The motto “Sea and Horizon” of the Desenlata festival (for which this work has been made) reminded me of an optimistic/sexy slogan of a real estate company wanting to attract new residents and businesses to a once desolated or run-down area. The festival takes place in a neighbourhood of Porto where the can-factories used to be.
Porto, like so many other cities in the world faces gentrification – the process of displacing an existing community by wealthier newcomers. Pivotal for this process are real estate companies (of which there are too many in Porto to fit all their logos on the surfboard) and corporations such as Starbucks and Ikea which contribute to an area’s attractiveness. More and more wealthier customers arrive, which increases the average income and in turn raise the overall living costs and rent prices. In the end local stores will have to leave their own neighbourhood as well as long term poorer residents who cannot afford living there anymore – the neighbourhood has been “renewed”.
Photo credit: Angelina Pereira and Desenlata Festival
~ Desenlata Festival – Porto – Portugal ~
