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

Abstract

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.

Keywords:

• nightlife
• urban change
• community liveability
• Cais do Sodré
• Lisbon

Acknowledgements

Authors want to show their gratitude for the support provided by the Centro Interdisciplinar de Ciências Sociais da Universidade Nova de Lisboa; Instituto de História Contemporânea da Universidade Nova de Lisboa and Departamento de Sociologia da Universidade da Beira Interior & Pelouro da Habitação e Desenvolvimento Local da Câmara Municipal de Lisboa. Authors also want to show their special gratitude to all informants that agreed to participate in our research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. For further information on Cultural Trend Lisbon, see http://www.ctlisbon.com/.

2. For further information on Pink Street, see http://www.ctlisbon.com/pink-street/.

3. For videos and pictures, please see the Cais do Sodré Neighbours Association’s website: http://aquimoragente.weebly.com/galeria.html.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Foundation for Science and Technology of Portugal: [Grant Numbers SFRH/BPD/108458/2015 and SFRH/BPD/115726/2016].