Urban rehabilitation and tourism: lessons from Porto (2010–2020)

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2023

Authors

Fernandes, José Alberto Rio (Author) FLUP; Chamusca, Pedro (Author) Other; Pinto, Jorge (Author) Other; Tenreiro, José (Author) Other; Figueiredo, Pedro (Author) Other

Journal

Title: Sustainability

Serial No. Art. 6581 Vol. 15 No. 8

ISSN: 2071-1050

Publisher: MDPI

Indexing

ISI Web of Science

Scopus

EBSCO

ProQuest

Worldcat OCLC

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DOAJ

Other information

DOI: 10.3390/su15086581

Abstract (EN): Cities experience rapid growth and transformation. Over the past decades, change has been particularly intense and complex, associated to globalization, spatial compression and temporal acceleration. Within this context, the EU funds introduced new urban rehabilitation dynamics that made a city center more and more attractive. This, alongside the growth of international tourism, has increased the number of city users, which has furthered the discussion on the relation between the physical, economic, social and environmental intervention of the city, as well as the debates on the positive and negative impacts of tourism in cities. With that in mind, we look at the intense change that occurred in the city of Porto, Portugal, in the period from an intense economic crisis to the COVID-19 confinement. We consider changes in buildings, retail and policies to conclude that a neoliberal attitude favoured a tourism-led and sustainability blind gentrification. Based on a survey and analysis of 50 urban rehabilitation initiatives in downtown Porto and on the analysis of recent public policies, we discuss the relation between urban rehabilitation and tourism in Porto, and therefore the effectiveness of public policies and its contribution to sustainable urban development.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 22