The 1.º Direito Participatory Project in Maia involves residents in the design of new housing developments, adopting a methodology that combines participatory, technical, and capacity-building elements, thereby promoting processes of co-creation and inclusion.
Problems and Purpose
The 1.º Direito Project – Participatory Project in Disadvantaged Communities to Promote New Public Housing Developments in Maia, implemented in 2023, was an initiative developed by the municipal company Espaço Municipal, based in Maia, in collaboration with the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto. The project worked with three communities, composed mainly of Roma people, affected by social vulnerability and social exclusion, whose residential areas were characterised by poor living conditions. Against this backdrop, the project constituted a participatory process for designing housing solutions, actively involving the households to be rehoused. It also included a capacity-building and integration component, aimed at residents and other trainees, in order to ensure a link between housing provision and skills development.
Background History and Context
The 1.º Direito Project is being implemented in three areas of substandard housing within the municipality of Maia – Anta, Ardegães and Lagielas – comprising mainly members of the Roma community, and involving around 180 people, divided into 44 households.
Maia is a municipality in the metropolitan area of Porto, Portugal, covering 83 km² and with a resident population of around 143,000 people in 2023 [1]. The three communities identified to host the project were, at the time of implementation, living in precarious housing conditions. The Anta community comprises 56 people across 15 households, living in overcrowded and substandard prefabricated housing. They settled in the area around 40 years ago, at a place then known as Monte Faro, in the former parish of Gemunde, now part of the Union of Parishes of Castêlo da Maia. The community of Ardegães comprises 25 people, making up eight households, mostly Roma, originally from the Alentejo. The dwelling was a farmhouse in an advanced state of disrepair. Finally, the community of Lagielas consists of Roma people who have been settled in the municipality of Maia for around 50 years. It comprises 103 people spread across 27 households. The settlement consisted of a temporary housing solution in shipping containers.
This context highlights the urgent need to ensure decent housing solutions capable of meeting the diverse needs of households. Consequently, the municipality of Maia and Espaço Municipal, the company responsible for managing the housing stock in the municipality of Maia, decided to take action in these areas. In collaboration with the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto, they implemented the 1.º Direito Project – Participatory Project in Disadvantaged Communities to Promote New Public Housing Developments in Maia, in the year 2023. This project is not limited to the physical construction of housing; it has been coordinated with the “Maia Melhor” project, which focuses on empowering disadvantaged communities, going far beyond the housing aspect. The process seeks to rethink the conventional approach to public housing design, presenting a multidimensional and integrated framework for action, involving close collaboration with the communities.
Organizing, Supporting, and Funding Entities
The project is being developed through a process of inter-institutional cooperation between Espaço Municipal and the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto. Espaço Municipal is the funding body, with partial funding provided by the Institute for Housing and Urban Regeneration (Instituto da Habitação e da Reabilitação Urbana - IHRU) for the architectural design component, through the 1.º Direito - PRR.
Participant Recruitment and Selection
The project focuses on three disadvantaged communities identified in the Local Housing Strategy – Anta, Ardegães and Lagielas – and is open to all their residents.
Methods and Tools Used
The methodology was structured around three complementary dimensions: i) the project’s participatory process, which is based on the involvement of residents and technical teams through community engagement that seeks to incorporate social preferences into architectural solutions; ii) the technical process, which encompasses the comprehensive development of the procedures necessary for the project’s implementation, namely access to funding, project execution, the awarding of the contract and the construction of the building; and (iii) capacity building, which combines different types of knowledge, integrating academic training and local learning, in order to expand and certify skills to enhance employment opportunities and family autonomy.
Throughout the process, a variety of collaborative formats and opportunities were developed, ensuring families’ involvement in the discussion, definition, and monitoring of housing solutions. This community-based work is structured around sessions organised according to scale and objectives. Sessions were held for each household, taking the form of interactive activities, where the discussion focused on specific housing and relations with the neighbourhood. In addition, focus groups were organised, taking into account factors such as gender and age group, when the aim was to hear the community’s views on issues relating to communal spaces, training, and capacity building.
