An iconic neighborhood in Porto’s city center: housing, people and urban change

Drawing on a sociological study of Porto’s Bouça neighborhood, this article advances understanding of contemporary social and residential transformations in city centers. The neighborhood’s central location is coupled with a set of distinctive traits that set it apart from mainstream city-center housing models, making it a particularly compelling case study. Bouça comprises a modern, homogeneous residential ensemble of medium size designed by a renowned architect and occupied at two different points in time and under contrasting institutional conditions, which together account for its heterogeneous social composition. The article’s aim is to examine the social transformations that reshaped the neighborhood, particularly after 2010: a period defined by far-reaching changes in Portuguese city centers and in the housing sector. The study draws on a quantitative methodology, anchored in a survey conducted in April 2023. Changes in Bouça reflect and amplify trends observed in major Portuguese cities: heightened residential mobility, a shift toward rental housing, and rising levels of educational attainment. Finally, the study identifies the coexistence of three social groups, each representing different moments in the urban and housing history of Portuguese cities, and of Porto in particular: the SAAL Protagonists and Heirs, the Housing Boomers, and the In Transition group.