Terras da Costa | Book

Project description

Without water, sewerage and with precarious housing, these were the living conditions of hundreds of people who inhabited and inhabit Terras da Costa.

The commencing of work was slow, but the first steps were taken in 2015, right after the electricity was cut in the neighbourhood, in May of that year, all illegal electrical connections were dismantled, generating enormous tension in the neighbourhood. Between the end of November 2015 and March 2016, the process of relocating the core of Rua do Juncal and the demolition of the houses took place. In 2016, ateliermob proposed to analyse, study and assemble information about the neighbourhood, so that the relocation process could start from the area to be demolished and with the residents as the main actors, believing that the reward would be on the day when all the inhabitants of that land have a decent house, in a neighbourhood built alongside them.

Today, in 2021, the Terras da Costa neighbourhood remains in the same location and more than 50 families continue to live in precarious housing, without water and sewerage, but with legal electricity. Now there is once again talk focusing on resettlement and a social recomposition of the city, the Cooperativa Trabalhar com os 99% together with its partners and the residents of the neighbourhood decided to build this Observatory of Removals so that the everyday of this piece of land of Costa da Caparicacan be documented.

Now that we are entering a new stage of uncertainty in the life of Terras da Costa, we believe that it is crucial to leave behind documentation of the process. Here we will map, record and share information about resettlements, and everything else that is considered important at each moment. Countering the persistent attempt to isolate each of the residents and build a common story is the motto of this project.

We are together - as is so often said in the Terras.