Landscape Perspectives on Urban Regeneration in Mediterranean Cities

Dear Colleagues,

Urban regeneration has already existed in urban studies and in urban and regional planning for some decades, having emerged in the 1980s in the Western world, and is one of the most successful strategies to revitalize the urban fabric, boost the economy, create jobs, and energize communities’ quality of life and well being. Urban regeneration essentially appears as a deliberate attempt by urban and regional planning to counteract the forces and factors that, in a given situation, are the cause of urban degeneration. Several experiments carried out in the last half century have shown—through holistic and strategic interventions from the point of view of their implementation, partnerships, and stakeholders—that sustainability and resilience can be enhanced in urban areas, from an economic, social, and environmental point of view. However, indirectly and when insufficiently implemented, urban regeneration processes are also responsible for triggering or aggravating phenomena of gentrification, residential segregation, and other socio-spatial inequalities that contradict their initial mission of promoting social and territorial cohesion in cities. For a long time, urban regeneration has not been limited to the Western world, but has extended to all urban contexts in the developed and developing world; today, it is necessary to deepen the knowledge about its evolution in different geographical contexts, namely, in terms of Mediterranean urban landscapes. It was not only the geographic framework that expanded, since conceptually, the notion of urban regeneration also unfolded into several thematic areas, taking into account the forces of urban transformation that motivate it: retail-led urban regeneration, cultural-led urban regeneration, state-led urban regeneration, tourism-led urban regeneration, housing-led urban regeneration, etc.

The main aim of this Special Issue is to deepen knowledge on the various frontlines of research on urban regeneration, but at the Mediterranean scale, therefore focusing mainly on case studies from Southern Europe and North Africa, filling in some gaps in the analysis of this topic in this specific geographical context. In this way, it will help to broaden the scope of the comparative analysis produced worldwide on the subject.

The studies and papers of this Special Issue are expected to address the following aims:

• Review the history and context of urban regeneration;
• Focus on managing urban regeneration;
• Consider land use issues with the occurrence of urban regeneration;
• Discuss monitoring and evaluation urban regeneration processes, its stakeholders, partnerships, funding issues, and impacts;
• The critical analysis of urban regeneration projects in the enhancement of social, economic, and environmental sustainability;
• Opportunities, challenges, and threats of gentrification and touristification and the need for reinvention of urban regeneration projects to avoid these collateral damages;
• The relevant role of urban regeneration in the implementation of energy policies through the energy rehabilitation of buildings;
• The connection of urban regeneration with urban policies (social, economic, and cultural) and methodologies and instruments of regional and urban planning;
• The contribution of urban regeneration to the New Urban Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN.

Prof. Luís Mendes
Dr. Teresa Tapada-Berteli
Guest Editors

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• urban regeneration
• urban renovation
• urban redevelopment
• urban sustainability
• urban governance
• community resilience
• gentrification
• community-based urban redevelopment
• urban policies

Title: Addressing the Challenges of Local Planning and Tourism Sustainability in Coastal Areas: The Case of Baleal Beach, Portugal
Authors: João Paulo Jorge
Affiliation: CiTUR-Centre for Tourism Research, Development and Innovation, Polytechnic of Leiria, Portugal
Abstract: Coastal areas have an unquestionable value in economic, social, and environmental terms. In the case of tourist beaches, these are spaces that integrate multiple economic circuits and are often located in urbanized areas, with high population density and, consequently, are very exposed to urban pressure and real estate speculation. They are also vulnerable environments, highly exposed to climate change and, consequently, to rising sea levels and coastal erosion, which clearly threaten the livelihood of coastal communities, their natural and socio-economic systems, thus posing a crucial question regarding urban regeneration. Two sets of variables were identified by Nguyen et al (2016) which are often used to assess the degree to which the potential of systems may be affected: one set concerning human or demographic sensitivity and another related to land use sensitivity. Thus, regarding adaptability, management and planning instruments are crucial and will be considered in this work. Over time, particularly in Portugal, the planning system and the implementation of adaptation measures have been developed in a centralized, national scale way. As in many other countries the main gaps in local coastal regulation and planning are identified. Nevertheless, besides the strategic and functional factor, the last generations of municipal plans and special plans (such as the coastal zone plans) strongly underline the importance, in the face of climate change and its effects on coastal zones, of the local level in adaptation policies, reflecting a new approach, since climate change impacts are felt locally and differently, due to their geographical variability. Thus, is accepted the need for approaches based on the specific characteristics of each location regarding the study and analysis of adaptation measures to climate vulnerability. This article intends to provide an overview on the current debate on evaluation in local planning in coastal areas considering a wide range of constraints and possible solutions regarding adaptations, based on a case study of Baleal Beach Oeste Region, Portugal. The methodology used was document analysis, participant observation and semi-structured interviews with several local stakeholders (from local government, tourism companies, environmental organisations). Keywords: Local planning, coastal areas, tourism sustainability, adaptation, climate change.