As Terras da Costa
Without water, sewerage and with precarious houses.
These were the living conditions of almost 500 people – approximately 100 children – who lived (and live in part) in a neighbourhood of illegal beginnings in Costa da Caparica. Named Terras da Costa, the neighbourhood in its two cores has always been composed of two distinct groups. One with origins in Portuguese-speaking African countries, mostly Cape Verdean, and others of Roma origin.
The residents of the core, which lie next to the Rua do Juncal, were reallocated in March 2016, today there are still about 50 families, mostly from Cape-Verde, Guinea and São Tomé.
There is no official data on the genesis of the neighbourhood, but it is known that it started as agricultural support houses, sometime during the late 1970s. From an aerial photo in 2001, we were able to identify the consolidated neighbourhood.
From isolated to visible territory
Terras da Costa was a hidden neighbourhood, due to its natural geography, or intentionally - just as in the opening image of the official page of the former Parish Council (2013) in which a photograph was taken from the top of the ancient cliff and where the lettering Junta de Freguesia (Parish Council) carefully covered the houses in the neighbourhood so that only the sea and residential towers could be seen.
Ateliermob started to work with this community in the workshop “Noutra Costa”, promoted by the Universidade Autónoma de Lisboa. Right after the end of the workshop, the collective Fronteiras Urbanas and ateliermob met, and among other things, the problem of lack of water in the neighbourhood and possible solutions were discussed. It was soon understood that solving a specific problem required a considerable collective effort and that the pressure of setbacks required organizational reinforcement around the Residents' Association. It was at a neighbourhood’s meeting that the desire to have the Terras da Costa Community Kitchen was formalised.
In several meetings with the Municipality of Almada, ateliermob proposed to deal with the immediate future and the problem of access to water, it was also communicated in some reports of violent police operations, in the area of Terras da Costa, which went beyond the limits of public security.
In August 2013, the Colectivo Warehouse donated the wood, to the Terras da Costa project, which originated from the dismantling of the Cova a Vapor project. And here begins a partnership that continues to this day. On December 8, 2014, the Terras da Costa Community Kitchen is formally inaugurated, and the water finally reaches the neighbourhood, creating an atmosphere of great joy.
With the Community Kitchen now materialised, at an impasse as to what would happen in the neighbourhood and whether there were conditions for the technical teams to continue working, the Building of the Year 2016 Award in the public architecture sector, was awarded by Archdaily. The idea that visibility is central to the struggle for these sites remains.
This story would not have been possible without the resilience of the residents of the neighbourhood, without the support of the Almada City Council and the Municipal Water and Sanitation Services of Almada, and also the financial support of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation through its Human Development Program.
