A place for international students sociability: The Erasmus Corner

What is it about?

Nightlife economic activity has emerged as a key strategy in the regeneration of historical quarters. The case of the Bairro Alto district (Lisbon) exhibits a more gradual and distinct development caused by the marginal and transgressive practices of nightlife visitors, who have resisted its gentrification for decades. Some areas in the Bairro Alto (specially the upper side) have maintained their dangerous character and marginalisation for several years, even after the 2008 urban reform programme. It is only recently, with the growing presence of Erasmus students in Bairro Alto, that the upper side has finally become safe and sanitised through leisure activities. In this article, the interplay of several social actors (foreign students, municipal authorities, night-time entrepreneurs and Erasmus organisers) explains the process of place-making regarding the new Erasmus Corner. The spatial colonisation of this spot has accelerated social cleansing of the upper side of the neighbourhood, concluding the district’s night-time pacification.

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Why is it important?

This article shows how this historical neighbourhood (Bairro Alto), which had generally been associated with squalor and marginal populations, has recently been converted into a socially sanitised nightlife area. Erasmus students have become the ideal visitors and consumers for the Bairro Alto via the transformation of the Erasmus Corner into one of the most important points of commercialisation and mass participation in Lisbon’s nightlife. Colonisation of the new space, located in a street area of no more than 150 square metres, was achieved through the massive arrival of a transnational, middle-class population of young people in a formerly dangerous area, seeking their own place of representation and consumption. In particular, the historical interplay of several actors and practices appears to be forcing the end of the Bairro Alto’s upper urban frontier, and consequently transformation of the micro-local urban economy: (1) Erasmus students’ consumption habits; (2) the CML strategy for sanitation of the Bairro Alto; and (3) the entrepreneurship of specific bars and Erasmus organisations. After some time of daily consumption in this particular space, exhibiting their distinct lifestyles and patterns of socialisation, this new population conquered the area, sanitising the social environment and favouring gentrification of the Bairro Alto’s nightlife.

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