Jordi Nofre

Vintage Nightlife: Gentrifying Lisbon downtown

Over last two decades, culture has played a very important role in large-scale urban transformations. In that sense, nightlife promotion has become one of the most important strategies for urban regeneration in post-industrial cities. This paper explores the newly emerged vintage-style nightlife in the former harbour quarter of Cais do Sodre (Lisbon downtown). To do this, I focus on a recently renewed hostel building called Pensao Amor – formerly frequented by sailors and prostitutes, and today considered the coolest nightlife venue in the Portuguese Capital. After presenting an updated state of the art exploration of gentrification and nightlife, I argue in the second part of my paper that Pensao Amor is currently playing a key role in the gentrification of the urban nightscape in the Cais do Sodre neighbourhood, where its traditional nightlife is today being supplanted by a vintage-style nightlife. Furthermore, I argue that the consumption of this recently promoted vintage nightlife as a new form of social distinction can be also seen as the (re)production strategy of a socially and morally sanitized nightlife which marginalizes everyone who is seen as inappropriate, or in other words, socially perilous to the city branding of Lisbon.

Geoecology and Historical Heritage in the Ice-Free Area of Elephant Point (Antarctica). Proposal for Future Environmental Protection

The Antarctic Treaty provides the general environmental policies for all areas south of parallel 60° S. In addition, some enclaves have a higher degree of environmental protection regulated by three categories: Antarctic Specially Protected Areas (ASPA), Antarctic Specially Managed Areas and Historic Sites or Monuments. Most of the protected areas in Antarctica have been designated based on the national geopolitical strategies, giving special attention to those areas where access and logistics are easier. This paper focuses on Elephant Point (Livingston, South Shetland Islands), an ice-free area of 1.16 km2 where activities are only regulated by the Antarctic Treaty System and no further environmental protection exists. By using a geoecological approach based on the geomorphology together with the distribution of the fauna and flora existing in the area, we have distinguished six geoecological environments in Elephant Point: Rotch glacier, proglacial environment, moraine system, bedrock plateaus, marine terraces and present-day beach. The distribution of fauna and flora is highly conditioned by the age of deglaciation as well as by the glacial, paraglacial and periglacial geomorphological landforms and processes. Besides this, five well preserved archaeological sites have been found in Elephant Point. These sites were used for sealers and whalers who sailed across the Maritime Antarctic during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The rich biodiversity together with the high geomorphological and historical significance of this peninsula within the Maritime Antarctic constitutes the scientific basis to propose Elephant Point to be designated an ASPA in order to preserve the unique scientific heritage existing in this small peninsula.

Club Carib: a geo-ethnography of seduction in a Lisbon dancing bar

Abstract Over the last three decades, nightlife has become one of the most important time–spaces for the reproduction of human relationships. In this paper, we examine Club Carib, a particular nightlife space in Lisbon’s Bairro Alto neighbourhood. Our focus is on the flirting strategies that occur during dance sessions. We examine the ways in which these seduction strategies operate in relation to particular constructions of race, class, cultural capital and gender. Particular attention is paid to the ways in which young adult straight males use their bodies to negotiate the dance space. We describe how the dance space is an environment in which the (hetero)normative and patriarchal character of Lisbon’s nightlife is often reinscribed, but also at times contested.

