Making the ‘New Lourinhã, a European Lourinhã’: Democracy, Civic Engagement, and the Urban Development of Lourinhã, Portugal, since 1966 Raphael Costa A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY GRADUATE PROGRAM IN HISTORY YORK UNIVERSITY TORONTO, ONTARIO September 2014 © Raphael Costa, 2014 Abstract Since 1966, Lourinhã’s urban landscape has transformed as Portugal democratized. From a rural town with little infrastructure and few institutions in 1966, Lourinhã emerged by 2001 as an ostensibly modern European town. This work highlights key areas of economic and urban development and argues that Lourinhã’s political culture became more institutionalized leaving less room for, and withering expectation of, citizen participation in local development as Portugal transitioned from dictatorship to democracy. This dissertation examines Portugal’s transition from the Estado Novo dictatorship (1933-1974) to European social democracy by focusing on Lourinhã’s – a town of 22,000 people, north of Lisbon – urbanization since 1966. Lourinhã’s urbanization involved, and indeed required, a shift in its institutional and political culture. In the 1960s and 1970s people were expected to participate in development at a cultural, political and financial level, acting as substitutes for non-existent state mechanisms of development. However, by the late 1980s, the momentum had shifted as regional, national, and European institutions participated in developmental programs, marking a dramatic change in how citizens engaged with the state and the Portuguese nation. From this shift has emerged a debate about the nature of Portugal’s transition to democracy. With the Carnation Revolution of 1974 – the military coup that toppled the Estado Novo – at the center of analysis, academics and pundits ask whether that event represented “evolution or revolution” for Portugal. Was Portugal on the path towards democracy before 1974? And, given contemporary problems, was the rapid shift to European social democracy the blessing it appeared to be by the 1990s? Did democratization disenfranchise the Portuguese in important ways? Are commentators like Jorge Silva Melo, a Lisbon playwright who began his career in the Estado Novo years, correct in asserting that, “under the dictatorship there was hope … that was in ‘72/’73. Nowadays [2011], its exactly the opposite: there is no hope”? This dissertation uses Lourinhã's development as an example of a Portuguese experience to argue that the Carnation Revolution, although a watershed in Portugal's politico-cultural evolution, should not be understood as the moment when democracy came to Portugal. ii Dedication This dissertation is dedicated to António Augusto da Costa, Maria de S. José Mendes da Costa, and João Luis Mendes da Costa. The degree that this work has helped me earn is dedicated to John Richard William Whitehouse, Brenda Irene Whitehouse, and Valeria Elizabeth Costa. iii Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisor, Professor Adrian Shubert for his constant support in researching and completing this dissertation. Professors Suzanne Langlois and António Costa Pinto have helped me in countless ways as members of my dissertation committee. Without the encouragement and support of these three, this work would have been impossible to complete. I cannot express how thankful I am to my committee. The Ontario Graduate Scholarship, the Faculty of Graduate Studies at York University, and the Department of History's generous research funds allowed me to conduct my archival research. In addition, the faculty and staff with whom I have worked for the past six years stimulated and motivated me to always enquire further. In particular, the freindships formed with Katharine Bausch, Gilberto Fernandes and Dagomar Degroot, amongst others, influenced me, and will continue to influence me for years to come. I would also like to thank my family for their unwavering encouragement and support over the past six years. Multiple generations of Costas and Whitehouses have inspired me. The Whitehouses motivated me to pursue a doctorate. It is for the Costas that I studied Lourinhã's experience. Finally, none of this would have been possible without my wife's patience and love. No contribution could have matched the one she has made to this dissertation. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………...ii Dedication………………………………………………………………………………..iii Acknowledgments……………..………………………………………………………..iv Table of Contents..……………………………………………………………………...v List of Tables………………..…………………………………………………………..vi List of Figures…………………..………………………………………………………vii Chapter One: Introduction………………………..…………………………………….……………….1 Chapter Two: Lourinhã's Agricultural Sector in Changing Times……..