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New urbanism, tourism and urban regeneration in Eastern Lisbon, Portugal

Article  in  Journal of Urban Regeneration and Renewal · January 2016

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 New urbanism, tourism and urban
regeneration in Eastern Lisbon,
Portugal
Received (in revised form): 12th April, 2015

Jose A. Torres
was recently awarded a PhD in Geography by the University of Connecticut, where he is a part-time lecturer. His research
interests include mega-events and tourism strategies as tools for urban regeneration.

Abstract The Park of Nations zone in Lisbon, Portugal, is a neighbourhood in the

eastern part of the city that was regenerated in order to stage the World's Fair in 1998 and
to urbanise it during and after that special event. Guidelines that resemble those of the
New Urbanism movement were implemented in the planning and building processes
which led to the regeneration of the neighbourhood. The Park of Nations zone is now both
a new downtown and a new tourism zone in Lisbon, and this is the result of the
implementation of those guidelines. This paper uses a case-study method to explain the
link between New Urbanism guidelines, tourism and the creation of a new downtown. The
fact that the Park of Nations zone has recently gained the status of new freguesia (city
parish or district), when the city reduced the number of freguesias from 53 to 24, is
recognition of the success of the regeneration effort and the impact that the regenerated
zone has had on the city of Lisbon.

Keywords: Urban regeneration, tourism, New Urbanism, mega-events, Lisbon

INTRODUCTION arena for different types of events, a

In 1998 the city of Lisbon in Portugal
hosted a mega-event: the World's Fair
known as Expo '98. A zone in the eastern
part of the city along the Tagus River,
which contained mostly abandoned
industrial and warehouse installations, as
well as low-cost housing, was cleared and
decontaminated in order to build the
venue for the Expo. Adjacent to the
venue, the intermodal Oriente station was
built to facilitate the flow of visitors to the
Jose A. Torres event. After the event, the venue took on a
Department of Geography, new role as a city park - the Parque das
University of Connecticut,
Storrs CT, 06269, USA Naroes or Park of Nations. The park
E-mail: includes attractions such as an oceanarium
jose.a.torres@uconn.edu and a science and discovery museum, an
pavilion for expositions, a casino,
restaurants, a cable-car ride, green spaces
and paved spaces for strolling and running.
Oriente station remains an intermodal
facility that links the Lisbon Metro (which
extended its Red Line to link the station
with a new stop at Lisbon International
Airport in 2012); urban, intercity and
international buses; commuter, interurban
and international rail services; as well as a
taxi stand and underground parking for
automobiles. Adjacent to the Park of
Nations there is a shopping mall, and there
are hotels, office and apartment buildings,
shops and restaurants, public facilities and
a campus for the Lisbon court system. The

© Henry Stewart Publications 1752-9638 (2016) Vol. 9, 3, 283-294 Journal of Urban Regeneration and Renewal 283
Torres

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Reproduced with permission from Turismo de Lisboa (2013), Lisbon, Portugal

Figure 1: Map of Lisbon with the Park of Nations zone identified

Park of Nations and its surrounding area
(Figure 1) have become what has been
identified by visitlisboa.com as a 'tourism
zone' 1 (Figure 2) .
The traditional tourism zones in
Lisbon, the central/ historical part of the
city, and the collection of monuments in
the Lisbon parish of Belem are now
complemented by a new tourism zone
which, instead of being a tou~ism enclave,
blends tourism with activities for locals
that are linked to leisure, recreation,
entertainment and ordinary urban
activities. Tourism is only one of many
functions that are carried out in this new
tourist zone. This blending of functions in
an urban space comprises the core of the
New Urbanism movement. While there is
no evidence that plann·e rs in Lisbon were
using New Urbanism to guide their
decision making, this study uses the
case-study method, taking observations
made by the author in the Park of Nations
zone and information obtained from
academic journals and online editions of
printed media, and evaluating the
observations and information within the
context of the Charter of New Urbanism's
main practices and the Charter's 'Canons
of sustainable architecture and urbanism'
in order to determine the effects that ideas
similar to those of New Urbanism have
had on the recently-developed Park of
Nations and its surrounding area in
Lisbon.
THEORY AND DEFINITION OF NEW
URBANISM
New Urbanism is a movement that
provides guidelines for the redevelopment
of urban and suburban land. With 'roots in

