Lisbon in height: growing without losing your soul!

Like many cities around the world, Lisbon, a city of hills and light, deserves our reflection and consideration, as well as a debate about its vertical future. High-rise construction, a topic that arouses so much passion and controversy, has put the preservation of historical identity and the pressures of economic and demographic growth on a collision course. In this opinion piece, I intend to explore the multiple facets of this issue, advocating for a judicious and planned development that modernizes the city "without depriving its soul." Thus, the weight of history and the city's urban fabric, the economic and social equation, the technical challenges, and sustainability will be addressed and taken into consideration. A vision for the city's future will be defined, which takes into account the opportunity to build the New Lisbon Airport.

The Weight of History and the Urban Fabric

Lisbon's identity is intrinsically linked to its rugged topography and an urban fabric that has evolved organically over centuries. From Mouraria and Alfama, with their winding streets, to Baixa Pombalina, an example of resilience and Enlightenment planning, the city boasts a diverse urban fabric that tells its story. The preservation of this architectural heritage and the unique landscape, marked by the "seven hills," is a fundamental pillar of Lisbon's identity.

Urban planning legislation, such as the Municipal Master Plan (PDM), has sought, with varying degrees of success, to manage growth by establishing rules for building volume and height. However, real estate pressure has led to the emergence of projects that challenge the city's traditional scale, generating a heated debate about the visual impact and the de-characterization of established areas. Tall buildings, when randomly inserted into the heart of the historic city, risk creating a visual disruption, disrupting the harmony and interpretation of the urban landscape.

The Economic and Social Equation of Projects

From an economic perspective, high-rise construction appears, at first glance, to be a solution to the scarcity of space, with the consequent inflation in real estate prices. The concentration of housing, offices, and hotels in large buildings can, theoretically, optimize land use and reduce infrastructure costs. High-rise projects, with luxury apartments, offices for large companies, and renowned hotels, promise significant economic returns for their developers.

The social dimension of the projects should, however, operate under a different and more promising logic. Instead of inserting towers into historic neighborhoods, displacing communities, my proposal consists of replacing polluting and noise-generating infrastructure with a new, planned urban center. This option translates into unequivocal gains in quality of life for the surrounding areas. The primary challenge of housing affordability remains, given the cost of construction. However, a project of this scale and nature allows urban planning to be the solution: it is the opportunity to dedicate, from the outset, significant quotas for housing, affordable rent, and social diversity. Thus, verticalization would not be a driver of gentrification, but a tool to create an inclusive and vibrant neighborhood, alleviating real estate pressure on the rest of the city and transforming an urban barrier into a new green and built lung.

Technical Challenges and Sustainability

Building tall buildings in Lisbon poses considerable technical challenges. The city is located in a moderate seismic zone, requiring advanced and costly engineering solutions to ensure structural safety. The geological conditions of the soil also vary significantly, requiring in-depth studies for each project.

Furthermore, the concentration of thousands of people in skyscrapers places enormous pressure on existing infrastructure. Water supply, sanitation, energy distribution, and telecommunications networks must be adapted to this new reality. From an environmental perspective, high-rise buildings can be designed to be energy-efficient, incorporating solar technologies, thermal insulation, and water management systems.

A Vision for the Future: The New Airport Opportunity

The future of Lisbon doesn't lie in a dogmatic rejection of high-rise construction, but rather in its intelligent and planned integration. The solution doesn't lie in peppering the established city with disparate towers, but in designating specific areas for vertical development, where it can be implemented harmoniously and sustainably.

In this context, the potential relocation of Humberto Delgado Airport represents a unique and historic opportunity to rethink Lisbon's urban paradigm. The vast hectares that would be freed up offer the ideal "blank canvas" for the creation of a 21st-century "garden city." In this new neighborhood, urban development could be planned that includes high-rise buildings with a variety of uses—housing, offices, commerce, cultural and leisure facilities—surrounded by expansive green spaces and an excellent public transportation network.

The creation of a new skyline in this area, visible from various points in the city, could symbolize a modern and contemporary Lisbon that embraces the future without erasing its past. This new centrality, designed from the ground up based on principles of sustainability and quality of life, would alleviate pressure on the historic center, preserving its identity and, in part, returning it to a more authentic, less crowded experience.

In short, high-rise construction in Lisbon should be viewed not as an inevitability to be passively accepted, but as an urban planning tool to be used skillfully and with a forward-looking vision. By channeling vertical development into strategically defined areas, such as the current airport site, Lisbon can evolve into a more balanced, inclusive, and sustainable metropolis, honoring its history while building a future worthy of it.

The debate on high-rise construction in Lisbon presents a unique moment for Portuguese urban planning. The future exit from the airport offers a historic opportunity to plan from scratch a new, modern, sustainable hub with its own identity.