3S RECIPE – Smart Shrinkage Solutions: Porto (PT) Policy Brief #3. Liveability

This policy brief analyses the Municipal Master plan focused on the urban regeneration of one of the most deprived neighbourhoods in the city of Porto. It is a comprehensive revitalization project for the eastern part of the city, historically more disadvantaged than the western area. Its development has been carried out in parallel with a revision of the Municipal Director Plan, and encompasses different liveability dimensions (e.g., housing renewal and expansion of green areas). This brief will focus specifically on housing, understood as a fundamental cornerstone in the liveability concept. The main lesson we can draw is that large spatial interventions, especially initiatives aimed at housing renewal and the improvement of public space, do not only reorganize the urban environment, but also increase property values. In the context of traditionally devalued and downgraded neighbourhoods, such an intervention can generate a ‘rent gap’ between actual and potential rent, leading to gentrification. Hence, policy-makers should anticipate the negative consequences of their master plans and take into account the need for affordable housing.