Alvalade

Alvalade (alvɐˈlaðɨ) is a freguesia (civil parish) and typical quarter of Lisbon, the capital city of Portugal. Located in central Lisbon, Alvalade is south of Lumiar and Olivais, west of Marvila, east of São Domingos de Benfica, and north of Avenidas Novas and Areeiro. The population in 2021 was 33,309.

The designation of Alvalade appears to have its origins in the Arabic name Al Balade, meaning "inhabited and walled place." In 1323, the Battle of Alvalade was fought between King Dinis I of Portugal and his son King Afonso IV of Portugal, but famously the battle was stopped after the intervention of Saint Queen Isabel of Portugal, wife of Dinis I and mother of Afonso IV. There is a monument erected in memory of the Saint Queen in Alvalade. The neighborhood is based on the "Urbanization Plan of the Southern Zone of Avenida Alferes Malheiro," currently referred to as Avenida do Brasil, authored by architect Faria da Costa. The plan proposed an urban design centered around closed block typologies, bounded by continuous streets, within a relatively non hierarchical system. It also envisioned two major avenues originating from a single point, the intersection of Avenida de Roma with the railway, extending from Avenida de Roma to Avenida Alferes Malheiro (now Avenida do Brasil) near the Júlio de Matos Hospital. This plan emerged due to the city's housing shortage resulting from population growth, particularly in economically affordable housing. The implementation of this plan involved several architects, each responsible for a segment, resulting in a diverse range of architectural styles. Embracing this variety turned Alvalade into an experimental site for architecture, showcasing diverse housing proposals while maintaining harmonious control over the overall ensemble. This method, wherein an urban plan evolves during implementation, remains underexplored today. Minor adjustments were made to the overall plan during the detailed planning phase, but the main ideas remained intact. In 1944, the introduction of the "neighborhood unit" determined the structure present in Alvalade today. Eight cells were established, spanning three different parishes in Lisbon: Campo Grande (cells 1 and 2), São João de Brito (cells 3, 4, 5, and 6), and Alvalade (cells 7 and 8). The boundaries encompass significant city thoroughfares: Avenida do Brasil (north), Avenida Gago Coutinho (east), the railway line (south), Rua de Entre campos, and Campo Grande (west). There are eight standard projects in this neighborhood, designated from A to H. Type A features ground level open space supported by pilotis, while type B designates ground level space for commercial use, primarily in the central zone. Types E, F, and G are considered variants for corner situations. Lastly, type H refers to small commercial constructions within the courtyards. In 1951, the Lot Division Plan began, with construction starting in 1952. This area was characterized by rural occupation on Lisbon's periphery, dominated by cultivation areas, estates, and small clusters of houses connected by minor roads. Urbanization transformed these clusters, incorporating existing elements into the new urban fabric. They were categorized into three levels of incorporated pre existing structures: first, the main roads into Lisbon, second, the small clusters near these roads, and finally, isolated structures with significant architectural value. This culturalist approach integrated existing elements from the past, even those lacking significant architectural character, recognizing their importance to the new construction. It was one of the 12 parishes created by the administrative reorganization of the municipality of Lisbon on February 7, 1959, which separated these territories from the former parish of Campo Grande. In the same year the parish of São João de Brito, named after the church dedicated to the Jesuit martyr of the same name, was created; it would have later been absorbed into Alvalade after 53 years. By the 1960s, the final developments in the Alvalade neighborhood focused on detailed studies, aiming to accentuate organic construction and move away from more rationalist options. An example is the Lagares d'El Rei Urbanization in cell 8. As a consequence of the administrative reorganization of 2012, which came into effect after the local elections of 2013, the parish brought together the former parishes of Alvalade, Campo Grande , and São João de Brito, as well as small territories that previously belonged to the parishes of Marvila, São Domingos de Benfica, and São João de Deus (the latter dissolved). These territories merged with the Alvalade parish and the new and larger one kept the latter's name. The homonymous parish of Alvalade is dedicated to Saint Joana Princess, but following the expansion of 2012, the parish also includes within its territory the parishes of São João de Brito (patron saint of the former parish of the same name) and Santos Reis (patron saint of Campo Grande).

In the parish of Alvalade are located some of the largest and most prestigious universities in the country, both public and private. Among the public institutions, notable ones include the Cidade universitária of the University of Lisbon, the largest university in the country, and the University Institute of Lisbon (ISCTE). Among the private universities, prominent ones are the Portuguese Catholic University and the Lusophone University of Humanities and Technologies (Universidade Lusófona). The rectorate and several faculties of the University of Lisbon, those which belonged to the former Classical University of Lisbon, one of the predecessors of the current university (Law, Humanities, Psychology, Sciences, Medicine, Dental Medicine, and Pharmacy), are situated in the parish of Alvalade, within the so called University City. Besides the faculties, other university facilities such as the Lisbon University Stadium (Estádio Universitário de Lisboa), some cafeterias, and residences are also located in the same parish.

