Between the start of the financial crisis (2007-08) and the pandemic crisis (2020-), Lisbon was at its peak as a fashionable European tourist destination. During this period, in a singular concentration in the Portuguese capital, associations and other collectives proliferated as alternative spaces, overlapping political and cultural action. In this dossier, through a qualitative methodology of ethnographic nature, we show that these spaces form a model of urban development of their own. If, since the 1970s, alternative spaces have played a role in resisting gentrification in several western countries, the case of Lisbon stands out for its contrast with a national context of weak civic participation.

This dossier was presented at the XII Portuguese Congress of Sociology in March 2021, focusing on alternative spaces in Lisbon following the financial crisis of 2007-2008. Resulting from studies presented at the event, the dossier aims to compile and systematize knowledge about these spaces and their urban dynamics. Utilizing an ethnographic approach, the articles analyze resistance and the creation of bonds within communities. Targeted at both the academic community and the general public, it highlights the mutual influence between art, the city, and activism in non-profit organizations. The discussed alternative spaces are non-profit organizations that promote de-mercantilized sociabilities, present cultural agendas, and tend towards self-management. The dossier raises questions about the pattern of civic participation in Portugal and examines the relationship between these spaces and gentrification. Comprising four empirical articles from 2018 to 2020, the dossier records social diversity and analyzes alternatives amidst austerity