“Want to know where a great place to invest in real estate will be in 5 or 10 years from now? Look at where artists are living now” — Oporto study case
Regarding the publication made in November 2007 and published in April 2009 by Richard Florida and Charlotta Mellander entitled “There goes the metro: how and why bohemians, artists and gays affect regional housing values”, I would like to comment on the contribution that I believe this population had in the requalification and urban rehabilitation of the center of Porto.
First, it is important to point out that the authors came to the conclusion that, in fact, the artists, bohemian and gay population had an impact on the price of regional real estate at two levels:
- Supply-side: Signage and production of amenities (“urban aesthetic or premium amenity”) — a great contribution to the creation of amenities (theaters, bars, art exhibitions, etc);
- Demand-side: Openness and culture of tolerance (“urban tolerance and open culture premium”) — a great contribution to the culture of reducing barriers to the entry of human capital, attracting talent, promoting economies of sharing knowledge and resources and facilitating entrepreneurial activities.
The study of the impact of these populations was carried out by creating the “The Bohemian-Gay Index”, which consists of relating two concepts: urban gentrification and the quantitive study of metropolitan areas. Thus, the index works as a proxy for the two mechanisms in question (controlling for variables such as income, wages, scale and human capital).
Regarding the impact on the housing market price, the study confirms that there is a direct relation with other variables, especially income, indicating an additional indirect effect on the housing market value. The study clearly demonstrates that the influence of the bohemian-artists and gay population operates independently of the other factors, as well as in combination.
Porto study-case
The central theme is that culture, bohemian life and parties become fundamental parts of the daily lives of populations, integrating their lives and being influenced by theme. In turn, this daily life has the ability to position itself as a social producer, exposing itself as a transformer of cities into mercantile machines. In this sense, the night creates an opportunity to double the economy of a city by occupying it territorially and managing it socially.
It is thus a fact that the party, the bohemian and gay population as consumers and creators of these trends play a role in the re-launch of urban economies.
In the case of Porto, it was in the downtown area, known as “Baixa”, that this effect was most evident, emerging a bourgeoisie that discovers leisure and maintains an ambivalent relationship with the so-called “minority populations”, which boosted the city with the occupation of vacant buildings, the creation of cultural amenities and the occupation of areas that were previously degraded and, as was the case of R. Flores for example, even dangerous.
The “revitalizing” posture of the Baixa assumed by SRU-Porto Vivo, a “brand” created by the Porto City Council, under the tutelage of Mr. President Rui Rio, is essentially aimed at city users, with emphasis on the figure of the tourist and all gentrifying actors, such as the gay, artists and bohemian population.
Proof of these events was the revaluation felt in the currently designated Bairro das Artes, located on R. Miguel Bombarda, and the (re)affirmation of culture in the city as a booster of the economy. There is even a “Miguel Bombarda effect” (Grande, 2008; Fortuna and Rodrigues, 2011) which is characterized as a cultural amplification effect that, along with Casa da Música and Serralves, forms the three pillars of the cultural city which is Porto. This cultural environment largely promoted by the artist population led, therefore, to the creation of good restaurants and bars to support the life that was felt in these locations.
In fact, a reclassified area that has contributed to a great evolution of the urban economy is the so-called “Galerias de Paris” area, where buildings were reclassified as restaurants, bars and nightclubs and today is positioned as a central figure in Porto’s nightlife.
However, this contribution of these populations was not only felt in the creation of cultural friendships, as practically proportionally but there also was a huge growth of co-working spaces, in which they tried to increase the capacity for sharing between professionals and from where entrepreneurial ideas and businesses emerged. These sharing economies were also what allowed the city of Porto to convert old buildings into co-working spaces.
This trend required the creation of residential offers for these workers who wanted to enjoy a life where as soon as they had finished working they had the opportunity to socialize and without much need to use their own car.
All these phenomena strongly contributed to a real estate appreciation in this central area of the city of Porto. This population returned to the center, returned to the bohemian life, returned to pleasure. This led to the recreation of the center, the recreation of the bohemian offer, and access to pleasure in the city was reinvigorated. The phenomenon exposed, brought the value of Porto’s real estate to a level that reasserted itself with a large part of European cities.