284 Journal of Urban Regeneration and Renewal Vol. 9, 3, 283-294 © Henry Stewart Publications 1752-9638 (2016)

Figure 2: Park of Nations zone
Source: Author
the neotraditional town planning of
Andres Duany and Elizabeth
Plater-Zyberk and influenced by the
transit-development concepts of Peter
Calthorpe, New Urbanism became
veritable gospel in the 1990s'2 (p. 73,
similarly stated by Knaap and Talen3) .
These two influences account for two
streams within New Urbanism. Duany and
Plater-Zyberk's stream is influenced by
traditional neighbourhood design (TND),
while transit-oriented development
(TOD) advocates for 'concentrated
development in nodes associated with
transit stations' (p. 74). 2 'TOD supports
urban infill and redevelopment
approaches' and it is preferred by
advocates of urban sustainability, while 'the
TND model works best with greenfield
development on new suburban sites' with
growth 'occurring at the urban edge'
(p. 74). 2
New Urbanism is a departure from
what had been the prevalent single- use
urban zoning laws and practices. With
New Urbanism, a city centre or core is
© Henry Stewart Publications 1752-9638 (2016) Vol. 9, 3, 283-294
New urbanism and the park nations zone in Lisbon
defined by space that can be considered
public. 4 Mixed-use zones are at the core
of New Urbanism, although mixed use
does not mean a random 'jumble of uses'
(p. 74). 2 It does mean a compatible
combination of spaces dedicated to
residential, commercial, institutional,
leisure and entertainment uses as well as
green spaces, all within a compact zone
that facilitates pedestrian displacement
and alternatives to automobile
transportation. 'The agenda of New
Urbanism is articulated in the Charter of
the Congress for the New Urbanism
(CNU) , founded in 1993 by a coalition of
architects, planners, and environmental
advocates' (p. 109). 3 The Charter of New
Urbanism's main practices advocate for
the following:5
• ' Neighborhoods that are diverse in use
and population':These neighbourhoods
should be compact and, with a mix of
uses within them, should encourage all
levels of interaction and liveliness, and
should house residents from all income
Journal of Urban Regeneration and Renewal 285
 levels. The public and private sectors
should be present in these
neighbourhoods.
• 'Designs that facilitate pedestrian traffic
and public transportation as well as
automobile traffic':These designs
account for many walkable areas that
are served by convenient access to
public transportation stops and facilities
that help to connect residents,
employees, shoppers and visitors with
their residences, businesses and service
providers, institutions, and open spaces
and parks.
• 'Neighborhoods should include public
spaces and public institutions': Leisure
and entertainment are among the uses
that should be given to land in the
neighbourhood, and public green and
park spaces should be available and
placed within a walkable distance
and/ or within easy reach of public
transportation.
• 'Architecture and landscape designs that
reflect local history, climate, ecology,
and building practice'.
The Charter also includes principles and
canons6 that help to provide more
guidelines for the main practices in the
Charter, and they provide other types of
guidelines as well. Below are the ones that
are relevant to this study which are not
directly linked to practices.
Principles
• For infill development or development
of marginal or abandoned areas, there
should be economic investment that
maintains the social fabric and
conserves environmental resources
(principle 4). , the reasons why city planners seek to be
• 'Development of underutilized,
poorly-developed, or already-developed
land, preferably infill areas' (canons, the
neighbourhood, town and city,
principle 2).
286 Journal of Urban Regeneration and Renewal Vol. 9, 3, 283-294
• Redevelopment of b~ownfields,
including decontamination (canons, the
neighbourhood, town and city,
principle 6).
• Sustainable practices should be
encouraged, such as the protection of
bodies of water (canons, the
neighbourhood, town and city, regions,
principle 7) and the use of renewable
energy sources (canons, building and
infrastructure, principle 7).
The fact that not all principles and canons
are listed here confirms this study does not
mean to state that the legacy of the
mega-event which was the Expo '98
World's Fair and the resulting Park of
Nations and its surrounding area -
labelled in this study as the Park of
Nations zone - is the result of
implementing all of the principles and
canons from the Charter for New
Urbanism. What this study seeks to do,
using the case-study method, is to
demonstrate that some New Urbanism
ideas, or ideas that are identical to them,
were indeed taken into account in the
planning process of what be.came the Park
of Nations zone and the implementation
of these ideas has resulted in the
emergence of a successful new downtown
as well as a successful new tourism zone in
Lisbon.
PRE- AND POST-EXPO '98
In terms of the literature and commentary
that were produced before Expo '98 took
place, as well as what has been produced
after the event, many topics that reflect
guidelines similar to those encouraged by
New Urbanism were discussed. Among
awarded the hosting of special events are
the regeneration of a city7- 9 and as an
investment in the tourist sector. 7 •8 •10
Lisbon applied to host Expo '98 in order
to commemorate in, 1998 'the 500th
@ Henry Stewart Publications 1752-9638 (2016)

