Sustainable Human Environment: Mouraria, Local Color and Sense of Place of a Historical Lisbon Neighbourhood

Abstract

At present time, many urban centres of European cities are losing their historical and socio-cultural identity due to ageing populations and a significant increase in tourism. If, on the one hand, there are many cases of revitalisation of the economic activity of these contexts, all very service focused, on the other hand, the network of human relations has become very fragile or non-existent. This has a significant impact on the wellbeing of remaining residents. For the new generation of dwellers and tourists, as a result, these neighbourhoods are less significant from a cultural and symbolic perspective. Adding to these arguments, in rehabilitation processes, chromatic proposals for neighbourhoods often are aimed at establishing or maintaining the architectural identity of the place. This type of colour research suggests that heterogeneity and unity of colours can contribute to cultural identity. Colour proposals often aim at increasing actual liveability and wellbeing of the users of the public space of the area under scrutiny. Yet, relatively little is known about how residents can use the colours of their neighbourhood to strengthen their own sense of place particularly when the area is under pressure from the tourism industry. This paper will address this research topic and present, in an initial phase, the methodology, some collected data and conclusions of a case study in Mouraria, a historical Lisbon neighbourhood.