From Industry to Creativity and the Arts: Cultural trend analysis in the reconfiguration and cultural management of industrial spaces in Lisbon

Abstract

This paper explores the transformation of former urban industrial heritage sites in Lisbon into creative ecosystems, considering the major cultural trends and mindsets that are changing the city. We analyze the current dynamics, projects, and nature of these new sites and how they have been impacted by sociocultural changes, while highlighting their base heritage. Based on a cultural triangulation, our results point to a big impact of cultural trends in the development of creative communities in former industrial heritage sites, mainly in terms of identity projects, the creation of stories, co-creation dynamics and exchange of knowledge for innovative solutions. This article contributes with a new perspective on Lisbon’s creative network; an understanding of the role of heritage in the reconfiguration of industrial sites into creative communities; offers a methodological framework to advance research on trend analysis in an applied setting of cultural and creative spaces, providing an audit tool of their nature, projects, and dynamics.