anniversary ofVasco da Gama's discovery
of a sea route to India'. 11 By seeking to
host the ocean-themed Expo, 11 planners
sought to redevelop the eastern part of the
city, 12- 14 in order 'to strengthen the image
and competitiveness of the city' (p. 71), 13
'to integrate the eastern part of the city
into the Lisbon Metro area' (p. 74), 13 to
'alleviate the shortage of office and hotel
space' (p. 35) 12 and ' to re-establish a
relationship between the city and the
river' (p. 183) 15 by incorporating the
waterfront into the redevelopment plan. 14
The idea to organise Expo '98 first
emerged in 1989. In 1991 a bid
committee was formed, and Lisbon was
awarded the hosting of the Expo in
1992. 16 After the city was awarded the
mega-event, a brownfield site in
north-eastern Lisbon, 17 which had been
frequently described as a run-down
·
mdustnal ·
zone, J?-,13
· · 15·18-?0
- was chosen as
the site to decontaminate and redevelop,
first as the venue for the World's Fair,
Expo '98, and then as an urban park and
tourist attraction, now known as the Park
of Nations, with, around the perimeter of
the park, a new neighbourhood in Lisbon.
The redevelopment was done by a
public-private partnership operated by the
Parque Expo2O corporation. This
corporation operated as a private
enterprise, 16 but its stakeholders were 100
per cent public (Republic of Portugal,
99.78 per cent, and Camara Municipal de
Lisboa, 0.22 per cent). 21 After Expo '98,
Parque Expo organised events throughout
Portugal, as well as in places such as
southern Europe, the Balkan states,
Maghreb and Portuguese-speaking African
nations. 22 More recently, in 2014, it was
announced that, as planned earlier, no later
than 2016 the corporation would be
dissolved because of accumulated deficits
and because the goal of redevelopment of
the Park of Nations zone had been
. . - 21 ?3
ac hieved m its entirety. ·-
There were high expectations for how
© Henry Stewart Publications 1752-9638 (2016) Vol. 9, 3 , 283-294
New urbanism and the park nations zone in Lisbon
the area around the perimeter of the Park
of Nations would develop. Even before
the Expo took place, it was expected that
this area would develop buildings, facilities
and infrastructure that would facilitate a
multitude of uses within the zone, such as
residences, hotels, shopping and restaurant
facilities, leisure spaces, parks, offices,
hospitals, government facilities and
facilities in support of the tourism
"dustry. 15·171924-?S
m · · - The expectat10ns · came
true as the Park of Nations, as well as the
surrounding newly-developed area, termed
the Park of Nations zone, developed to
become what has been described as a 'new
city', 'new city core', 'new centre' and
'new downtown', in terms of the new
economic activity and foot traffic that has
developed. 14·20·26 ·29·30 Bacon stated that
the area has been described as an invented
city, which went from being an industrial
wasteland to being a futuristic
neighbourhood with spectacular
architecture. 19 It should be noted that, in
the literature and in the commentary
which discusses Lisbon's new downtown,
there is no mention of the emergence of
this new downtown as having come at the
expense of more-established city centres
elsewhere in Lisbon; however, the
Expo-related redevelopment was not
without controversy. Pereira and Nofre
make reference to the approximately
1,000 residents who were displaced in
order to redevelop this land. 20 The
residents in this run-down area lived in
low-cost housing. The forced relocation of
these residents was controversial, even in
spite of the fact that the cost of the
relocation was covered entirely by the
Portuguese Government, which
guaranteed that those who lived in
government-subsidised housing would
keep their housing subsidies.
Although Lisbon is located along the
northern bank of the Tagus River,
historically the city had very limited open
views of the river, mostly a stretch that in
Journal of Urban Regeneration and Renewal 287
Torres
length roughly equalled the width of
Comercio Square. One of the aims of the
development of the Park of Nations zone
was to open up the Tagus River frontage
. permanently. 141· s' 19Th.1s
an d preserve 1t
type of river frontage creation is an
integral part of the Park of Nations as it
dominates the views in the park. More
recently, the opening up of river frontage
has continued, specifically in central
Lisbon where the river frontage was
expanded from Comercio Square
westward. 31
The 1990s marked the beginning of a
'new urbanistic' mentality in Lisbon29 that
sought to create 'for lack of a better term,
a post-modern type of city' (p. 87). 26 In
the 1990s the Park of Nations zone was in
its planning stages and its development
was indeed an example of infill, TOD
rather than suburban TND. Accessibility to
public transport was guaranteed through a
well-developed transport system, with the
intermodal Oriente station included, and
planning for walk.ability was also an
integral part of the development of the
Park of Nations zone. 14 • 15 •24 •26-28 Along
the river, the Park of Nations is a
pedestrian-only strip. The first street that
runs parallel to the river which allows for
automobile traffic has four lanes, and the
next street over has eight lanes, 14· I ~- but
space for pedestrians is always available
regardless of the number of automobile
lanes that are available, making the Park of
Nations zone pedestrian-friendly. Two
studies28•29 have observed foot traffic in
and near the Park of Nations. Both studies
.point to significant pedestrian activity
throughout the day that seems to include
all age groups and all sectors of the
population, including locals and probably
tourists who make the Park of Nations
zone their home.
The literature and commentary on the
Park of Nations zone includes impressions
and interpretations of the architecture and
