Laboratory of Democracy

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The ideals to discuss and to create alternatives towards issues such as urban poverty; the urgency to have more democratic and participative urban planning projects, giving a fair response to the needs of the newcomers and war victims; the privatization or public spaces; and the negative effects of gentrification, were the central issues of this four-day meeting in Amsterdam, at the City Makers Summit, together with so many projects that make the difference everyday, on a local, regional, national and international level.   The citizens-politicians   The idea of city-making is a political movement. A movement that includes anyone willing to claim a city that promotes direct action with a stronger participative power, supporting visible changes on the urban and social programme. Claiming the right to public spaces ( or the heterotopian spaces that Lefebvre used to claim) as a “survival strategie”, we are also confronting all the social and […]

Because the city is for everyone to have it

Between the 27th and the 30th of May 2016, the Pakhuis de Zwijger foundation, in the Netherlands, promoted the meeting of more than 600 activists, coming from the four corners of Europe. Because they are normally involved in democratization actions of the cities, as spaces of inclusion, prosperity and resilience, they are called as the “City Makers”. It was during the “City  Makers Summit” that they met, to talk about the main problems of their cities, and the practices that they have been developing, in order to solve them.     City Makers   Visit to the centre of Zaanstad, which was complete renovated in the last 5 years, looking to offer more inclusion, functionality and visual beauty. This Summit had two main goals. The first one was to provide field trips to participants to Dutch local based projects or initiatives, with actions developed in urban context, regarding the improvement of the […]

Let us make an Europe of Democracy

Synthesis by Igor Marko Photos @ Academia Cidadã and participants of the Master Class   The highly challenging urban regeneration case-study was focused on one of Lisbon’s oldest districts – Mouraria.   Lisbon Masterclass #1 – Exploring Mouraria – site analysis, observation and mapping   Paula Marques, councilwoman for Housing of the Municipality of Lisbon, during the Master Class’s opening   Mouraria originated as a 13th century Moorish neighbourhood and remained a marginal downtown area. Nowadays, parts of Mouraria are affected by tourism, others are still deprived with high levels of migrant population and social housing. Cheap property prices and proximity to other tourist destinations (Alfama, Castelo) raise realistic assumptions that Mouraria will face large influx of investment in real estate and tourism infrastructure, resulting in gentrification.   Field trip to historic centre of Lisbon, promoted by Lisbon Sustainable Tourism   Lisboa Masterclass # 2 – Methods and Processes – […]

Master Class “City Making and Tourism Gentrification”

The film will be screaned with the support of Center for Responsible Travel.     The environmental impact of tourism is the main discussion topic, of our 4th session of Cine Café Turistificação (Cine Café Touristification), to take place in May 17 at 21h30, at the bar Lisboa Vadia, in Lisbon. The Goose With the Golden Eggs, a film produced by the Center for Responsible Travel, examines the environmental impact that resort and cruise tourism brings to the communities living in the Pacific Coast, Costa Rica. With an increasing number of private investments in these areas, as it is the case of the privatization of beaches or the construction of big multinational hotels and gated communities, this documentary’s main goal is to portray the difficulties the population of the Pacific Coast face in order to have access to resources like water (used mainly to “feed” pools and golf courts), access to the […]

FREE CINEMA: “The Goose with the Golden Eggs” I Touristification Cine Café

April 15 – 22 I Mouraria, Lisbon The project “Tourism Gentrification and City-making” is promoted by Stadslab (Fontys – University of Applied Sciences, Tilburg, NL), in partnership with Academia Cidadã. The objectives of the Master Class are to provide insight into the impact of mass tourism on public space, urban development and the daily urban life of the citizens in Lisbon and to develop alternative scenarios for a more balanced urban development to avoid excessive real estate speculation, social and economic segregation, lack of accessible urban services and public space and disappearance of affordable housing. The intervention area of the Master Class will be the district of Mouraria.   April 18 I 12h00 I Centro de Inovação da Mouraria Lecture: Placemaking and Sustainable Urban Development, by Igor Marko, Marko&Placemakers London FREE ENTRY Relationship to a place is often disrupted through social, political or economic forces with direct impact on the […]

