The cultural and community center Jardins do Bombarda occu- pies parts of the grounds of the former Miguel Bombarda Psy- chiatric Hospital in the center of Lisbon.
The cultural and community center Jardins do Bombarda occupies parts of the grounds of the former Miguel Bombarda Psychiatric Hospital in the center of Lisbon. Initiated in the summer of 2024, it has become a vibrant space for art, culture, and social inclusion. Largo Residências, a cooperative for culture and solidarity, makes use of the interim situation of the historically protected site, activating it with artistic interventions until approval is granted for planned affordable public housing and other services currently being defined. In collaboration with the neighborhood, civil-society groups, artists, and international experts, temporary structures and spaces of conviviality have been created: modular extensions of existing buildings, community gardens, cooking and baking stations, a library, a restaurant, a multifunctional black box theater, studios, and artists accommodations.
The interim use of the Miguel Bombarda Hospital functions as a model for community-oriented urban practice despite its precarious situation. In a city increasingly shaped by touristification, gentrification, and the privatization of housing, Largo Residências makes visible the potential of solidarity and offers impulses for a more democratic and socially just urban development.
