The controversial landscapes of the modern neighbourhood units in contemporary Luanda: Prenda as paradigm

Abstract

The purpose of this communication is studying the origin, development and current status of the first Neighborhood Unit planned in Luanda: the one projected for Prenda neighborhood (1962-65). It was an ambitious project with a utopic character, including a mixture of races and social classes and a configuration of local urbanism with spaces of coexistence and common activities. The Angolan armed conflicts (1962-2002) forced to leave the project unfinished, which led to a progressive overcrowding (people displaced of war) and degradation, due to lack of maintenance and services. Today Bairro Prenda is debated between renovation and demolition. Prenda synthesizes the change from colonial to postcolonial landscapes. Planned at the same time as the modern and utopic Luanda, it received the occupation by the native population of those properties abandoned by the Portuguese who left the country after Independence. Later, Prenda suffered the degradation caused by the war and today it is threatened by the process of urban renewal. Today, Luanda is experiencing an intense renovation process that sees in the degraded modern neighborhood units an opportunity to build new urban projects, without even appreciating their renovation.