Organised in the context of the initiative Arquitectura Aqui – Community, Proximity, Action. Collective-use facilities in Portugal and Spain 1939-1985, the conference is the outcome of the following research projects:

• ArchNeed The Architecture of Need: Community Facilities in Portugal 1945-1985 (FCT, PTDC/ART-DAQ/6510/2020), based at CIDEHUS – Interdisciplinary Centre for History, Cultures and Societies, University of Évora, with the participation of the Gulbenkian Art Library and Archives.

• ReARQ.IB Built Environment Knowledge for Resilient, Sustainable Communities: Understanding Everyday Modern Architecture and Urban Design in the Iberian Peninsula (1939-1985) (ERC Starting Grant 949686), based at DINÂMIA’CET-Iscte, Centre for Studies on Socioeconomic Change and Territory, Iscte-IUL.

The conference aims to stimulate debate on the ways in which disciplines related to construction, and architecture in particular, responded to the basic needs of communities in the 20th century, how these needs were expressed and translated through collective-use facilities – schools, health centres, basic housing, among others – or how it is possible to co-create knowledge about these buildings with their users and communities, covering a wide geographical and cultural range.

The event is free to attend, but prior registration is required until 10 October.