the zone in general. Santos sees this space
288 Journal of Urban Regeneration and Renewal Vol. 9, 3, 283-294
as being the product of urban marketing
and the production of culture. 32 Mendes
sees it as a post-modern city which is
identified by the importance of the service
sector over the manufacturing sector,
where leisure and tourism activities make
Lisbon competitive globally. 26 Others see
this zone as a city of make-believe, like a
movie or television show. The
discontinuity of the architecture with the
rest of the city has been criticised and seen
as taking value away from the
newly-developed zone. 26 Pereira and
Nofre explain that adjectives such as
'Disneyised', 'McDonaldised' and 'fantasy
city' have been used to describe the
development in and around the Park of
Nations. 20 The maritime/ naval theme,
with futuristic overtones, is very obvious
in the architecture and place names. This
type of thematic architecture helps to
provide an interpretation of the landscape,
but also helps to differentiate from other
waterfront developments elsewhere. The
zone is seen by some as a collection of
'entertainment and cultural venues,
businesses, stores and services take
advantage of this common rheme and
adapt it to their purposes to attract visitors
and most of all consumers' (p. 672). 20
The Park of Nations zone is not the
only manifestation of the type of urban
redevelopment that has been studied.
Taggart discusses urban regeneration along
the George Waterway in Victoria, British
Columbia, Canada.33 For the overall
development, Taggart explains that this
redevelopment 'seems destined to become
the kind of vibrant post-industrial
community which will draw people back
to the city' (p. 24). 33 Waterfront
redevelopment is described by Taggart as
being 'devoted to public uses, with retail
and recreational interspersed with public
parks' (p. 26),33 reflecting the multi-use
development encouraged by the New
Urbanism movement, which has taken
place in Lisbon mo~ recently. Taggart
© Henry Stewart Publications 1752-9638 (2016)
 New urbanism and the park nations zone in Lisbon
describes the architecture along the
George Waterway in a way that could also
be used to describe the architecture in the
Park of Nations zone.33 Rather than using
traditional ways of design, this
development in Victoria, BC has embraced
modern architectural features, shunning
the imitation of history or the
embellishment of features. This is an
expression of 'humane modernity'
(p. 26) .33
Chang and Huang provide a different
interpretation of riverside redevelopment
and the architecture that was used along
the Singapore River. 34 According to them,
development along the Singapore River
shuns local history and provides more of a
global appeal. They conclude that 'worldly
themes, not local history, enchant the
masses' who visit this redeveloped zone (p.
2093). 34 Locals love it, but visitors point
out that waterfronts are starting to look all
alike with their cafes and shops, and
attention-grabbing architecture.
DISCUSSION
Similarities with New Urbanism
Lisbon's Park of N ations is the anchor of a
zone which has gone from being an
industrial wasteland to being a thriving
new downtown and also a new tourism
zone. Although there is a limited number
of references that link the development of
the Park of Nations and its surrounding
area - the Park of N ations zone - to
N ew Urbanism ideas specifically, it is
evident that the development of the zone
has taken place utilising planning and
actions that reflect similarities with the
practices and canons which are part of the
C harter for N ew Urbanism and its
companion 'Canons of sustainable
architecture and urbanism' . The mixed- use
nature of the Park of N ations zone is its
most o utstanding feature. In the zone
there are residential spaces, offices, hotels,
© Henry Stewart Publications 1752-9638 (2016) Vol. 9, 3, 283-294 Journal
shops, restaurants and bars, hospitals,
schools, government buildings such as a
campus for Lisbon's court system, a casino,
an arena, exhibition halls, a museum, an
aquarium, an intermodal transportation
hub, parks and green spaces, and spaces for
leisure and walking/running activities.
New Urbanism guidelines call for a
diversity of functionalities within a
neighbourhood that facilitate the
transformation of that neighbourhood into
a micro-city within a city. This diversity of
functionalities is present in the Park of
Nations zone and accounts for its vibrancy
and its status of new downtown in an area
which, less than 20 years ago, was derelict
and run down.
Part of the success of the Park of
Nations zone as a new city centre is
explained by its walkability and TOD, as
witnessed by the author's fieldwork. The
area along the river, the Park of Nations
itself, is pedestrian-only. Running parallel
to the river and the Park of Nations, the
first street that is open to automobile
traffic forces traffic to move at a slow pace
by placing either steel poles on both sides
of the traffic lane, or steel poles on one
side and tall concrete blocks on the other.
This slow movement of automobile traffic
makes street crossings by pedestrians an
easy and safe endeavour. Something else
that can be seen is bicycle lanes that are of
the same width as automobile lanes. In
portions of the four-lane street, two of the
four lanes are restricted to bicycle traffic
only. In the closest parking spaces to the
park, only automobiles with electric
engines are allowed to park, and these
parking spaces are equipped with electric
engine-charging stations. Pedestrians walk
short distances to find public
transportation stops and the intermodal
transportation hub at Oriente station. This
hub connects nationwide and
international rail services, the commuter
rail service for the Lisbon region (three
stations in the Park of Nations zone3 5 ) ,
of Urban Regeneration and Renewal 289

