Gentrification in Porto: floating city users and internationally-driven urban change (Feb 2019)

• Gentrification in Porto: floating city users and internationally-driven urban change

• Luís Carvalho, Pedro Chamusca, José Fernandes and Jorge Pinto. Published in the Urban Geography journal on 27 February 2019

• https://doi.org/10.1080/02723638.2019.1585139

• Abstract:

  • The heightening scale of urban tourism and the fast-growing number of “floating” city users raise new challenges to understand contemporary urban change – namely for internationally open, heritage-rich medium-sized cities.

  • Discussing the case of Porto at a time when the contested notion of gentrification infuses local politics, we highlight the transnational drivers of this process in Portugal's second city. While acknowledging perils and benefits, we argue that more than simply leaving a footprint to be solved with taxation, internationally-driven gentrification may endanger city diversity and identity, raising implications for urban policy and for our understanding of local development as a whole.

• Keywords: Porto, Portugal, Airbnb, tourism, tourist apartments, tourist flats, financialisation, shared economy, short-term rentals, gentrification

This paper is interesting because of its focus on "the transnational drivers" of gentrification.