Urban regeneration in Porto

Reflections on a fragmented sub-regional space, without institutional powers and “lost” between central government and local authorities Pedro Chamusca Urban regeneration in Porto pedrochamusca@hotmail.com Canterbury Christ Church University Canterbury, UK August 14-20, 2011

Presentation structure • Background • Cities: collective resource… collective strategies • North Region of Portugal / Porto and Gaia • Urban Regeneration Companies • Urban Regeneration Partnerships • Conclusions

Emerging urban transformations URBAN REGENERATION GOVERNANCE COLLABORATIVE PLANNING

Background • According to the UN: • now over half the world population lives in urban areas; • by 2030, every region on the planet shall have a higher proportion of urban population than rural; • by 2050, every region shall be predominantly urban, in terms of functional characteristics. • Cities are regarded as the main hubs of economic and social development (Sassen, 2006), and as the driving force for spatially-based development. • In a historical period marked by the importance of the globalization process, cities become the prime site for the articulation between local authorities and the supra-municipal interests.

Background Emergence of a new model of planning and governance, closer to the strategy, integration and participation principles. planning and city became closer once more • 1970s– crisis of the post-war political regulation system (Welfare State). • 1980s– economic liberalism limits the regulatory activity of the State; • 1990s– break with the crisis of the 1970s and the excessive liberalism of the 1980s;

Cities - a collective resource … Space for social and economic innovation. Space of multiple identities and affiliations. • Several: • Times • Scales • Needs • Interests • …

…requires collective strategies. Governance Urban Regeneration • Flexible networked structures; • State as an organizer and facilitator of joining forces; • Bottom-up and partnership approaches; • Coordination and articulation of several stakeholders. • Strategic development perspective; • Systemic perspective of cities dynamics; • Integrated approaches. URBAN REGENERATION COMPANIES POLIS XXI

North region / Greater Porto

Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia

Urban Regeneration Companies

Urban Regeneration Companies • Porto Vivo SRU e CidadeGaia SRU EEM • Urban renewal process management oriented to: • repositioning the centre as a focal attraction; • fight population drain from the city centre and problems of economic depression, dismembering of the social fabric, physical degradation and insecurity usually associated with it; • revitalize city centres as an area of social life, housing and business. • Investmentson the qualification of housing and public space, in boosting trade and economic activities and promoting tourism and leisure.

Urban Regeneration Companies • But different operating logics and principles:

Urban Regeneration Companies • Governance is mainly juridical and patrimonial; • Weak supra-municipal articulation; • Participatory mechanismsare unexplored; • Reduced flows of information and communication. but • Facilitators in the process of urban regeneration; • Promoters of cooperation among the public and private sectors; • Capacity to build foresight strategic plans that are shared by both the public and private sectors(Strategic Documents); • Solves problems more effectively in contexts of growing complexity and fragmentation,.

Urban Regeneration Partnerships • Geared to promote the principles of European Territorial Policy; • New urban centres management principles. Types of operations • Integrated regeneration and renovation operations aimed at critical neighbourhoods and peripheral zones; • Redevelopment of abandoned areas or with obsolete functions; • Regeneration/creationof areas of excellence (historic centres, waterfronts, etc.); • Integrated projects for improving the urban environment.

Urban Regeneration Partnerships One local partnership • Led by the municipality • Other urban stakeholders (companies, business associations, foundations, NGOs, residents and their associations, owners, ...) being or not eligible as beneficiaries of the OP One action programme • Integrating the physical, economic, social and cultural dimensions • Includes several operations that private partners are responsible for • 3 years to complete all actions • Goals and results concrete milestones One partnership protocol • Identifies the responsibilities of each partner and its commitment to the objectives and milestones to reach • Proposes the proper form of organization to implement the Action Programme

Urban Regeneration Partnerships • 86 projects were approved in the North Region, totalling 407 million euros in investment, of which 14% in Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia

Urban Regeneration Partnerships • Cathedral District Urban Regeneration Action Programme • Aimed at transforming an area with deep housing deficiencies, poor social conditions and a lack of economic and cultural activities

Urban Regeneration Partnerships • Cathedral District Urban Regeneration Action Programme – tourist accommodation (example)

Urban Regeneration Partnerships • Urban Regeneration and Renewal – Vila D’Este Housing Estate • Aimed at “overcoming the problems and difficulties experienced in this area, with a view to improving the urban environment, spatial planning, and the economic and cultural development”

Urban Regeneration Partnerships • Regeneration of the Vila Nova de Gaia Historic centre • Aimed at promoting Gaia as a modern urban area of reference, and to bolster the centre’s recreational and tourist dimension

Urban Regeneration Partnerships • The three projects have included the physical, socio-cultural and economic dimensions with different weights, giving greater relevance to operations on the physical space, environmental improvement, and socio-cultural advancement.

Urban Regeneration Partnerships But • Participation and new ways of governing • Openness of the action programmes construction processes; • Public-private partnerships were established, with stakeholders co-responsibility and complex financial systems (in Porto); • Negotiation with local stakeholders (owners, residents and their associations, NGO’s, etc.) and creation of an Urban Management Office. • Concentration of “powers” in municipal companies; • Given the SRUs’ financial restrictions, private investments can lead to a review of strategies and often determine the type of action implemented

Conclusions • Commitment to pursuing urban regeneration, but still historical tendency of the triumph of architecture over economic and social geography (Fernandes, 2010); • Growing efforts in attracting private investment towards the “privatisation of urban regeneration” • Urban projects are progressively becoming characterised by hybrid and complex processes and solutions • Lack of connections among different scales and disregard for supra-municipal planning strategies  a governance model still poorly “territorialised” and excessively “theorised”.

Conclusions Scale interactions INTEGRATED AND QUALIFYING PROJECTS CITY REGION Specificities of the urban centres STRATEGIC URBAN PLANNING AND ACTIONS COMMON TO THE REGIONAL SPACE • Success of a city policy which aspires to make the Portuguese cities “well-planned and well-governed territories” and to “qualify and intensify the city’s integration in the surrounding region”

Reflections on a fragmented sub-regional space, without institutional powers and “lost” between central government and local authorities Pedro Chamusca Urban regeneration in Porto pedrochamusca@hotmail.com Canterbury Christ Church University Canterbury, UK August 14-20, 2011

Urban regeneration in Porto