Exploring Nightlife and Urban Change in Bairro Alto, Lisbon†

Over the last three decades culture has played a central role in the urban renewal of many cities worldwide. The inner city has thus become a socially, politically controlled “theatre of consumption” (Ritzer 2010). Correspondingly, the urban night has emerged not only as a significant space–time of productive economic activity but also as a key strategy in the urban regeneration of downtowns (Chatterton and Hollands 2003; Farrer 2008, 2011; Hae 2011, 2012; Tadié and Permanadeli 2015; among others). In some Southern European cities the rise of new urban nightscapes in their historical neighborhoods (Crivello 2009; Garcı́a-Pérez 2014; Nofre 2013) is largely connected to urban, social, and economic impacts caused by the neoliberalization of the city (Brenner and Theodore 2005). This is the case of Bairro Alto in Lisbon (Portugal), where the university student and tourist nightlife in this historical neighborhood of the Portuguese capital may be seen as part of a broader public and private-led strategy of internationalization of the city as advertised on the website of the Lisbon Tourism Promotion Agency: “Lisbon’s nightlife is known as one of the longest and most vibrant in the whole of Europe and the world.”2 Indeed, over the past 10 years, the exponential growth of international tourists visiting Lisbon and the increasing attractiveness of the Portuguese capital for hosting national and international university students have caused some social, spatial, economic and cultural impacts in the inner city (Galhardo 2014; Malheiros et al., 2012; Mendes 2006, 2011, 2014; Nofre 2013; Rodrigues 2010). But how is student and tourism-related nightlife contributing to the urban change in Bairro Alto? This article aims to explore the interplay between the urban night and recent urban transformations in this quarter by arguing that recent urban change in Bairro Alto has much to do with its nighttime touristification and studentification. To do so, we have divided the article into two main parts. The first aims to show the role of the local

The ‘Pink Street’ in Cais do Sodré: urban change and liminal governance in a nightlife district of Lisbon

The former harbour quarter of Cais do Sodré in central Lisbon has been recently transformed into the most crowded nightlife spot in the city, causing some negative social and spatial impacts such as the worsening of community liveability during night-time hours. In addition, the inefficacy of the latest community intervention project conducted in the area (SAFE!N) has been largely due to the liminal governance of the urban night applied in the area. In the final remarks, some actions are suggested to foster long-term sustainable coexistence between the right to the city and the right to leisure in the area.

The Erasmus Corner: place-making of a sanitised nightlife spot in the Bairro Alto (Lisbon, Portugal)

Abstract Nightlife economic activity has emerged as a key strategy in the regeneration of historical quarters. The case of the Bairro Alto district (Lisbon) exhibits a more gradual and distinct development caused by the marginal and transgressive practices of nightlife visitors, who have resisted its gentrification for decades. Some areas in the Bairro Alto (specially the upper side) have maintained their dangerous character and marginalisation for several years, even after the 2008 urban reform programme. It is only recently, with the growing presence of Erasmus students in Bairro Alto, that the upper side has finally become safe and sanitised through leisure activities. In this article, the interplay of several social actors (foreign students, municipal authorities, night-time entrepreneurs and Erasmus organisers) explains the process of place-making regarding the new Erasmus Corner. The spatial colonisation of this spot has accelerated social cleansing of the upper side of the neighbourhood, concluding the district’s night-time pacification.

GEOMORPHOLOGICAL RISKS, SUBURBANISATION AND NEOLIBERALISATION OF THE URBAN SPACE IN POST-WAR SARAJEVO

In May-2014 an intense rainfall event associated with a deep low-pressure system called Tamara caused severe flooding and thousands of landslides in the Western Balkans region, impacting also the city of Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina). The hydrological and geomorphological hazards to which a significant number of urban and suburban areas built in the Bosnian capital since the end of the war were shown in this episode. This paper focuses on the geomorphological constraints and increased hazards resulted from the new constructions produced after the conflict. Observational and ethnographic fieldwork was conducted between 2010 and 2013, subsequently complemented with the operational support of GIS. It is argued that despite the consensus achieved for developing Sarajevo through strategies aligned with European regulations for sustainability, the city has moved into an increasing unsustainable direction as a result of the need to deal with vulnerable population groups and the international policies that tend to promote a neoliberal urban development.

'Catalanism Only Will Win by the Force of Songs', Revisited 100 Years After. The Role of Catalan(ist) Pop-Rock Music in Socially Sanitizing Working-Class Neighborhoods of Barcelona (1976-2000)

Abstract: During the last years of the Spanish fascist regime, two politically contrary music scenes emerged in Barcelona. While Catalanist folk music emerged for political freedom, Spanished rock’n’roll, punk, and heavy scenes emerged in the working-class suburbs of Barcelona, denouncing bad conditions of everyday urban life. The great success of this last music scene in Barcelona in the 1980s led to the then nationalist, conservative government of Catalonia to promote a new socially and politically sanitized music scene in response to such class-based contestation. This study aims to explore how a new Catalan(ist) pop-rock scene was created to socially and culturally sanitize the working-class suburbs of Barcelona along the decades of the 1980s and 1990s.