm. COVID-19 measures are to be respected.
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