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“Creative cities” and “artistic neighborhoods” have become regular concepts within hegemonic narratives and practices related to centralized urban revitalization processes. Creativity is now sold as a symbol of status and the “creative city” has become a widespread trend common to contemporary cities. At the same time, artists and social movements use art and culture as an instrument of resistance, change and transformation of social relations, implementing in their practices the criticism of the neoliberal city. This paper discusses the links between (i) neoliberal culture-led revitalization strategies; (ii) artists and community groups; and (iii) gentrification. We show that in a free-market context, bottom-up artistic initiatives revalorize areas and the resulting increase in property values are appropriated by private investors, accelerating a process of gentrification., Les « villes créatives » et les « quartiers artistiques » sont devenus des concepts courants au sein de récits et de pratiques hégémoniques liés aux processus de revitalisation urbaine centralisés. La créativité est maintenant vendue comme le symbole d’un statut et la « ville créative » est devenue une tendance répandue commune aux villes contemporaines. Parallèlement, les artistes et les mouvements sociaux utilisent l’art et la culture comme un instrument de résistance, de changement et de transformation des relations sociales, mettant en œuvre dans leurs pratiques la critique de la ville néolibérale. Cet article examine les liens entre (i) les stratégies de revitalisation par le biais de politiques culturelles; (ii) les artistes et groupes communautaires; et (iii) la gentrification. Nous montrons que dans un contexte de libre marché, les initiatives artistiques ascendantes (bottom-up) revalorisent des zones et que l’augmentation de la valeur de la propriété qui en résulte est appropriée par les investisseurs privés, ce qui accélère le processus de gentrification.

A arte, a cultura e a criatividade são, atualmente, vendidas como um símbolo de status e passaram a fazer parte de narrativas e práticas hegemónicas relacionadas com processos de regeneração. Neste artigo, examinamos as contradições e as tensões entre a implementação de políticas públicas de regeneração urbana e a emergência de espaços alternativos culturais e artísticos, utilizando como estudo de caso o Largo do Intendente. Utilizando uma perspetiva crítica e métodos cruzados (entrevistas, observação e registo etnográfico), analisámos o papel das artes e da cultura no processo de gentrificação promovido pelas políticas públicas. Num momento de rápidas mudanças, onde os mesmos modelos são usados em diversas cidades por todo o mundo, importa continuar a acompanhar e a perceber o modo como na cidade de Lisboa estes processos se manifestam., Arts, culture and creativity are currently sold as a symbol of status and have become part of hegemonic narratives and practices related to regeneration processes. In this article, we examine the contradictions and tensions between the implementation of urban regeneration public policies and the emergence of cultural and artistic alternative spaces, using as case study the Intendente Square. Using a critical perspective and cross methods (interviews, observation and ethnographic record), we analyzed the role of arts and culture in the gentrification process promoted by public policies. In a time of rapid change, where the same models are used in several cities around the world, it is important to follow and understand the way these processes manifest themselves in Lisbon.