Riverbank regeneration and the creation of open-air spaces shared by tourists and residents in Lisbon, Portugal

Abstract

In recent years the city of Lisbon, Portugal has engaged in projects of urban regeneration. The regeneration projects include the upgrading of public spaces in neighbourhoods and unblocking views and access to the northern bank of Tagus River by tearing down built structures, in order to create urban park spaces and/or open-air recreational spaces for the benefit of residents and tourists alike. This paper presents a case study that relies on reviews of published material as well as the author’s fieldwork to explain which urban regeneration and urban tourism practices account for Lisbon’s redevelopment of the Tagus riverbank in the form of new open recreational spaces, and to explain how, as hybrid resident–tourist spaces, open-air recreational spaces differ from traditional and gentrified urban tourism spaces. The results of the study and the analysis of the redevelopment of the Tagus riverbank provides a comparative framework that explains how, while traditional urban tourism spaces and gentrified urban tourism spaces focus more on specific attractions and leisurely consumption, respectively, the emerging practice of developing open recreational spaces in places such as the Tagus riverbank focuses on sustainable practices that benefit riverbank urban landscapes as well local residents and visiting tourists.