TY - JOUR AU - Martins, Joao Carlos PY - 2022/06/22 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - Culture-led urban regeneration and local expectations of urban void renewal in eastern Lisbon: A critical perspective on the social and spatial accomplishments of ROCK Pilot Projects in Marvila JF - Culture Unbound JA - Cult. Unbound VL - 14 IS - 1 SE - Articles DO - 10.3384/cu.1094 UR - https://cultureunbound.ep.liu.se/article/view/1094 SP - 51-74 AB - <p>This article will analyze the ongoing culture-led regeneration processes of abandoned, informal and vacant areas, often considered by residents, local associations, and public officials to be urban voids. Our territorial framework is in <em>Marvila, </em>a semi-peripheral riverside area in Lisbon, strongly affected by informal activities, high levels of youth unemployment, an elderly population, and the existence of urban spaces with non-planned uses, seen as undesirable by the local ecosystem of stakeholders and particularly by residents.</p><p>Our analysis will be centered around a social and spatial understanding of Lisbon’s municipal urban policy (funded by the 3.5.6. program of the European Union on Cultural Heritage), which has supported the reoccupation of some these so-called urban voids. We will focus on the use of a Pilot Project methodology, its exploratory and prototype nature, the local bureaucratic planning system, and the soft Planning techniques implemented as new ways of addressing long-term decayed and informal urban spaces.</p><p>We will examine the regeneration results of two EU-H2020 funded pilot projects, under the ROCK project, which supports this research. The first pilot project “<em>Loja Com Vida</em>” (“store with life” or “store invites”), supports the municipal objective of creating a new urban centrality in <em>Marvila</em>, encouraging a diversification of its users, operationalizing the reuse of municipal ground floor spaces. The second project, “<em>Jardim para Todos</em>” (‘Garden for all’), corroborates a municipal urban policy on environmental sustainability goals, promoting, with the help of local agents, a learning and sharing process centered around green knowledge and the creation of a future agriculture hub and leisure area.</p><p>The acknowledgment of these pilot project results will constitute an interesting case study for other urban areas with similar conditions, incorporating a better understanding of participative urban regeneration processes, outside the traditional and formal planning perspectives and achievements.</p> ER -