Parque das Nações and the consumption-led urban regeneration projects

Saturday, September 16th, 2017. 10am-5pm.

 

In the Western world, many cities are currently undergoing dramatic changes. The economic base of these cities is shifting from one traditionally associated with production to one dominated by culture and consumption. In their function and form, these cities reflect today a mix of past and present in full transformation that public authorities have managed often developing consumption and retail-led urban regeneration programs, involving different types of stakeholders and partnerships. This is happening in cities from global economic hubs to small settlements, and it is happening in different ways. The use of these policy initiatives by the new forms of neoliberal governance to revitalize relatively run-down and distressed parts of the cities has become so banal that today they tend to ubiquity. The Parque das Nações in Lisbon is an excellent example of this type of projects. With this fieldwork experience we intend to show you the regeneration potential of these projects, reflect on the factors that may explain the success of the project, as well as its negative externalities.