# 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

{% hint style="info" %}
This paper is interesting because of its focus on "the transnational drivers" of gentrification.
{% endhint %}