Abstract
This chapter reflects on the concept of justice, addressing Iris Marion Young’s ‘politics of difference’, by analysing a migrant squatter settlement in the periphery of Lisbon. The main goal of this chapter is to search for the ‘five faces of oppression’ and how the construction of a community kitchen minimized oppression and therefore mitigated unjust impacts of urban development. Starting from a broader understanding of architecture, both as a result and research, the theoretical and methodological crossover with other disciplines like anthropology, sociology or political philosophy support the questioning of dominant and alternative practices in the production of space.
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Notes
- 1.
To summarize her position, Iris Marion Young (1949–2006) was a feminist political philosopher interested in feminist social theory, theories of justice and democratic theory.
- 2.
A precarious settlement, comparable to what is perceived as a ‘shantytown’.
- 3.
Suburbanisation in Lisbon led to two main configurations of ‘illegal genesis’. In most cases, owners of the land (in joint ownership) erected unlicensed constructions on their ‘lot’, usually in non-urban areas. Reasons and motivations are well described in the work of Craveiro (2010). A reverse situation, more seldom, shows that other areas were self-produced from the occupation of and subsequent construction on public or private land. In the first case, and since dwellers had property rights, the commitment was to proceed to “urban reconversion”, a manifest for the legal fetishism described by Azuela in these types of processes (2004). As for the second condition, occupations resulted in resettlements mainly framed within the PER (Slum Relocation Programme), a public housing programme. Some of those processes started as far back as the 1990s and are still unconcluded.
- 4.
The PER led to a strong debate prior to its implementation. Evictions, displacements and a general reflection on the fact that this type of urban form, both on the macro and micro scale, was inadequate to accommodate inhabitants from ‘bairros de lata’ was a concern for many urban planners. Guerra (1994) wrote a special number of ‘Sociedade e Território’ a journal of urban and regional studies, dedicated to the PER, stating that ‘People are not things one can put in drawers’ [translation by the author].Years later, execution of the PER was also criticized in the works of Cachado (2008, 2013).
- 5.
For a deeper understanding of representation issues, the PER housing programme and ‘bairros de barracas’, see the work of Braga et al. (2015) regarding the confrontation of urban policies and urban planning with artistic interventions in Quinta da Vitória, a migrant squatter settlement in the periphery of Lisbon.
- 6.
Translated from the project summary found at http://fronteirasurbanas.ie.ul.pt/?p=14, visited on December 15th 2015.
- 7.
Fab Lab stands for Fabrication Laboratory. Fab Labs are a global network of local labs focused on digital fabrication. Regardless of the potential to empower individuals or communities to co-create objects in an open-source, democratic way, in the case of Terras da Costa a low tech solution was closer to existing practices of building resistance.
- 8.
Between November 2014 and May 2015, the exhibition presented design proposals for six of the world’s megacities made by teams of architects, advocating for change in terms of spatial production and questioning the scope of profession.
- 9.
Batuque is a Cape Verdean musical genre and dance associated with the culture of the island of Santiago, where most of the inhabitants of Terras da Costa are from. It is not exclusively but typically performed by women. The group sits in a circle, called ‘terreru’, on the street, at home, at a party. While one woman dances, the others sing and play the ‘chabeta’, a flap of cloth wrapped usually in a piece of leather or a plastic bag.
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Acknowledgements
Joana Pestana Lages acknowledges support from the grant SFRH/BD/80806/2011 awarded the Portuguese funding institution FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia. It is also acknowledged the support of the urban researchers Joana Braga and Ana Catarino, as well as all dwellers from Terras da Costa.
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Lages, J.P. (2017). Questioning (in)Equality. Insights from a Community Kitchen in a Migrant Squatter Settlement in Greater Lisbon. In: Manuela Mendes, M., Sá, T., Cabral, J. (eds) Architecture and the Social Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53477-0_12
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