núcleos habitacionais

17:21 Oct 26, 2014 

You're completely right Vitor.

03:21 Oct 25, 2014 

It's in the following part of the text that it is mentioned the "public housing project" and its implementation: "O modelo seguido por Cascais para realojar as populações... assentou na integração dos (novos) bairros sociais (entretanto construidos no âmbito do projecto de habitação pública) na malha urbana consolidada.."

02:55 Oct 25, 2014 

I live in Cascais, and these "housing units" referred to here are "slums" / "shantytown" (these are the "bairro de barracas" also mentioned later). Please note that the text mentions "núcleos habitacionais WITHOUT ANY CONDITIONS"
How is that a slum is a "housing project"? This is a slum/shantytown precisely because it is a cluster of shacks/shanties/dwellings that grew up without ever having a project.
The text refers to the "núcleo habitacional" BEFORE any "public housing project".
At that point in the text, I would say: "...the precariousness/precarious nature of housing clusters without any conditions that arose/expanded especially in the more peripheral zones."
As Donna points out, this can be considered "a group/cluster of housing units" (in the sense that they are units/shacks where people live), but it certainly is not a "housing project".