O Espaço Público e o Turismo – Identidade e Cenário em Duas Praças da Cidade do Porto
Jorge Ricardo Pinto 
1
1 ISCET – High Institute of Business and Tourism Sciences, Porto, Portugal
To cite this text:
Pinto, J. R. (2009), O Espaço Público e o Turismo – Identidade e Cenário em Duas Praças da Cidade do Porto, Percursos & Ideias, Vol. 1, pp. 145-152.
Abstract
With the increasing demographical, economical and social loss that the centre of the cities has been facing and the consequent growth of the suburban/ peripherical areas, the urban forms of the past and the central public space have been unavoidably questioned by its supposed inappropriateness to the contemporaneous reality. Through an approach of urban sustainability and facing the new opportunities of the post-modern society combined with the increasing numbers of urban tourism, this article aims to discuss the role of the urban forms inherited from the past, shaped throughout centuries by old uses, habits and practices, now disappearing or changing drastically due to the profound social, economical and technological changes that, since the late nineteenth century, have become a reality.
Keywords
Cities, Downtown, Public space, Urban tourism, Identity.