Evaluating the tourism impact on the rehabilitation of historic centre buildings: the case of Baixa Pombalina, Lisbon

Abstract

The relationship between tourism growth and urban regeneration has led to the development of research focused on the assessment of the impacts of tourism on urban regeneration, namely from the economic and social points of view. However, the research on the physical consequences that the tourism growth has in the buildings is exiguous. Thus, the main goal of this paper is the evaluation of the tourism impact on the rehabilitation and use of buildings in historic centers. In order to achieve the main goal it was chosen a case study – Baixa Pombalina – and it was analyzed a set of variables that were considered relevant: the number of rehabilitation interventions directly or indirectly related with the tourism growth such as the supply of tourist accommodation, cultural facilities, street retail and housing stock, the assessment of the degree of intervention, the change of use on the intervened buildings and the population that occupies the buildings of Baixa. The present work led to the conclusion that the tourism sector had an important role in boosting the building rehabilitation and occupation in Baixa Pombalina during the study period. However, there was an urgent need to monitor the growing of local housing and tourism apartments, as well as the international mass market and multiple stores.