Paper short abstract:

This paper will analise the processes, actors, discourses and local dynamics of the cultural and creative economy involved in the recent regeneration of Marvila, emphasizing the strategic use of the past and the creation of new urban geographies in this fractured, post-industrial territory.

Paper long abstract:

In recent years the literature on the instrumental use of the cultural dimension in urban regeneration has grown considerably, analysing the impact of the creation of artistic districts and general cultural agglomeration in the political agenda for local development and international competition. Lisbon represents a rich but underrepresented case study in the targeted way the Municipality envisioned culture, in the middle of a hard-hitting economic crisis, as a major catalyst and engine of regeneration. In the past 2 years, a new area of intervention was brought to the fore: the semi-peripheral, post-industrial, socially and economically fractured Marvila, where major development plans, fully embodying the master narrative of the cultural and creative industries, are bound to significantly change the territory. Based on research undertaken since 2017 under the Horizon 2020 project ROCK, this paper will analise a) the expectations of local residents, economic agents and the creative class regarding change; b) the new urban geographies - public and private - that are being created; c) the strategic use of local culture and heritage, namely a romanticized image of the neighbourhood during the industrial zenith; d) the processes, actors, discourses and local dynamics of cultural policy and creative economy involved in these recent transformations.