Scope & Objectives

The Governance, Public policies and housing group (GPH) research focuses on the relationship between contemporary processes of urban governance and the dynamics of social, economic and political transformations. Its aim is to understand and to contribute to the creation of transformative collective capacities, based on the values of equity, solidarity and spatial justice.

Governance: Exploring critically the relations and tensions between the various strategic agendas, policy instruments and actors, the factors that promote or inhibit the articulation of policies, and its scalar dimensions, with a special attention to innovative forms of participation, social mobilisation and co-creation.

Public policies: Developing theories and methodologies for the evaluation of public policies with a strong territorial impact. It analyses the processes of knowledge production, policy mobilities and collective learning, at different scales and in different geographical contexts. Current policy analysis include heritage and urban regeneration, migration and social cohesion, energy transition, and regional development and shrinkage.

Housing: Studying the dynamics of housing and welfare systems, the role of local and national housing strategies, and the interplay between housing, real estate investment and planning.

Research Team

• Integrated Researchers with PhD - Paulo Conceição (coordinator), Cecília Rocha, Emília Malcata-Rebelo, Fernanda Sousa, Isabel Breda-Vázquez, Isabel Coimbra, Luísa Batista, Miguel Branco Teixeira, Miguel Graça, Sílvia Sousa

• PhD Students - Diana Silva, Jorge Rios, Nicolás Artaza

• Collaborating Researchers - Fanny Augis, Filipe Cruz, Paula Ramos

Financial Support

• European Union Foundation for Science and Technology
• Fundação Ciência e Tecnologia
• Faculty of Engineering of the University of Oporto / Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto
• AICCOPN
• Domus Social

Laboratory Facilities

• Territory Planning and Transport Laboratory - GIS Unit

Main Contributions

Current Research Projects

• 2.44 - Participatory Local Plans for the Integration of Migrants: Learning from best practices and building bridges between U.S. and Portugal
• 2.45 - Habit:AÇÃO | Housing. Territorial identification of social vulnerability and unworthy housing

Previous Research Projects

• 2.1 - The Construction of Urban Regeneration Policies: Analysis, Evaluations and Recommendations in Selected Urban Areas
• 2.2 - Evaluating the Compatibility of Local Land-Use Planning: An Analysis in the Metropolitan Area of Porto
• 2.3 - The Impacts of Urban Public Transport in the Urban Development of Metropolitan Area Porto
• 2.4 - PRECO (Permanent Regional Cooperation) - Development of a Global Data System on Land Use and Transport Integration
• 2.6 - Strategic Study for Urban Renewal Interventions in Central Porto
• 2.7 - Urban and Housing Policies in Portugal
• 2.8 - Urban Policies, Integrated Projects and New Modes of Governance
• 2.9 - Urbact - Partners4action
• 2.10 - International Universities as Developers
• 2.13 - PPP & Urban Regeneration
• 2.14 - Urban Policy Evaluation in the Porto Metropolitan Area: The New Information Requirements
• 2.15 - Urban Policies Evaluation and Collective Learning: a Methodology
• 2.16 - Patterns of Urban Disadvantage and Urban Regeneration Policies
• 2.17 - Social Justice as a Guide to Planning Practice: Criteria for Plan Evaluation
• 2.18 - Urban Policies, Creativity and Cohesion: The Case of Porto City-Region
• 2.21 - Governance Models in Urban Regeneration
• 2.22 - Spatial Patterns of Urban Disadvantage
• 2.23 - Metropolitan and Inter-Municipal Governance and Territorial Policies: Towards Increased Institutional Innovation?
• 2.24 - Diversity and Specificity: The Spatial Contexts of Creativity of Porto Metropolitan Region, Portugal
• 2.25 - Urban Rehabilitation Market in Portugal: A Prospective Study and a Good Practice Guide
• 2.26 - Sub-Standard Housing in Oporto: The Case of “ilhas”
• 2.29 - Assessment of Rehousing Needs in the Municipality of Porto
• 2.30 - RE-CITY ITN
• 2.31 - AtlaS-WH - Heritage in the Atlantic Area: Sustainability of the Urban World Heritage Sites
• 2.32 - Social Green
• 2.33 - Urban Rehabilitation Market Study

Current PhD Projects

• 2.40 - In Search of Housing: From Europeanization of Housing Politics to Local Responses to the Housing Question
• 2.42 - Coastal Planning. Comparative Analysis and Recommendations for the Spatial Planning System in Chile
• 2.46 - Governança das Periferias Metropolitanas e a Participação Não Eleitoral: O Papel da 'Estrutura de Oportunidades Políticas’

Previous PhD Projects

• 2.5 - Models of Production and Management of Social Housing
• 2.11 - Integrating ICT's and Planning: The Role of the Planner's Culture
• 2.12 - Territorial Policies and Institutional Innovation: The Case of Inter-Municipal Cooperation
• 2.19 - Rehabilitation of Built Heritage: Minimal and Differentiated Intervention as a Methodology
• 2.20 - The Involvement of Children and Young People in a Participative Land Use Management Model for the Local Level
• 2.27 - Local Knowledge in Spatial Policies: The Role of Spatial Data Processing Tools
• 2.28 - Mobilisation and Mutation of Urban Policies: (Extra)local Circuits and Relational Variety
• 2.34 - Institutions and Indicators in "Monitoring and Evaluation" in Territorial Planning
• 2.35 - Processes of change in central urban areas: tourism and creative activities in the center of Porto
• 2.37 - Urban Development Instruments in a context of increasing Financialization: The case of Urban Partnership Operations in Brazil
• 2.38 - Correcting the lens that observes and understands the phenomenon of urban informality: a theory-based evaluation of the land regularization program
• 2.39 - Social housing, urban shrinkage and infrastructure: analysis of a social housing approach in two medium-sized shrinking cities in France (Le Creusot and Montluçon)
• 2.43 - Low-Intensity Insurgent Governance in the Global South: a decolonial alternative to post-democracy