Master Class “City Making and Tourism Gentrification”

“Barcelona? A theme park. “ This is how the documentary that will pass in the next session of Cine-Café touristification starts, on April 19, at 21h30, in Lisboa Vadia. Bye bye Barcelona is the documentary outburst of Eduardo Chibás on mass tourism, where it is debated the relationship between the local life and tourists. Borned in Caracas, Venuzuela, Chibás assumes that he never met the Ramblas of people from Barcelona. He lives, however, long enough to feel the negative impacts of touristification of which is the 4th most visited city in Europe, after London, Rome and Paris, and the leader in the number of cruises that receives from the continent and the Mediterranean. This phenomenon has greatly affected the dwindling number of residents of the center of a city increasingly expensive. Many of the approximately 30,000 tourists who arrive daily in cruises in the city of Barcelona do not see how […]

Free Cinema: “Bye bye Barcelona” I Cine Café Touristification

 [article written by Leonor Duarte, Sara Aranha and Joana Dias] In the past 15th march, at Lisboa Vadia, there was an other debate about touristification in Lisbon, after the film Cidade Guiada (Guided City), a documentary produced by Catarina Leal. It was a night full of ideas, with the presence of the producer Catarina Leal, the researcher and professor Joãp Seixas and Joana Jacinto, founder of the Lisbon Sustainable Tourism project. With them, we protest, we discuss ideas and concerns, but we also sought solutions to a phenomenon that has affected all of us.   How do we pay 2€ for a glass of wine that is not even a big deal?   There were many questions and criticism. It was a powerful moment, where we heard people of all ages, from traders to students and artists, portuguese and foreigners. Many were the criticisms and questions. It was a powerful moment_ […]

Is there life after tourism?

In order to give visibility to the phenomenon of touristification of Lisbon, we are organizing a web page showing the photos that will be sent. It is counting from … now! Get involved! Share!

Make a pic of Lisbon touristification

Renovar a Mouraria I 6th April I 21h30 FREE ENTRANCE What is happening to the Historic Centre of Lisbon? The climb in population loss over the last 3 years has led the four chairpersons of the parish councils to take a public position. Under 10 thousand inhabitants, the parishes will lose significant performance power. And we, citizens, what are we willing to do? With the tourism excuse, the city is selled with a cheap price, hotels, hostels and apartments for temporary accommodation arise, it is ensured an income of 4% in the luxury investments, places that give identity to the city are destroyed, rehabilitation is only made according to the tourism, tenants are evicted, there is speculation with prices and it becomes impossible to housing. We, at the Citizenship Academy and at Renovar a Mouraria want to continue reflecting and contributing for citizens to take an attitude. Are you coming too?

Gathering I How to promote sustainable tourism in Lisbon?

Produced by Catarina Leal in her Master’s degree developed in Anthropology, Cidade Guiada documents one of the biggest problems currently encountered in the historic centre of Lisbon: gentrification by tourism. Phenomenon long observed in cities such as Barcelona, Berlin or London, gentrification is an urban symptom which mainly affects the most vulnerable populations inhabiting cities. Tourism is one of the key features adopted to boost the economy in neighbourhoods such as Graça, Alfama and Mouraria. With an increasingly industry sustained on foreign population, Portuguese neighbourhoods are revaluated and rehabilitated every day. Already with a few former residents, from the buildings only facades are left.   Cidade Guiada still poses an increasingly relevant question: how to redevelop a neighbourhood or a city that serves the people and not the tourists?   The film projection will be followed by a debate with the presence of director Catarina Leal, Joana Jacinto, promoter of […]

FREE CINEMA: “Cidade Guiada” (“Guided City”) I Cine Café Touristification