…………………………..53 Chapter Three: Making Lourinhã a Tourist Destination in the 1960s and 70s……….……….….104 Chapter Four: Lourinhanense and Their Agricultural Cooperatives………..……………………182 Chapter Five: Water, Electricity and Community Organization………………………….……….227 Chapter Six: Towards the "New" Lourinhã's Contemporary Center…...………………....……308 Chapter Seven: Conclusion…………………………………….………………………………………357 Bibliography………………………………………………………….……………….377 v LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Lourinhã's gross population between 1860 and today.………………….………..9 Table 2: Contributions by the Government, Foreign and Private sectors in Government development plans in the twentieth-century.………………………………………...………64 Table 3: Investment in various sectors and services in the Portuguese Government's development plans of the twentieth-century………………………………………………...65 vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Map of Portugal's Concelhos, c. 2014. Lourinhã is highlighted………..………..7 Figure 2: Map of the Freguesias [Parishes] of Lourinhã, c. 2014………………………....11 Figure 3: Celebrating the Ponte Salazar…………………………….………………….…...17 Figure 4: Map of Lourinhã, (1979) with proposed development highlighted….……..…..18 Figure 5: Lourinhã's Post Office when it opened in 1966………………..………..….…..106 Figure 6: The Entrance to Praia da Areia Branca's campground upon opening in 1966………………………………………………………………………………………...….108 Figure 7: Newspaper Clipping. Praia da Areia Branca, Lourinhã looking to the north in 1966. In view is the youth hostel that continues in operation today. The caption reads, "Praia da Areia Branca gives optimal conditions to attract national and foreign tourists."………………………………………………………………………………………..118 Figure 8: Map of Praia da Areia Branca, c. 2014.…………………………………………119 Figure 9: Foz Bar, Praia da Areia Branca, 1967…………………………………………..132 Figure 10: Lourinhã’s new postcards (1972) highlighted attractions other then the beach………..…………………………………………………………………………………146 Figure 11: Praia da Areia Branca sand sculpture competition, 1972……………..…….173 Figure 12: Praia da Areia Branca sand sculpture competition, 1972………………..….173 Figure 13: Bakers at work in the Padaria Modelo, a bakery run on cooperative principles, 1965.……………………………………………………………………………………………185 Figure 14: Bakers at work in the Padaria Modelo, a bakery run on cooperative principles, 1965………….…………………………………………………………………………………186 Figure 15: The first five Opels bought by Cooperativa Rodoviária dos Trabalhadores de Peniche e Lourinhã in 1976.….……………………..……………………………………….187 Figure 16: A Lourifruta advertisement from 1981 explains that the 800 farmers associated with the coop worked in “defense of farmers and consumers.”…………….201 Figure 17: Lourifruta's mammoth facility stands today. It had a short life as the headquarters for Frutas, AB but was sold to an international hotel and resort developer who has not, despite plans, done anything with the land.…………………………..……211 vii Figure 18: Lourifruta's facility. In this picture, the developer’s billboard from the early 2000s is as dilapidated as Lourifruta’s former office, storage and manufacturing facility.………………………………………………………………….………………………212 Figure 19: A farmer rides his tractor to Louricoop's annual festival in 1984……………220 Figure 20: Lourinhã road construction, 1987………………………………………………235 Figure 21: Digging a trench for water infrastructure, 1987……………………….………236 Figure 22: Community donations in Casais de Porto Dinheiro for street electrification, 1969…………………………………………………………………………………………….261 Figure 23: Residents often drew diagrams describing where they wanted streetlamps.……………………………………………………………………………………265 Figure 24: Map of Central Lourinhã and its landmarks………...…………………………310 Figure 25: Map of central Lourinhã with the area that would become the new town center in the 1970s, highlighted. Dominated by the old soccer field, the area included the old market. Today, the new square, the Praça José Máximo da Costa, is an open area bounded by the medieval convent (in the map above), a courthouse, a fire hall, a post office, a music academy and the new town hall. The renovation of this space was total.………………………………………………………………………………………….…315 Figure 26: Map of Rua João Luis da Moura, which has become a pedestrian mall. However, it was the only throughway for traffic en route between the factories and fishing port of Peniche and centers to the south like Lisbon……………..………………342 Figure 27: The old town square, the Praça Marques Pombal in the early 1940s, and the new, Praça José Maxímo da Costa in the late 2000s. The old was a cramped parking lot by the time the new one opened in the 1990s. The new one is open and airy while the old has become a cramped parking lot in the center of the old town.…………………..344 Figure 28: Graffiti outside