"Vintage Nightlife": Gentrifying Lisbon downtown

Abstract

Nofre, Jordi (2013). "Vintage Nightlife": Gentrifying Lisbon downtown. Fennia 191: 2, pp. 106-121. ISSN 1798-5617.Over last two decades, culture has played a very important role in large-scale urban transformations. In that sense, nightlife promotion has become one of the most important strategies for urban regeneration in post-industrial cities. This paper explores the newly emerged vintage-style nightlife in the former harbour quarter of Cais do Sodré (Lisbon downtown). To do this, I focus on a recently renewed hostel building called Pensão Amor -formerly frequented by sailors and prostitutes, and today considered the coolest nightlife venue in the Portuguese Capital. After presenting an updated state of the art exploration of gentrification and nightlife, I argue in the second part of my paper that Pensão Amor is currently playing a key role in the gentrification of the urban nightscape in the Cais do Sodré neighbourhood, where its traditional nightlife is today being supplanted by a vintage-style nightlife. Furthermore, I argue that the consumption of this recently promoted vintage nightlife as a new form of social distinction can be also seen as the (re)production strategy of a socially and morally sanitized nightlife which marginalizes everyone who is seen as inappropriate, or in other words, socially perilous to the city branding of Lisbon.

Reconsidering neoliberal urban planning in times of crisis: urban regeneration policy in a “dense” space in Lisbon

“…Current and potential effects have been debated. Firstly, regeneration policies and refurbishment incentives are driving gentrification in central districts like Chiado, Bairro Alto, and Cais do Sodré (Mendes, 2013;Nofre, 2013). Secondly, the credit crunch affecting middle-class families and their housing strategies is expected to further shift real estate refurbishment toward big investors and the tourism industry (Seixas et al, in press).…”

Urban Nightlife Consumption. Case Study: Bairro Alto, Lisbon

“…Since the urban nightlife is a topical scenario, it increasingly draws the researchers' attention. Therefore, several scientists focused on the study of nightlife in the contemporary city, especially during the last two decades (Chatterton, 2002;Hollands & Chatterton, 2002a, 2002b, 2003Roberts & Turner, 2005;Ferreira, 2007;Campo & Ryan, 2008;Charlois, 2009;Grazian, 2009;Roberts & Eldridge, 2009;Calafat et al, 2011;Havere et al, 2011;Hoe, 2011;Wadds, 2011;Feixa & Nofre, 2012;Liempt & Aalst, 2012;Demant & Landolt, 2013;Nofre, 2013;Sönmez et al, 2013;Carah, 2014;Pavel, 2014;Liempt, 2015;Calvo et al, 2016;Santani et al, 2016;Wolifson & Drozdzewski, 2017).…”

When Islamization Meets (Westernized) Neoliberalization. A Meta-Ethnography of Nightlife in Post-Socialist Sarajevo

“…Social sanitization in this text is conceived in the same sense that Johan Galtung (1958) suggested in his The Social Functions of a Prison, where the author argued that social sanitization had to do with the attempt carried out by institutions to decrease to zero the visibility of selected types of deviants. In the socially, politically and morally sanitized urban nightscapesand using Baudrillardian terminology -employee behavior is predictable, besides politically and socially controlled (Nofre & Martín 2009, Nofre 2013. Its customers tend to have scripted interactions according to the latest linguistic trends in social distinction, that is to say, they neither want nor expect surprises.…”

“…Individual behaviors such as exultation, explicit happiness, laughing loudly, drink quickly, or sensual dancing are seen as inappropriate in the socially, morally, and politically sanitized nightlife. As Nofre (2013) argues in the case of the newly-emerged 'vintage nightlife' in Lisbon "Social informality that once featured at bohemian venues, where writers, journalists, and artists usually gathered, has given way to predictable, scripted de-politicized conversations. In the transformation of the bohemian into the vintage, glasses of wine, cocktails, and cigarettes still continue to decorate tables even after several decades, while political conversation has been eradicated.…”

“…However it frequently involves inclusionary/exclusionary processes and the spatial displacement of preexisting traditional and working-class nighttime leisure activities (Ib.). Indeed new emerged 'sanitized' urban nightscapes play a significant role in several processes of culture-led urban renovation and gentrification (Nofre 2013). However, few studies have paid attention to the rise of a 'distinguished' nightlife as a consequence of gentrification and the emergence of a distinction-based lifestyle of new middle classes in global cities.…”