Chelas, Lisboa. The modern heritage in time of crisis

Chelas is a huge public neighborhood in Lisbon. Designed during the 60s as Metabolist city, Chelas has been developed in more than seven hundred acres and it is populated by forty thousand people. The neighborhood, created during the last fifty years, was an extraordinary laboratory for innovative policies and architectural avant-garde projects. Nowadays, Chelas is something different. The economic and demographic crisis seems to have completely destroyed the strength of social programs sponsored by the municipality of Lisbon. The neighborhood that, until some years ago, was considered dangerous and overcrowded, now is marked by an exodus of population, an abandonment of buildings and a progressive disuse of public spaces. Starting from the last years, many programs have been applied in order to face this difficult situation. The most practised and economically sustainable initiatives are programs based on “people social role”. But these policies are slowly taking off in Chelas, where the capabilities processes are struggling to give results. In conclusion, although Chelas shows many peculiar features, it helps us debate about at least one issue: the effectiveness of capabilities and self-protection programs in some problematic areas that were, until some years ago, protected by public services and welfare assistance.