2024 - 2025
After a very busy year, the end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025 are being lived with great intensity and ongoing several deadlines at the ateliermob.
However, this has not obstructed us from paying attention to what is happening around us, in particular three deaths which occurred at the end of 2024: Carlos Pina, Odair Moniz, and Pedro Sobral.
Deriving from different backgrounds, these three losses compel us to reflect more deeply on the associated urban matters. Matters which are closely linked to the professional practices of ateliermob and Working with the 99%, ranging from life in the neighbourhoods to life on the streets of Lisbon and other cities across the country. Furthermore, we have also seen various images and news about an alleged police response that puts at risk all the people and institutions working in these territories. Above all, it fails to present a solution - both immediate and structural.
It is significant to note, in recent days, several individuals and local organisations, whose work is recognised nationally and across Europe, have publicly expressed their discomfort with the responses announced by the government. We subscribe to these positions (1).
These territories, labelled as "problematic", are places where we work. In these areas, we have also been seeing the progressive withdrawal of State investment (2), often financially strangling the on-site organisations, left working through cuts or payment delays. Simultaneously, there are grand and highly publicised police operations yielding negligible results and unsettling the people and entities living and working in these areas.
Meanwhile, the news of yet another cyclist killed on the streets of Lisbon, on an avenue where the construction of a bike lane has been repeatedly postponed, reminds us how far we are from other European cities and from achieving smooth and safe mobility for everyone. There are countless projects for pedestrian accessibility improvements or bike lanes - some designed by us - whose implementation has been postponed, with their funding re-directed to other sectors. Lisbon’s municipality has a wealth of technical expertise and approved projects on these issues, yet it delays giving them the importance they deserve.
Empathy and care for people and our essential shared spaces must be reclaimed as central elements in urban operations within cities. This begins with the communities, through the inevitable strengthening of their local organisations and with the State putting its resources at the service of these processes. All those genuinely wishing to combat poverty, stigmatisation, and various forms of hate, must understand that the path lies in building networks of cooperation and collaboration, which cannot be buried under applications, tenders, deliverables, or work packages.
In 2025, ateliermob will celebrate twenty years of activity. Our professional practice has been increasingly recognized internationally, and in the first half of the upcoming year, we will face new challenges that will take us to different continents. However, our disciplinary activity will always remain deeply rooted in the neighbourhoods and places where we live and work. Empathy and care are the foundation of a significant part of our practices and dreams. This is where we stand, and this is the path we will continue to follow.
We thank everyone who has shared the journey with us thus far and hope to continue contributing to urbanities where everyone can lead a life closer to their aspirations.
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(1) Consider, e.g., the statement from our partner and sister cooperative Largo Residências, with whom we have been forging paths in Arroios, including Rua do Benformoso.
(2) Consider, e.g., the cancellation of the 2nd Edition of the Healthy Neighborhoods Program, which, with an investment of only 10 million euros, reached thousands of people and organizations on its first edition, with an average physical execution rate of 95.7%.
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Image from the video-essay "The House: A Revolution Like This...", which can be viewed here.