Streets-in-the-sky were conceptualized by architects Alison and Peter Smithson as collective space, an articulation between individual and civitas. This essay argues that streets-in-the-sky are a particularly democratic type of urban element, which also has many positive sustainability potentials. The first use of this concept was in the Smithson's unbuilt Golden Lane estate (1952), which became a hallmark in post-WW2 debates over urban structure, domesticity, and social housing. Park Hill, the first streets-in-the-sky estate by Jack Lynn and Ivor Smith, was a success in the 1960s. The Smithsons continued to explore the idea in several urban projects, only to put it to built form in Robin Hood Gardens (1968-1972). These estates have adapted streets-in-the-sky and afterward evolved to very different states of maturity. While Park Hill is a refurbished Grade II listed building, Robin Hood Gardens is awaiting full demolition. Streets-in-the-sky were generally abandoned in more recent housing schemes, but the situation of these estates suggests that no consensus exists as to their urban value. Here, we analyze streets-in-the-sky at the time of their emergence as a concept. To assess their cultural, morphological, social, and political implications, we explore their development in built and unbuilt housing schemes, using the abovementioned case-studies to point out how streets-in-the-sky evolved, including their possible role in important urban debates of the present. Since many social housing estates employing streets-in-the-sky have been and continue to be demolished in redevelopment projects, we aim to understand what lossesaesthetic, functional, and environmental-may be implied in the decimation of this element of urban form.

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In the aftermath of the Doorn Manifesto (1954), Team 10 members synthesize their earlier projects into a new urban model: the Cluster City. In 1961, the Lisbon Technical Office for Housing (Gabinete Técnico de Habitação) – GTH was established to support the Portuguese government in solving an ongoing housing shortage. Soon, this new office planned the urbanization of the Chelas Valley, a large suburban agricultural area situated in the East area of Lisbon. This plan tested approaches to neighbourhood planning unprecedented in the municipality. The Zone I of the Plan, by Francisco Silva Dias and Luís Vassalo Rosa (1966) was the first to be implemented, echoing in practice the principles of the Doorn Manifesto. In this essay, we identify the urban forms used in this Plan, and the ‘ground rules’ which structured it and influenced its change over time. Furthermore, we ask how sustainable this Cluster City is, and whether it can shed some light in the recent demise of emblematic examples like Toulouse-Le Mirail and Robin Hood Gardens.