2012. Crescimento urbano e experiência suburbana em Lisboa - o caso da Amadora (1960-1974) / Urban Growth and Suburban Experience - the Amadora case (Lisbon, 1960-1974)

This article analyzes the effects of urban growth on the suburban experience of Amadora’s residents – Lisbon’s most important suburb in the 1960s and 1970s. It begins by placing Amadora within Lisbon’s suburbanization process, giving then an account of its transformation from an industrial and residential suburb to a suburban city. A close study of newspaper articles published on the national and local press between 1960 and 1974 on Amadora´’s urban life enables the reconstitution of an urban growth crisis, and its interplay with suburbanization, deficient public services provision and local government structures. At the end, a discussion on the relationship between the suburban experience and the urban political economy is made, and a contribution to understand and explain different suburban meanings is offered.