Gonçalo Ribeiro Telles (1922–), landscape architect and politician, was born in Lisbon, Portugal. In 1942 he attended the Instituto Superior de Agronomia da Universidade Técnica de Lisboa where he studied Agricultural Engineering. On graduating, he heard that a new free course was being offered by Francisco Caldeira Cabral (1908–92) on Landscape Architecture. As this was the first time that the subject had been made available in Portugal, a group of students decided to take the course, among them Ribeiro Telles. In 1951 he started working at Lisbon’s City Hall, first as an office boy and two years later as a landscape architect. The institution was receptive to such professionals because the President’s son, António Viana Barreto (1924–2012), was one of them, and hence, President Álvaro Salvação Barreto (1890–1975), having previously hired Manuel Azevedo Coutinho, also hired Ribeiro Telles. He formed a team with Azevedo Coutinho, and together they started to promote urban green spaces in Lisbon.