Day 4

Chalana

Today the architect Pedro Bandeira kindly offered to visit us and cook us lunch.  He made a simple delicious pasta and over lunch we talked about housing in Porto and in Brazil, about the Lagarteiro Estate and our residence. Bandeira argued that the owners of empty buildings should be made aware and responsible for the lack of housing that affects many in the country.  He noted the fact that this project is taking place in a former bank, in a context where banks are not taking responsibility – and they should – for the current economic and social crisis as well as the amount of vacant buildings in the City Centre. He told us about Jose Antonio Pinto aka Chalana, a hands-on social worker who is also a great man and recently did a Tedtalk in Porto. We watched the talk together on youtube after coffee. Good hint for a possible new guest.