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Touristification, transnational gentrification and urban change in Lisbon: The neighbourhood of Alfama

Author

Listed:
  • Jorge Sequera

    (Universidad de Valladolid, Spain
    CICS.NOVA, New University of Lisbon, Portugal)

  • Jordi Nofre

    (CICS.NOVA, New University of Lisbon, Portugal)

Abstract

The Great Recession (2008–2014) and the consequent crises in both the national financial and production systems have led the Portuguese administration to adopt tourism and urban rehabilitation as new pivotal sectors to overcome the critical crisis-derived impacts on the economy and society. Moreover, both national and local administrations have deployed a range of legislative initiatives to attract transnational real estate investment and new high-income residents to the country, including generous tax benefits and residency permits for large foreign investors. This is of greater relevance in the historic neighbourhoods of Lisbon city centre, as in the case of Alfama, which has recently been transformed into one of the most important urban hotspots in the country for both local and transnational real estate investors. By focusing on this historic quarter of Lisbon, this paper examines how processes of gentrification and studentification occurring in the area since the late 1990s and early 2000s have been disrupted by recent processes of touristification and Airbnbisation in Alfama, transforming the entire neighbourhood into an ‘outdoor hotel’. The paper concludes by suggesting that, while urban touristification appears today as a new reproduction mechanism of glocal financial capital, the Airbnbisation of former lower-class central urban areas of post-recession southern European cities emerges as the newest, most aggressive form of urban accumulation by dispossession and spatial displacement against the working and middle-lower classes (both locals and migrants) of the ‘tourist city’.

Suggested Citation

  • Jorge Sequera & Jordi Nofre, 2020. "Touristification, transnational gentrification and urban change in Lisbon: The neighbourhood of Alfama," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 57(15), pages 3169-3189, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:57:y:2020:i:15:p:3169-3189
    DOI: 10.1177/0042098019883734
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Stuart Hodkinson, 2012. "The new urban enclosures," City, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(5), pages 500-518, October.
    2. Jorge Sequera & Jordi Nofre, 2018. "Shaken, not stirred: New debates on touristification and the limits of gentrification," City, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(5-6), pages 843-855, November.
    3. Jason Hackworth & Neil Smith, 2001. "The changing state of gentrification," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 92(4), pages 464-477, November.
    4. Michael Janoschka & Jorge Sequera & Luis Salinas, 2014. "Gentrification in Spain and Latin America — a Critical Dialogue," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(4), pages 1234-1265, July.
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    Cited by:

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