Abstract
ABSTRACT A program to support historical shops was recently created in Lisbon; called ‘Lojas com História’, it was later extended to other cities in the country. This paper shows the changes in public policy towards retail in Portugal where one finds an evolution from purely government regulation to a policing context aiming to strengthen competition between businesses, which endowed the sector with a growing role both in city policy and planning, and competition between cities. The evolution of policies reflects an increased focus on place with a shift from the support to commercial units, to strengthen their competitiveness, to their valorisation in the context of competition between cities. On the other hand, it is argued that this evolution is linked to the reinforcement of entrepreneurship in urban management. After recalling the social and spatial functions of retail and the changes in policies towards retail, we present the program and some characteristics of the shops covered by this program in Lisbon, followed by a first review and considerations on the challenges it brings.
Highlights
In recent years there has been a movement to protect the historical shops in Portugal
A program to support historical shops was recently created in Lisbon; called ‘Lojas com História’, it was later extended to other cities in the country
This paper shows the changes in public policy towards retail in Portugal where one finds an evolution from purely government regulation to a policing context aiming to strengthen competition between businesses, which endowed the sector with a growing role both in city policy and planning, and competition between cities
Summary
In recent years there has been a movement to protect the historical shops in Portugal. Public policy became reactive both through the licencing of superstores and shopping centres and their functioning, and the development of EU funded programs towards supporting the modernization of traditional independent retailers (Cachinho and Barata-Salgueiro 2016).
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