Torres
Figure 3: Lisbon oceanarium, in the Park of Nations
Source: Author
nationwide and international bus services,
the bus service serving metropolitan
Lisbon (19 stops serving 13 different
routes 35), the Lisbon metro (three stops
serving one metro line35 ) which, as ofJuly
2012, connected to Lisbon International
Airport, providing the public with five
different modes of public transportation,
and a taxi stand, in addition to
underground automobile parking spaces.
The Park of Nations zone is walkable and
has access to public transportation within
the zone itself, but it is not just a feature
within an enclave. The zone is well
connected through public transportation
to the rest of the city of Lisbon and to
points beyond both near and far. This type
ofTOD has made the Park of Nations
zone a success story not only as a
self- contained neighbo~rhood, but also as
a point that links to other parts of the city
and to the rest of Portugal.
The Park of Nations itself, as the heart
of the zone, also reflects the New
Urbanism guidelines for public spaces that
include parklands, as well as landscape
290 Journal of Urban Regeneration and Renewal Vol. 9, 3,
-
design. The park includes green spaces
which are part of the space designed
exclusively for pedestrians, runners and
leisure bicycle riders. Space that provides
uninterrupted river frontage and views is
part of the design that incorporates and
enhances the existing local ecology and
helps to protect the environment,
including the body of water that has
helped to define and shape the city of
Lisbon.
The Park of Nations, along with its
surrounding neighbourhood, also has
become a new tourism zone, a fact that is
acknowledged by Turismo de Portugal. 1
Lisbon's two traditional tourism zones are
central Lisbon, where the city's oldest
neighbourhoods are located, and the
parish of Belem, where there is a cluster of
monuments and museums. The Park of
Nations has become Lisbon's third tourism
zone, and New Urbanism ideas have
helped to shape the park and its
surrounding area, and may account for its
high level of popularity. The park,
including its oceanarium (Figure 3) and
283- 294 © Henry Stewart Publications 1752-9638 (2016)

