Synopsis

A unique urban and social experiment, the SAAL Projects began in the aftermath of the 25 April Revolution. It was a process of unique characteristics, resulting from a long struggle and collective reflection by the local communities, alongside multidisciplinary teams that included architects such as Álvaro Siza, Bartolomeu Costa Cabral, Gonçalo Byrne, Manuel Correia Fernandes, Manuel Vicente and Raúl Hestnes Ferreira. Cidade Participada: Arquitetura e Democracia (Tinta-da-China) records and documents the processes of the SAAL operations, profiles the communities involved, and reflects on the diversity and consequences of this immense architectural and democratic initiative.

The SAAL process that is the subject of this volume took place on the border between the municipalities of Sintra and Oeiras. Drawing on a vast archival selection, a site visit and conversations with the project’s author, the book records its current state, the ongoing need for adaptation and the particularities of the Pego Longo case. Bartolomeu da Costa Cabral, the architect in charge, saw in SAAL the virtue of effective community participation, listening to their aspirations and desires. The architect’s role was therefore to translate these faithfully, taking into account the references in the ‘site survey’ - which, given its importance, is published here in full - to a deep-rooted sense of connection to the urban periphery, to the small-scale domestic nature of the vegetable gardens and the ‘villa’, and to the spatial richness of the indeterminate and diverse.