Roundtable editors: Lavínia Pereira and João Felipe P. Brito
This roundtable stems from discussions in the Urban Transitions Hub of ICS-ULisboa and project “UrbanoScenes. Post-colonial imaginaries of urbanisation: A future-oriented investigation from Portugal and Angola” (funding: Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnólogia; PTDC/GES-URB/1053/2021).
Round one:
Lavínia Pereira and João Felipe P. Brito, Introduction: Conflicting Imaginaries in East Lisbon
In their roundtable introduction, Lavínia Pereira and João Felipe P. Brito survey the ongoing transformation of East Lisbon and discuss “conflicting imaginaries” as a framework for understanding the intersection of the local and the global in the “Mouraria–Marvila axis.”
Simone Tulumello, Cosmopolitan, Racialized, or Both: Conflicting Imaginaries in Mouraria
Simone Tulumello examines the tensions between racialization and cosmopolitanism in Lisbon’s Mouraria neighbourhood, where imaginaries of multiculturalism have been co-opted as part of the capital’s push for global city status.
Marco Allegra, ‘What’s in a name?’: Imagining Arroios
Lisbon’s Arroios was dubbed “the world’s coolest neighborhood” by Time Out. Marco Allegro considers the power of naming and asks what’s at stake in such rankings of “coolness.”
Roberto Falanga and Mafalda Corrêa Nunes, Urban Imaginaries of Contention in Marvila
Roberto Falanga and Mafalda Corrêa Nunes report on Lisbon’s participation in a major European Commission project and analyse the multi-layered and often conflicting urban imaginaries that characterize the redevelopment of the Marvila district.
Andrea Pavoni, Under Construction: Searching for Future Ruins on the Eastern Riverfront of Lisbon
Andrea Pavoni takes a psychogeographical tour of Lisbon’s eastern riverfront, a fragmented landscape which is permanently “under construction” and ruined at the same time.
Round two:
Lavínia Pereira and João Felipe P. Brito, From Conflicting to Overlapping Imaginaries: A Cartography of Urban Imaginaries in East Lisbon
In their introduction to the second part of the roundtable, Lavínia Pereira and João Felipe P. Brito discuss the overlapping nature of urban imaginaries and pose questions for the contributors about strategies of “reverse imagineering” in East Lisbon.
Simone Tulumello, Imagining, and Struggling in, Lisbon’s East Side
Where is Lisbon’s East Side and who defines it? Simone Tulumello discusses the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the identity of the area and emphasises the conflictual nature of capitalist urbanism.
Roberto Falanga and Mafalda Corrêa Nunes, Urban Imaginaries of Negotiation in Marvila
Roberto Falanga and Mafalda Corrêa Nunes discuss how local community groups in Lisbon’s Marvila have asserted their right to shape the regeneration process of the area within the wider goals of city rebranding.
Andrea Pavoni, Keep it Blurry: Imagining Martim Moniz
More than any other place, Martim Moniz square embodies the conflicted nature of Lisbon’s urban imaginaries. Andrea Pavoni reflects on the struggles over its use and argues for the importance of a “blurry” vision of the city.
Marco Allegra, Who Profits? And Who Should? Notes on Coletividades, Gentrification and Political Agency in Arroios
Marco Allegra writes about the role of “coletividades”—non-commercial spaces—and local groups in the transformation of Lisbon’s Arroios, and questions some of the standard narratives of the neighbourhood’s gentrification.