Figure 4: Oriente station
Source: Author
science and knowledge museum, is among
Lisbon's highest-ranked attractions for
those who participate in website forums
such as Trip Advisor. The intermodal
Oriente station (Figure 4) has been
identified as a well-regarded tourist
attraction, even though it was never
intended to be one. By following New
Urbanism guidelines, such as building a
zone which, instead of being an urban
tourist enclave, combines different
functions for locals and tourists alike and
allows for the interaction of tourists and
locals, the Park of Nations zone has been
able to become an important tourist
magnet, which has become very popular
due to its:
• ample and safe space for walking
• being within walking distance of
multiple modes of public transport
• green spaces and ample views of the
nver
• shops and leisure and entertainment
spaces that are easily accessible on foot
and by public transport
"' Henry Stewart Publications 1752-9638 (2016) Vol. 9, 3, 283- 294
- -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- -- - - -- -
New urbanism and the park nations zone in Lisbon
• tourist attractions within the park, and
• tourist infrastructure around the park.
Digressions from New Urbanism
guidelines
The residential spaces in the Park of
Nations zone were never meant to be a
set of options for all income levels. Free
market forces were allowed to prevail, and
the residents in the zone are
upper-middle class. This important
departure from New Urbanism guidelines
was planned from the very beginning of
the planning process which led to the
redevelopment of the Park of Nations
zone. The architecture that was developed
for the zone helped to achieve the goal of
a redevelopment which would appeal to
upper- middle- class people. In May 2014,
it was reported that the Park of Nations
was among the top three zones in Lisbon
in terms of rental costs per square metre
for residential units 36 and, in September
2014, it was reported that the zone had
the most expensive real estate for sale in
Journal of Urban Regeneration and Renewal 291
Torres
the city, also in terms of cost per square
metre. 37
The development of architecture in the
zone is also a departure from New
Urbanism goals. The labels of 'Disneyised' ,
'McDonaldised' and 'fantasy city', which
have been bestowed on the Park of
Nations zone, are not meant to be
flattering. They are meant to reflect
opinions of this zone which see it as
contrived, manufactured for the purpose
of consumption, and having low aesthetic
and social value, where street names, such
as Alameda dos Oceanos, Rua Caribe and
Avenida do Pacifico, also reflect the
architectural theme. New Urbanism values
would require the new development
around the Park of Nations to be either
an architectural extension of central
Lisbon, at least with the facades of the
buildings, with which the Park of Nations
does not have proximity or continuity, or
for the architecture to reflect the
traditional architecture of the zone before
it was redeveloped. The latter would mean
an integrated, multi-purpose zone in
which the architecture would resemble
the dominant type of architecture before
the zone was redeveloped, ie that of the
rundown industrial facilities which were
torn down. The zone does have two
themes: maritime and post-modernist
architecture. While some see this as a
manufactured identity meant for
consumption, the author interprets this
type of themed architecture as a tool for
zonal cohesion and identity, which would
help to achieve the New Urbanism goal
of an integrated neighbourhood. This type
of architecture and zonal cohesion, while
going against the designs of New
Urbanism, does facilitate the visualisation
of the neighbourhood as a· zone which,
among its many functions, is meant to
attract tourists.
The Park of Nations zone's importance
was recognised when, in a time when the
city of Lisbon was reducing the number of
292 Journal of Urban Regeneration and Renewal Vol. 9, 3, 283-294
its freguesias (city parishes or districts) from
53 to 24 through a process of
consolidation, the Park of Nations zone
became its own freguesia by separating the
zone from an existingfreguesia and
incorporating land from the neighbouring
municipality of Loures. 38 This recognition
was unforeseen by planners in Lisbon and
is not stated as a goal of New Urbanism.
CONCLUSION
Not all mega-events are the same, and not
all have the same kind of impact on host
cities. Recent Olympic events, such as the
2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia39
and the Summer Olympics in 2008 in
Beijing40 and 2004 in Athens, 4 1•42 have led
to a legacy of facilities which have been
abandoned and now may be in ruins. The
case of Lisbon's Park of Nations zone
presents a more favourable legacy for an
event like a World's Fair in terms of the
post-event state and use of the grounds
and structures. Although the development
of Lisbon's Park of Nations and its
surrounding area never claimed to be the
product of putting into praqice all of
New Urbanism's practices and canons, it is
evident that many of these practices and
canons were put into practice when that
area was targeted for redevelopment for
Expo '98 and beyond. The
implementation of these ideas that are
similar to those of New Urbanism has
provided the Park of Nations zone with
certain landscape, multi-use, social, and
pedestrian and transit-friendly
characteristics which have turned the zone
into a new downtown and a new tourism
zone in Lisbon without affecting
negatively other downtowns and other
tourist zones. This zone has developed not
only because of its inherent characteristics,
but also because of its connectivity and
integration with the rest of Lisbon and the
rest of Portugal, something which was
made possible by the .;idoption of these
© Henry Stewart Publications 1752-9638 (2016)

