Tourism and gentrification in the city of Faro

The quality of life and reputation of a city is also measured by how intelligently it treats its most vulnerable and disadvantaged citizens and how it respects their dignity as people and citizens.

Faro and the Ria Formosa – Photos: Elisabete Rodrigues | Sul Informação

Following my article on tourist massification and uberization of the Algarve society (May 19, 2022) some more attentive readers sent me very pertinent observations about what I here call gentrification of the city and, in particular, of Baixa de Faro.

The most observant reader has certainly noticed the profound transformation that is taking place in the city of Faro and, in terms of urbanism, we can even say that the procession still only goes to the churchyard.

There is the tourist massification of the city, the Ria Formosa, the coast, the Eastern Algarve and the entire Algarve, in a period when we are witnessing profound changes in the climate regime (Anthropocene), with serious consequences for soils, water resources, biodiversity, vegetation cover, agricultural activities, ecosystem services, migrations of fauna and flora.

In such a severe context, we cannot be dazzled by the tourist massification, I even think that a more structured and organized reflection on the forms of urbanism and peri-urbanism that we want for the city of Faro and its county, before it is run over by excessive and abusive forms of gentrification that do not take into account the protection of the most sensitive and vulnerable groups in our city and our county.

For the record, I leave here an illustrative synthesis, in the form of a decalogue of touristification and gentrification in the city/downtown of Faro, based on the observations and concerns that some readers made me arrive.

1) Residents with a parking permit find it very difficult to park close to their homes,

2) The rooftops and Sunset Parties they can be heard at a few decibels far above what is normal or reasonable and annoying the neighbors, which forces some people to stay confined at home or to go out between 18:00 and 22:00, especially on weekends,

3) We invite the reader to take a morning walk through downtown Faro to appreciate the smell of urine, vomit and garbage that the intensive nights of tourism provide us,

4) The reader must have already observed the chaos of scooters scattered throughout the public space without any respect for simple rules of good manners and, thus, creating circulation and mobility problems for older and disabled citizens,

5) The reader will easily see, as an increasingly common practice, the growing harassment of real estate operators, especially on the elderly residents who still live in Baixa de Faro,

6) The reader will easily verify the vertiginous change that is being operated in the public space of downtown Faro, with the commodification of all public space and an increasing risk of collision between residents, visitors, scooters, tables, cars, suppliers , where there is practically no place for the elderly with mobility problems to circulate,

7) The reader will also easily see the continued pressure on house rents, rooms for student accommodation, the lack of housing for young couples, the confusion in some condominiums that airbnb clandestine, as a result of unusual pressure for local, legal and illegal accommodation,

8) The reader will easily see how tourism, in its various manifestations, is the economic activity that most socializes the losses by sending its negative external effects to the municipal budget and to the municipal taxpayer, despite the fees now charged to tourists ; it is necessary to verify whether this socialization of losses does not have a high municipal opportunity cost at the expense of socially more urgent and priority public expenditures, such as those resulting from the recent transfer of attributions and competences to the municipalities,

9) The reader will be able to easily see how, from a sociocultural point of view, tourist massification causes the erosion of a certain traditional way of life or, if well managed, how it can serve to refresh or renew that way of life; this balance between the traditional, the contemporary and the cosmopolitan must be present and be a distinctive sign of the city and the municipality must give concrete proof of this happy cohabitation,

10) Finally, and at the same time that we see the intensive urbanization of the city/downtown on the heels of tourist massification, we also witness the melancholy aging of the population and the industrialization of old age in nursing homes and continued care that are the antechambers of a announced death, as the regional health services, too, continue to wait to be equally touristized; the city must show that it is present, above all, in terms of welcoming, caring and hospitality to the most needy and disadvantaged.

Final Notes

The quality of life and reputation of a city is measured by its hospitality, care and the intelligent way in which it treats its most vulnerable and disadvantaged citizens and respects their dignity as people and citizens, as much or more than its occasional visitors. .

On the other hand, taking a ride on intensive touristization following a long two-year process of confinement does not seem to me to be very wise as a medium and long-term urban planning policy that must integrate not only the downtown area and its surroundings, but also , also, the neighbourhoods, the peri-urban and suburban rings and the respective parishes of the municipality.

Finally, it is unwise to leave the fate of a city, county or region to the great volatility and bias of a single sector such as tourism, however important its role in the city's economy and urban renewal may be.

At the limit, it would be very unpleasant for the city to split in two, the city of visiting tourists, especially downtown, on the estuary and on the coast, and the city of residents, in the neighborhoods and peri-urban and suburban rings.

I do not believe, however, that the city, the municipality and the sub-region have given up their ambition and bet on other, more diversified and promising lines of direction. I understand the emergency and contingency of the period in which we live.

There was no time for a serene reflection on the matter, but there is still time to do so. An Observatory could tell us how coastal erosion on the beaches will evolve, the estuary that is beautiful but not safe, the water for the firsts of Algarve agriculture, the best occupation of the countryside of Faro, the late rural area of ​​the parishes of the municipality and the traditional dryland orchard, the agroforestry use of the barrocal mountain range, the economies of proximity to ecopolis Faro-Olhão.Loulé-S.Brás, in short, the various rings that surround the city and the municipality of Faro.

Imagine what would be, in this way, a transition to the 2nd rurality as an integral part of the new urbanism concept of the city and the municipality.

I remember, at the end, the article I wrote in Sul Informação (November 16, 2021) about the ecopolis of Faro-Olhão-Loulé-S.Brás, it might be worth taking a look at it again.

 

 

 



Comments

Ads