Public housing renovation in Porto : typology versus occupancy density

Abstract

In the 1950s, a ten-year municipal plan (and its subsequent five-year extension) set off the construction of many public housing complexes in Porto to solve the need for housing, as industrialization phenomena had caused relevant migration to cities. These housing settlements (near half of these days total public housing in Porto), despite their careful urban design do not present nowadays satisfactory quality level (constructive, but also architectural and residential), failing to comply with some of the present regulations and living standard expectations (e.g. dwellings reduced area). In the last few years, some of these residential units have been renovated. The renovation strategy is targeted on technical improvement of housing envelopes, sometimes improving outdoor space, and rarely addressing interior spatial transformations. One municipal housing reference case from 1953 in Porto, presently under renovation, shows the urban regeneration that might result if deeper housing refurbishment is contemplated on a municipal strategy, without necessarily a much higher investment. Original typologies (very limited area) are merged to give place to new typologies (now in accordance to present regulations), apparently reducing population density of the related area. Was this density higher before renovation, or was it possibly ‘misunderstood’? Density measures the number of persons per unit area. As so, for the same construction volume, the change in dwelling occupancy density (area per person) alters the population density of that urban area. This effect comes out as particularly relevant when considering municipal census data: the ever growing percentage of under-occupied public accommodations in Porto exceeds that of the over-occupied ones. However, if ‘area per person’ is considered instead of house type (number of rooms), will the referred municipal accommodations still be regarded as under-occupied? This paper aims at clarifying this question, as municipal housing management and distribution is based on typology.