Estado Novo and Modern Movement: spatial segregation in Mozambique at the end of colonialism

Abstract

During the period between the second world war and the democratic revolution of April 25th 1974, the dictatorial Estado Novo regime found in the architecture of the Modern Movement an operative instrument to their development politics in the former Portuguese colonies/provinces in Africa. The aim of this article consists in the reflection about the use of the functional zoning principle to materialize a social, racial and spatial segregation between European and Indigenous populations. As a reflection method, it is proposed the analysis and interpretation of the separation between users that occurred in some infrastructural buildings, erected in Mozambique during the period under review. These case study show us that, until the abolition of the Estatuto dos Indígenas Portugueses das Províncias da Guiné, Angola e Moçambique, in 1961, the segregation was clearly visible in the spaces layout, independently of its functional typology; it was also verified that, after that period and until the revolution, the architectural expression of the segregation always kept its informal existence. This assertion must be confirmed by the disciplinary extension of the research to the remaining former Portuguese overseas territories in Africa (Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, São Tomé and Príncipe and Angola), and to the field of the urbanization plans, designed according to Modern Movement principles.