The influence of EU policy on local policy-making, governance and urban change. Evidence from Porto, Portugal

ABSTRACT

Porto has long been a site of experimentation in the field of European urban policies, implemented through different initiatives and supported by EU funding. The paper describes the different urban regeneration experiences that have been undertaken by the city, analyses the nature of the policy instruments which have been implemented, and in what ways they relate to local policy-making, governance and development. What emerges from this analysis is a more complex perspective of the relationship between local/national/European policies, which needs a broader understanding of local processes to understand the emergence and transfer of the holistic approach promoted by the EU.

KEYWORDS:

• Urban regeneration
• integration
• Europeanisation
• Porto
• diversity

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. The Fundação para o Desenvolvimento do Vale de Campanhã was created in 1995 for the purpose of managing the URBAN I that targeted the specific Vale de Campahã area. Without changing its initial purpose of tackling social issues of the city, it was renamed Fundação para o Desenvolvimento Social do Porto and later Fundação Porto Social and expanded its target area to include the whole city of Porto.