133 - The Shared City. Housing and Tourism in the metropolitan areas of Lisbon and Porto *

 

The recent transformation of both Lisbon and Porto city centres has been subject of significant social debate mostly between 2010 and 20 – the decade of higher touristic pressure (Tenreiro, J.P., 2021). Porto is often addressed for his urban evolution and socioeconomic shift, as well as the Lisbon downtown, focused in several recent literature on the subject (Fernandes, J.A.R. et al., 2019). Nonetheless, the transformations beyond central areas remain unaddressed and need to be considered in the mark of sustainable development.

Before the covid 19 health crisis, there was a huge transformation of the two Portuguese major cities, causing conflicts that affected the urban environment, their social and economic activities, housing, citizens, and neighbourhoods. The international tourism came as an economic key element for their metropolitan governance and, possibly, it will be even more relevant in the coming years. This research will balance the Lisbon and Porto case studies, in order to study and propose shared places for housing and tourism beyond the central areas, contributing to preserve urban identities and improve their sustainable development and governance.

In the present decade, the return of tourism attracted for cultural heritage has challenged again the metropolitan areas. And also previous research has shown that there is some negative perceptions of residents, concerning tourism and urban landscape (Freitas, I.; Sousa, C.; Ramazanova, M., 2021). Therefore, it is important to be prepared and manage integrated urban changes, by national, regional, and local housing policies, for a more sustainable development, either in Lisbon or in Porto.

The need of balance to solve these kinds of problems is connected to the idea of shared cities and places, appropriate for both local inhabitants and tourists. This emerging concept in the field of urban planning matches the contemporary way of business, referred as shared economy. A larger scale approach may improve the quality of public realm, as the new technologies applications, which share the access of goods and services, extending his benefits to wider territories and communities.

This paper emerges from the embryo research project “MetroPoLis”, funded by CIAUD, with a combined methodology of quantitative data and foresight studies, an important tool to understand what will come, as the increase of specialized sectors and clearly impacts on housing, either for landowners or tenants. In the context of the sustainable development goal for cities and communities (SDG nº 11), it is possible that a shared economy will contribute to reduce conflicts and extend their positive effects to a metropolitan area. This goal is connected to the Portuguese competitiveness strategy, especially in what concerns the exploration of the cultural heritage, and link also to the regional development strategies: the domain of symbolic capital, technologies and tourism services in the North, and the intention to reinforce the Lisbon brand, at a larger regional scale.

* Resumo do artigo apresentado no 5º Congresso de Habitação no Espaço Lusófono, dia 3 de outubro de 2024 no Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia Civil, em Lisboa.