Activities involving the production of full-scale models were also carried, and training sessions were organised. All activities used interactive materials designed specifically for this context, ensuring accessibility for people with varying levels of literacy. These included, amongst other things, adaptable and hands-on models, charts, tables, surveys, samples of materials, and construction solutions.
The participatory activities carried out throughout the process focused on six key areas: i) FAMILY, understanding of households and kinship relationships; ii) HOME, gathering information on housing preferences; iii) LOCATION, understanding the surroundings for spatial integration; iv) NEIGHBOURHOOD, discussion of community life; v) TRAINING, identifying topics for capacity building; and vi) TYPOLOGIES, defining the internal layouts of dwellings.
What Went On: Process, Interaction, and Participation
A total of 48 working sessions were held directly within the communities, involving the social management, participatory processes, and architectural design teams working together. These participatory sessions were designed to establish a multidisciplinary, community-based approach and to foster joint reflection with families, ensuring that representatives from both partner organisations were always present.
Between June 2023 and May 2024, the participatory sessions consisted of discussions aimed at documenting the diversity of configurations, identities, and connections inherent to each of the communities. From June 2024 onwards, a survey was carried out to identify areas of interest for training and discussion regarding the internal spatial organisation of the future dwellings.
The training sessions were conducted through focus groups organised by gender and age group, in order to ensure a safe and inclusive space, giving a voice to different sections of the community in the discussion of collective issues. The sessions provided an opportunity to discuss fundamental aspects of community life, such as the role of women, spaces dedicated to young people, and children’s lives. They also provided a forum for discussing employment and skills development, the realisation of individual aspirations, and the improvement of living conditions. Furthermore, they enabled the identification of technical skills already present among residents and the mapping of training preferences and learning interests. The information gathered was intended to structure skills development initiatives tailored to the community, as well as to establish partnerships for training and skills certification.
In turn, the topic of housing typologies focused on families’ preferences at the domestic level. Through individual sessions with each household, the internal spatial layout and the relationship between indoor and outdoor spaces were discussed. Using scale models with different interior layouts, it was possible to discuss family dynamics, housing experiences, daily routines, and the uses of indoor and outdoor spaces, as well as to identify preferences regarding the performance of tasks and the use of spaces. These activities contributed to the creation of solutions tailored to the preferences expressed, allowing them to be adapted to existing diversity and specificities.
Influence, Outcomes, and Effects
The process, which took place over 30 months, had a tangible impact on the technical and social design of housing solutions. Firstly, it was possible to identify housing needs, taking into account the specific characteristics of each community and household. This exercise revealed varying levels of social stability and the existence of issues requiring ongoing monitoring in terms of social support.
In terms of social characterisation, the process enabled the updating and systematisation of information regarding the composition of households, kinship relationships, and affinities, that is, close ties or tensions. This survey provided a solid foundation for future work.
In terms of capacity-building, input from the communities formed the basis for designing training initiatives tailored to residents’ actual needs, as well as for establishing partnerships focused on skills training and certification. Efforts were also made to incorporate residents’ practical experiences into the very process of developing the housing projects, particularly in relation to construction and opportunities for working from home.
Finally, the information gathered during discussions on housing typologies enabled the internal layout of each dwelling to be defined, along with the relationship between rooms and outdoor spaces, whether private or shared. This approach allowed for the customisation of dwellings according to the preferences expressed by households, fostering a greater sense of belonging to the living space.
References
[1] GEE. (n.d.). Concelho/Municipality: Maia. Gabinete de Estratégia e Estudos. Available at https://www.gee.gov.pt/pt/docs/publicacoes/estatisticas-regionais/distritos-concelhos/porto/maia/3244-maia/file
External Links
https://ceau.arq.up.pt/pt/research/projects/habitacao-participada-na-maia-anta-lagielas-e-ardegaes
https://www.cm-maia.pt/viver/desenvolvimento-social-e-demografia/maia-melhor
https://www.espacomunicipal.pt/media/ml2irztx/rc2024_20250328.pdf
https://www.espacomunicipal.pt/media/g1plukko/rc2023_20240327.pdf
