Urban rehabilitation areas in Oporto, Portugal. A brief overview

This paper establishes some preliminary outcomes of the research period carried in 2019 at CITTA – University of Porto as a visiting student. Oporto is the second largest Portuguese city and the engine of the metropolitan system of the northern region of the country. For more than 30 years local urban policies have been articulated with the EU urban policies to deal with severe urban problems and boost regeneration processes. Whilst the PhD research project is entitled – Understanding the EU’s urban agenda at the margins of Europe: lessons and perspectives – studying the case of Oporto is an opportunity to reflect on the influence and impact of the EU’s regional policy over the trajectories of urban development. The contact with local experts and the possibility to experience personally the dynamics that have been describing the city, resulted in the gathering of interesting information for the research project that are presented in part in this paper.