Urban Greening in Marvila: Challenges and Opportunities for the Future. Policy Report

In 2017 the project ROCK (“Regeneration and Optimization of Cultural Heritage in Creative and Knowledge Cities”) kicked-off in a number of European cities seeking to develop innovative solutions to use cultural heritage as a driver for urban regeneration. The project, financed by the European Commission under the Horizon2020 framework, is based on a methodology of replicating solutions from so-called “Role Model Cities” in three “Replicator Cities”, one of which is Lisbon. The solutions were developed through small-scale pilot projects by the Lisbon Municipality, in partnership with a team of researchers based at the Institute of Social Sciences of the University of Lisbon (ICS-ULisboa; henceforth referred to as ICS) while also collaborating with a variety of local stakeholders. In Lisbon, the project focused on the eastern riverside area, composed by the parishes of Marvila and Beato. This area was identified by the Municipality of Lisbon as the ROCK intervention area, due to existing social and spatial challenges as well as its potential for cultural development.