“Optimistic Suburbia 2 - Middle-Class Mass Housing Complexes” International Conference, to be held in Lisbon in June 2021, follows the “Optimistic Suburbia-Large Housing Complexes for the Middle-Class Beyond Europe” congress which took place at ISCTE from 20 to 22 January 2015.

 

“Optimistic Suburbia 2 - Middle-Class Mass Housing Complexes” is part of the research project “MCMH – Middle-Class Mass Housing in Europe, Africa and Asia” [PTDC / ART-DAQ / 30594/2017], which started in October 2018, also funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology, and is being developed at ISCTE by DINÂMIA’CET-IUL research centre. ISCTE's partners in the project are Universidade Agostinho Neto in Luanda (Angola), Universiteit Antwerpen (Belgium) and the Politecnico di Milano (Italy), as well as Docomomo Macau and Docomomo Angola. The goal of this research project is to carry out a compared analysis of Middle-Class Mass Housing (MCMH) in Europe, Africa and Asia, introducing new case studies to deepen the existing research, made with successfully tested methodologies: survey, catalogue and contextualization of housing complexes built between the 1950s and the 1980s in Italy, Belgium, Portugal, Angola and China.

​

 

With this conference, it is intended to identify the existing housing and urban models and to map the changes after 50 years of use in order to understand how they have adapted to current (urban and social) conditions and to support future actions. Based on on-going national studies, a cross-reading that reflects the expansion of cities in the context of demographic growth after WWII is proposed. The impact of residential models developed by architects in European contexts will also be analysed, as their transposition to territories formerly under colonial rule. A more global vision in the MCMH context will be assured by including: 1) Historical descriptions of the physical evolution of the dwelling, the building and the neighbourhood; 2) Surveys and analysis of their inhabitants' profile. It would be also addressed the resilience of MCMH complexes, including testing and proposing ways to prolong its life by updating the functional organization of the apartments, by renewing the infrastructures and building systems and by outlining the profile of its residents. Special attention should be given to the way of promotion (public or private) and its effect on the profile of the current inhabitants (pioneer, recent, immigrant).

​

“Optimistic Suburbia II - Middle-Class Large Housing Complexes” is linked to COST Action CA 18137 “European Middle Class Mass Housing”, which is a co-organizer of this conference. The main challenge of this Cost Action is to create a transnational network that gathers European researchers carrying studies on Middle-Class Mass Housing (MCMH) built in Europe since the 1950s. This network will allow the development new scientific approaches by discussing, testing and assessing case studies and their different methodologies and perspectives. The Action will be developed by three Working Groups, coordinated by a Core Group: Documenting the MCMH; Development of a specific set of (new) concepts for MCMH analyses; Leverage contemporary architecture interventions and Public Policies. The Action will involve researchers related to Mass Housing, MCMH Architecture and Urbanism, Planning and Public Policies, Sociological studies, Architecture History and Modern Heritage.

 

 

“Optimistic Suburbia II - Middle-Class Large Housing Complexes” is also related with the Israel Institute for Advanced Studies (IIAS) Working Group "Re-theorizing the Architecture of Housing as Grounds for Research and Practice". This Research Group brings together a diverse group of scholars at the IIAS to engage in research questions of common interest. The vision of this Research Group consists of new outlook on the development of the housing crisis and on architecture’s role in addressing it, by rethinking the terminology used to discuss housing, and by developing anew the vocabulary for researching and designing housing for the general public.