Project Description

The aim of the project is to characterise a specific type of substandard (mainly rented) housing, the so-called “ilhas” (“islands”), located in the backyards of existing buildings and developed mainly during the industrialisation period. Previous surveys referred to a population of about 13500 inhabitants in this form of housing in Oporto. The project also aims to identify strategies of intervention to be developed by the municipality, with a general reference to the right to an adequate housing.

The methodology of the study includes the quantification of the phenomena, and an assessment of its characteristics, conditions and problems, from the points of view of the physical characteristics of the dwellings, of their urban integration, and of the socioeconomic conditions of the residents and their perception of housing needs and satisfaction. 

The strategic assessment of the situation and the understanding of its differentiation will conduce to the elaboration of a general model of intervention, with different types of short-, medium- and long-term solutions, including the discussion of the funding of public intervention in this type of sub-standard private rented housing.

Research Team

• Isabel Breda Vázquez
• Paulo Conceição
• Isabel Coimbra
• Catarina Oliveira
• João Neves
• Vasco Oliveira

Financial Support

• DomusSocial

Stage of Progress

• concluded