The article examines the resilience of housing policies in post-independence Angola by uncovering the transfer of industrialised systems and know-how, specifically focusing on housing estates in Luanda. Angola’s independence in 1975, led by the MPLA under Agostinho Neto, followed nearly 500 years of Portuguese colonial rule and a lengthy liberation struggle. The subsequent civil war resulted in significant housing challenges and infrastructure destruction. To address these issues, Angola implemented housing strategies that involved the public, cooperative, and private sectors, including nationalising industries and redistributing abandoned properties. Legislation was introduced to prevent speculation. Influenced by models from the Soviet Union and Non-Aligned Movement countries such as Cuba and Yugoslavia, Angola began international cooperation with Cuba, introducing prefabricated systems like the ‘Sandino’ type. Despite cultural mismatches initially hindering these efforts, developments adapted to local contexts by the late 1970s, leading to the public construction of five-storey buildings. These flats housed foreign workers and ‘internationalists’ from various countries. The article utilises archival research and urban planning analysis to examine the impact of these foreign housing systems from the Global South to the Global South, emphasising the role of international cooperations and local strategies in postcolonial housing development and urban planning in Angola.

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