Urban Rehabilitation and Tourism: Lessons from Porto (2010–2020)

Cities experience rapid growth and transformation. Over the past decades, change has been particularly intense complex, associated to globalization, spatial compression temporal acceleration. Within this context, EU funds introduced new urban rehabilitation dynamics that made a city center more attractive. This, alongside of international tourism, increased number users, which furthered discussion on relation between physical, economic, social environmental intervention city, as well debates positive negative impacts tourism in cities. With mind, we look at occurred Porto, Portugal, period from an economic crisis COVID-19 confinement. We consider changes buildings, retail policies conclude neoliberal attitude favoured tourism-led sustainability blind gentrification. Based survey analysis 50 initiatives downtown Porto recent public policies, discuss therefore effectiveness its contribution sustainable development.