Understanding the EU Urban Agenda from the margins of Europe: the case of Porto

This research focuses on the EU regional policy and presents a critical analysis of its influence on the urban regeneration process of the Portuguese city of Porto. A particular attention is drawn to the historic centre area which in 1996 was formally recognised by the UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. The old town's social, cultural and historic heritage has been dealing with a diverse range of challenges and consequently has been the stage of different urban interventions. Among the actions that have been implemented during the last 50 years to steer the area's development, two area-based interventions linked to the EU Cohesion Policy have notably contributed to the processes of urban change—1990 Urban Pilot Project and 2006 Programa de Reabilitação Urbana. In order to make sense of the intricate relationship between the urban dimension of the EU regional policy and the processes of urban regeneration we started by tracing the development of the EU urban agenda. As a second step we contextualised the historic Bairro da Sé do Porto area within national and local urban policies and development patterns. Finally, it was possible to put forward a series of considerations regarding the influence of EU initiatives in this southwestern European city. Hopefully, the insights resulting from this research will not only help to understand local effects of EU instruments and their specificities at the level of implementation, but allow future EU policy making to capitalise on its urban agenda in order to promote a better future.