A factory for unicorns: continuous and flexible repurposing in Lisbon’s digital era

Abstract Hub Criativo do Beato is an infrastructure targeted at digital innovation in the city of Lisbon, Portugal, that has been constituted, since 2016, through a process that I call continuous and flexible repurposing of an old military-industrial complex. I also understand it as an anchor for urban rehabilitation and as a representation apparatus for a city that competes internationally to attract capital in the context of the global rise of the digital economy. A multiplicity of ideas, experiments, and openness to change and adaptations guide its projects. The article seeks to critically understand the connections between urban production and the digital economy. This case study derives from qualitative research of an explanatory--interpretive nature based on grounded theory.