The concomitant processes of gentrification and touristification and the impact on the identity ecosystem of historic centers - the case study of the Historic Center of Santarém

The purpose of this study is to reflect on an ongoing experience of gentrification and touristification and to problematize the importance of the State, in its institutions, in guiding the process, particularly with regard to public policies to encourage tourism and the rehabilitation of residential, commercial and heritage buildings as a development strategy, but also as a way to resolve (in the case study) the desertification and degradation of the historic centre. In Santarém, the central urban centres have registered a diachronic degradation of buildings, which has led to the perception of the gradual abandonment of upper-class inhabitants and the gradual occupation of buildings by the population, with fewer resources and aging, with an understanding of neighbourhood that is based on mutual help of the relationships of basic social cells (family and close friends) and constitutes a form of social cohesion. There is now a slow rehabilitation of housing and the proliferation of buildings converted into local accommodation. Methodologically, our study focuses on the way in which the processes, concomitantly, are taking place, in the research and analysis of demographic data, regarding mobility in the historic centre, the analysis of urban policies and directives and the impact on the identity ecosystem.