During most of the 20th century, Portuguese dictatorship conditioned the life of Portugal looking to regulate all sectors of Portuguese life to the will of the state, including an imposition of aesthetics in landscape and life of its citizens as reflected in architecture and urbanism. The Portuguese architects initially were submitted to a policy of the State, became influenced by modernism, with strong impact on new generations of architects from (19)40. The new vision advocated that architecture should approach the aspirations of citizens in a international language that lead to the reorganization of the city itself. This view is strongly influenced by Brazilian architectural production that has proven ideal to the climatic characteristics, very similar to that in the African continent, where several solutions and techniques were tested and sedimented. Until the independence, Portuguese colonies experienced a set of architectural and urban interventions influenced by Brazilian modernism. With the independence the majority of architects returned to Portugal introducing new stylistic contributions in Portuguese urban landscape but some went (also) to Brazil establishing its activities in that country.
Modernism; Urbanism; Architecture; Colonialism; Africa