Programmatic pillar Identity – Lived Territories

Curated by Virgílio Borges Pereira

Walk oriented by Luciana Rocha

This walk offers an insight into the Cerco neighbourhood through three perspectives: the urban and architectural design, the home as a domestic space, and the neighbourhood as a space for community life. Built as part of the Improvement Plan for the City of Porto, this neighbourhood is one of the largest housing estates constructed under this programme and marks a decisive moment in the city’s urban, social and housing reorganisation. 

This exploration of Cerco do Porto thus offers an insight into its transformations over time, examining the original design, the access and transitional spaces, the ways in which the area is inhabited, and the alterations made to the buildings and public spaces. In this context, "Breaking through Cerco do Porto" means traversing the neighbourhood beyond its physical boundaries, in a revisitation of a place marked by memories, adaptations and ways of belonging.