The PhD Project aims to research contemporary urban processes of territorial inequality. Taking into account a set of territories in Lisbon Metropolitan Area where social, economic, environmental or institutional expulsions occur, we expect to identify the influence of 1) political and economic agendas (national and international), 2) actors (public, private, collective), 3) systems of planning and governance and 4) practices of knowledge production, in the replication of territorial peripheries. The purpose is to establish clues for the definition of a new research framework that allows mapping high geographic definition; typologies of territories that denounce geographical differences, deficits and deprivations (social, economic, environmental, institutional), clarifying the causes of their marginalization in time , identifying the present and future risks to which they are subjected and establishing possible ways for an effective approximation between communities needs and urban planning systems / policies.

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Link to DINÂMIA'CET-IUL identifying mission:

 

The research fits naturally into the scientific identity of D'C, crossing the research axis Cities and Territories with the Governance, Economy and Society axis. It proposes a critical reading of the AML's territory, taking into account its diversity in terms of socio-spatial, environmental, economic or institutional inequality / vulnerability, crossing this contributions with the need to respond to emerging global challenges (political, cultural, technological etc.). It intends to analyze these dynamics taking into account issues related to the way statistical information is produced and made available resulting in visibilities or invisibilities, how research methodologies and knowledge production can expand or hinder our territorial comprehension, and the way planning instruments, governance practices and public policies may promote or reverse inequality processes . It also intends to adopt a holistic view about the role of diverse actors (public, private, collective) in the processes of urban transformation. Mix-methods and an interdisciplinary approach are being used throughout the research.