Near and far: A case of social mix in Lisbon

Abstract

This paper intends to give an account of an urban regeneration process at Lisbon, guided by criteria of social mix. Initially a camp of slums, the territory in question is now a part of the city where private housing, targeted to middle-high classes, and social housing, promoted by the private sector, coexist in an almost identical proportion. This housing situation sets a high polarization of the demographic and socio-economic tissue of this territory with impacts in the forms of appropriation in the neighbourhood, in its internal and external image and in the logic of integration in social and urban dynamics of the city. Starting from a study that aimed to identify ways of life and needs for equipment and services of the population living in this neighbourhood – now called Alta de Lisboa – the purpose of this paper is to report the forms of representation and life through social coexistence in this territory. It addresses, from the diversity of social profiles of the population living at Alta de Lisboa, their lifestyles and ways of use and appropriation of the space, its perception and evaluation of the neighbourhood. It also discusses the impacts of social coexistence in the internal dynamics of this area and how it limits, for each social group involved, the logic of perception and use of residential area.