The Concept of "Icon Streets" on the Basis of Lisbon Downtown

Abstract

The main objective of the article is to enrich the current discussion on “place icons” through a case study of the Lisbon street “Rua da Madalena” and its architecture illustrating the integrated design and marketing concept adopted by the whole city. The paper presents the interdisciplinary approach using significant contribution from the fields of tourism, business, history and memory of the past. The article argues that modern cities need the “icon streets” that are basing on the social innovation policy, branding concepts, architectural theory and practice. Moreover, the paper presents how an integrated design strategy is practically applied in Lisbon downtown, and how it can contribute to the successful promotion of the city. Throughout this research, there is used the direct reference into both tangible and intangible cultural heritage, in terms of renewing the old city street on the basis of the unique brand strategy, the historical perspective that should characterized the street and up-to-date marketing concepts. The case study of Lisbon downtown provides the example of such the integrated strategy that can be easily adopted by other cities to improve their images and increase both economic and social potential by attracting tourists and media interest.