ideas in the planning process and in the
redevelopment of the neighbourhood.
These policies have helped to create spaces
and zones that are lively, attractive,
accessible, useful and convenient for the
needs and preferences of all types of
individuals and groups. These
neighbourhoods are vibrant and successful
because of what they have to offer to
residents, to the private and public sectors,
and to tourists.
The case study of the Park of Nations
zone in Lisbon shows the effects of the
implementation of New Urbanism
policies in a brownfield area that was
redeveloped after its buildings were
removed and it had been decontaminated.
New Urbanism provided an imprint for
what became a successful new downtown
in Lisbon. New Urbanism policies, or
policies identical to them, offer useful
guidelines for urban redevelopment, which
is the intention of those policies. An
intended consequence of the creation of
the Park of Nations and its surrounding
zone was that tourists were expected to
visit the zone, although it was impossible
to forecast the exact number of potential
tourists. What may have been an
unintended consequence of New
Urbanism is that its policies also proved to
be useful not only in attracting tourists,
but also in the creation of an entire new
urban tourism zone in a city as ancient as
Lisbon, Portugal. The Park of Nations
zone can be seen as an example of a
tourism zone which accommodates a
diversity of other functions for local
residents, and as a revitalised
neighbourhood that includes a set of
tourist attractions and facilities as one of
the many functions for which the restored
neighbourhood was planned. The blurring
of the distinction between a new
downtown and a new tourism zone in a
city like Lisbon, in part, was made possible
by the implementation of policies that
resemble those of New Urbanism. The
© Henry Stewart Publications 1752-9638 (2016) Vol. 9, 3, 283- 294
New urbanism and the park nations zone in Lisbon
development of the Park of Nations zone
may provide guidelines for future urban
redevelopment projects as well as for
future plans for development or growth in
the urban tourism sector in all kinds of
cities. The designation of the Park of
Nations zone as a new freguesia
demonstrates the success and the impact
that this type of urban renewal can have in
a city that is aggressively seeking to
regenerate its neighbourhoods.
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