URBAN REGENERATION IN PORTUGAL: trends, issues, challenges

Monitoring the Urban Dimension in Cohesion Policy: Spanish and Portuguese Perspectives
Madrid, 2 and 3 April 2008

Jorge Malheiros Centre for Geographical Studies University of Lisbon

1.1 A changing city

A new economy that valuates knowledge-base productions and it is highly service-driven; Volatile labour and social relations a diversification of patterns (the end of the middleclass prototype family); A higher degree of global integration and interdependency; An increasing cosmopolitanism and socio-cultural diversity; The prevalence of strong social inequalities in the context of a more fragmented space and society A less interventionist state (more regulationist?) and an amplification of the role of market in the various domains of social life

1.2 as required new urban policies

New (Post-fordist Traditional (Fordist) Goals To fight territorial uneveness Rehabilitation and regeneration compensating principles Competitiveness Universalist Principles equalitarian ideals (more or less mitigated). Centralized Centered in Public Administration Rigidity. Normative models Deconcentration Partnerships and contractualization (increasing role of the private sector) Negotial and progressive planning Rhetoric(?) of participative planning (governance) Integrated Planning (hardware and sofware) physical+economic+social components, espacially in critical reas. Strategic Dimension. Reabilitation and relevance of interventions in the historical and consolidated city (smaller/punctual interventions) Production of quality spaces generation of economic surplus through rehabilitation and gentrification of central and historical areas. Source: Barata Salgueiro, T. (1998) adapted.

Organizing Principles

Urban interven-tions

Physical Planning. Regulation of suburban expansion (attempt of). Zoning. Large interventions (big housing estates, highways, new towns, large avenues)

1.3 and different intervention principles

Renewal Rehabilitation Regeneration

New structures Functionalism Efficiency Modernity Equal access

Recovery of old structures Multi-dimensional integ. Patrimony (sectors, actors, scales) Return to the city centre Governance and Partn. Post-modern.; Late modern. Sustainability Neo-liberalism; market driven

2. And regeneration in Portugal?

Programmes and Goals 1990s-early 2000s
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PER and PER-Families (rehousing) IORU initiative EU URBAN I and II (socio-urban regeneration of critical areas) PROQUAL (socio-urban regeneration of LISBONs peripheries) POLIS (urban regeneration-environmental requalification) AUGIs (legalization and restructuring of clandestine housing quarters) Instruments for rehabilitation of consolidated central areas of the cities Large symbolic regeneration interventions (Eastern Lisbon Seafront) QUALIFICATION AND URBAN RE-INTEGRATION OF CRITICAL NEIGHBOURHOODS (2005) (socio-urban regeneration of critical areas; strong emphasis on participative action) Integration of instruments (PER and Collaboration Agreements in 2004)

3. Gains and Hindrances from the 1990s-early 2000s experience Gains Improvement of physical space (housing and public space areas) A relevant set of territorialised social initiatives (aiming youth, training) Some development of the integration (softwarehardware) principles on urban intervention A progressive development of participative strategies The development of a culture of assessment and monitoring

3. Gains and Hindrances from the 1990s-early 2000s experience

Hindrances Limited integration of all these interventions in the global framework of city policy or city planning (even tension between the promoters of the several territorialised actions) Maintenance of large rehousing projects (new problematic areas) Limits in the sustainability of initiatives (urban intervention times distinct from political cycle times) Limited participation of the citizens and also of the civil society organizations in the design of the initiatives Non-helpful and paralyzing bureaucracy

3. Gains and Hindrances from the 1990s-early 2000s experience Some broader results (in a critical perspective) Several of these measures are in line with the processes of: - commodification of the housing market and also of the urban space itself; - increasing socio-urban differentiation; - devaluating the popular quarters as entities that structure urban life in Portuguese cities; - not considering the social value of the informal nature of some urban processes.

4. What about the future?

Principles for city success in the future:

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To recover the notion of Ville Solidaire To build the intercultural city not the multicultural city To promote social innovation and creativity

4. What about the future?

What should be expected from the programmes that are starting or about to start?
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A higher integration (in terms of programmes, responsible authorities and especially between the programmes and the global city policy); A set aside of prejudices (about the leadership roles in planning interventions, about the technical absolutism in the conduction of interventions;) New conditions for partnership (new culture of partnership between institutional actors and especially in the incorporation of civil society); Flexibility based in trust and in better responses (reduction of bureaucratic costs; to look for creative responses adapted to the features of each place; to be imaginative in finding solutions that are capable of integrating the informal) To strengthen the social value of the interventions

Thank you