In the parish of Alvalade there are 961 residents who, as of 2021, were unemployed. Of these, 41.52% received a state fund subsidy or pension (41.34% in Lisbon). In 2021 the unemployment rate in the parish is considerably lower than the one recorded for Lisbon and for Portugal as a whole, standing at 6.04%. In the same year, Portugal as a whole had an unemployment rate of 8.13% that has progressively decreased to 6.1% in 2023. As the statistics dealing with unemployment at the parish level are available only every 10 years, the current (2023) unemployment rate in Alvalade is unknown. Amongst youth aged 15–24 the unemployment rate in 2021 in the parish stood at 16.01%, 4.59% lower than in the rest of the country. On the other hand, in 2021 14,959 residents were employed, of which 73.54% were employees and 23.47% were independent workers. Below is the table showing the employment rate per age group. The low share of people aged 20–24 employed is due to the fact that many are still in education (e. g. university) while the low proportion of those in employment aged 60–64 is due to many being early pensioners. +2021 Census dataAge group20 2425 2930 3435 3940 4445 4950 5455 5960 64Share of people in employment31.65%80.18%85.14%85.52%86.28%85.57%81.25%72.78%56.95%
Dealing with commuting, the residents of Alvalade spent 19.87 minutes of daily commuting, 2 minutes less than the average inhabitant of Lisbon.

Dealing with overcrowding in the parish's households, 3.59% of the population lives in accommodations where they have less than 15 m2 per capita (8.71% for Lisbon and 5.65% in Portugal as a whole), while 47.05% live in houses with more than 40 m2 per capita (39.64% for Lisbon and 46.84% in Portugal as a whole). There are 3,543.8 dwellings per km2 (3,200.5 for Lisbon and 64.9 in Portugal as a whole). 51.7% of the population lives in owned dwellings as of 2021; this is higher than the value recorded for Lisbon (50.3%) but significantly lower than the one recorded for Portugal (70%). The average height of a residential building in Alvalade is 4.5 floors as of 2021 and the average area of a dwelling stands at 103.91 m2 (with the average in Lisbon city 93.07 m2 being and in Portugal 112.45 m2). The average monthly rent value of leased dwellings recorded in 2021 stood at €627.21, 33.20% higher than the Lisbon average in the same year (€470.87). It is nonetheless important to notice that the value of the rents is quite low because of many contracts stipulated decades ago, with 13.00% (25.34% in Lisbon) of the dwellers paying less than €150/month because of the rent freezing system that was adopted in Portugal in the late XX century, allowing that many people, now mostly elders, don't have to pay high rents. Due to the housing crisis and inflation, in 2023 the average rent for new contracts (frozen contracts aren't concerned) stood in fact at €13 €14/m2 in Alvalade, meaning that for the average 103.91 m2 dwelling are necessary around €1,403/month. Dealing with housing prices, it is interesting to remark that if the median price per m2 stood at €1,979 for a house sold in early 2016, this value had risen to €3,415/m2 in early 2021 and to €4,479/m2 in 2023, experiencing a growth of +126.33% in just 7 years. In the same period the growth of house priced per m2 in Lisbon as a whole was +117.6%, from €1,875/m2 to €4,080/m2. Of the 2,489 residential buildings listed in the parish, 0.68% were built before 1919, 70.67% from 1919 to 1960, 21.45% from 1961 to 1990, 3.21% from 1991 to 2000 and 3.98% after 2001. Of the buildings built before 1919 100% had 1 to 3 floors, while in buildings built between 1981 and 2010 the proportion of buildings with 6 stories or more is 57.97%. Interestingly, the newer and higher the building the higher the probability of it being served by an elevator. For homes built before 1946, only 9.09% have access to an elevator as of 2021; this percentage ascends to 71.50% for buildings dating from 1981 to 2010. Always with regard to amenities, 28.12% of the houses had access to air conditioning (20.98% in Lisbon), 79.80% to heating (69.62% in Lisbon) and 23.09% to a parking place (28.04% in Lisbon). As of 2021 there were 2,447 vacant dwelling in the parish. Of the vacant dwellings, 888 are vacant for rental or with the purpose of being sold, while 1,559 are vacant for other reasons, often abandoned, awaiting their demolition or because a reason for conflict among heirs. Moreover, as of 2023 205 apartments are registered as "Alojamento Local", meaning they have the license to be rent on platforms such as Booking. com or Airbnb. In the parish were also recorded 9 homeless people, of which 8 (88.89%) were males. The parish is thus actively promoting initiatives aiming at helping people in situation of permanent of temporal homelessness.

The parish has 194 streets administered by the city council. They are: