Living in a (un)gated community: Neighbourhood belonging in Lisbon’s Parque das Nações

Abstract

‘Parque das Nações’ is the official name for a new part of the city of Lisbon, inherited from the World Exhibition Expo ‘98. With three miles of waterfront, this multifunctional urban project, constructed from nothing in barely ten years, used obsolete industrial and port land for waterside urban renewal. The geographical situation, the urban and architectural solutions, the scale and quality of public spaces and the symbolic meaning inherited from Expo ‘98 are responsible for a scenario of ‘quality’ and exclusivity, one that is socially directed to upper segments within the middle class.