Lisbon City Council wants to have stores with doors open to the street and with different activities in the municipal districts. To this end, and in order to systematize rules and processes, it has drawn up a regulation. The document is up for public consultation until July 2.
The first floor is crucial in the active life of a city. The dialogue between stores and services and the street makes for lively and dynamic neighborhoods. These interactions not only encourage pedestrian traffic, but also foster a sense of community and securityThis is because the constant presence of people on the street and commercial activity reduces the feeling of abandonment. In addition, the diversity of establishments on the first floor, such as cafés, convenience stores, pharmacies and restaurants, contributes to the convenience of residents and visitors, making the area more attractive to live in and visit. The role of the first floors in the urban economy is also significant, generating local jobs and boosting the region's economy.
For these reasons and more, Lisbon City Council is preparing a new Regulations for the Allocation and Management of Non-Housing Spaces in Municipal Neighborhoods in the Municipality of Lisbon. The municipality's aim is to have stores of various activities open to the street in the neighborhoods under its jurisdiction. "We want to have lively neighborhoods with stores for all kinds of activities, with open doors and that have a relationship with the city, leading people to visit them. The idea is that they maintain a relationship with the community and are visited by everyone", said the Councillor for Housing, Filipa Roseta, to the newspaper Público.
Most spaces occupied by social organizations
Lisbon City Council owns more than a thousand non-residential spaces in the municipal districts. Of these 1,356 spaces, 1,055 are occupied, with 301 unoccupied - of these 122 are occupied abusively, 179 are actually vacant. Of the spaces occupied abusively, the municipality has already managed to vacate 40. Of the occupied spaces, 48% are used by social organizations, while only 18% are used for commercial activities. In addition, 6% of the spaces are used by cultural organizations, 5% by sports organizations and 3% by recreational organizations. The remaining 20% are used for other types of activities, according to the municipality.
So far, the stores in municipal districts have been handed over through protocols or deeds of transfer, mainly to non-profit organizations. In other words, there was no document with clear and uniform rules. This is what we want to change. The new regulation is the result not only of "evaluation of results" of each of the programs and models tested, but also of the gathering and compatibility of "scattered deliberations, rules and principles". The idea is to have an "only instrument" and guarantee "a convergence of procedures that makes it possible to adopt transparent management practices" of non-housing spaces in Lisbon's social housing estates.
This Regulation - which has already been approved by the City Council and will now be made available for public consultation - is also intended to be "an instrument for attracting new and different activities, both commercial and non-commercial, thus contributing to the dynamization of the municipal districts, as well as local services, assuming as a principle the strengthening of the local economy and, at the same time, making it possible to respond to the aspirations of the people who live there"This can be read in the explanatory note accompanying the new document.
"When allocating space for non-profit activities, attention is paid to the need to promote support for the community in general and the most vulnerable groups in particular, while also prioritizing participation, the involvement of the local population and socio-territorial cohesion. When allocating space for profit-making activities or commercial activities, the allocation procedure focuses on promoting local employability and opportunities for professional integration, assessing the relevance of the business project to the neighborhood."is also mentioned.
Diversifying activities and attracting trade
The new Regulations for the Allocation and Management of Non-Housing Spaces in Municipal Neighborhoods Lisbon defines the requirements for those wishing to apply for these spaces and the criteria used to decide who receives the allocation, and seeks to safeguard the municipal interest - In other words, to strengthen life in the municipal districts with local stores offering various activities that develop the economy and create local jobs. At the bureaucratic level, the council wants to see greater celebrity and simplification both in the tenders and in the allocation of spaces, in order to reduce the number of empty stores or the time they are unoccupied.
Diversity of occupation is a key point in the new regulations, with the aim of attracting commercial activities such as cafés, mini-markets, clothes stores, hairdressers, pharmacies, stationery stores, dry cleaners, clothes stores and florists, providing a diversified offer in each street. The entities will be able to count on very low rents in relation to those generally practiced on the market. In fact commercial spaces benefit from an exemption of 50% for the first five years, enhancing the establishment and establishment of the business, while non-commercial associative spaces benefit from an exemption of 95%.
Lisbon City Council recognizes the importance of non-profit organizations that are resident in many of its areas and that play an important social and community role in the municipal districts, but often these organizations operate, by their nature, in closed-door spaces. "What's needed are institutions or stores that always have their doors open, to have a relationship with the city and the people"Filipa Roseta told Público. "Our neighborhoods are more than just housing. They have to have life. And for that to happen, it's essential to have this diversity of activities. Creating this mix is fundamental, it's an important dimension of local development."
Public participation until the beginning of July
O Regulations for the Allocation and Management of Non-Housing Spaces in Municipal Neighborhoods was approved on May 8, at a public meeting of the Executive, with the favorable votes of the coalition New Times (PSD/CDS) and PS, and the abstention of Livre, Cidadãos Por Lisboa (CPL), PCP and BE. "Above all, we want to put the non-residential spaces in order and have transparent tenders so that everyone can compete with their commercial activities, so that we can have a city that not only provides housing, but also everything else: that provides commerce, economic activity, employability."explained the Councillor for Housing to her colleagues on the council executive. During the discussion of the proposal and the Regulation attached to it, the left-wing parties expressed doubts about the rules and effectiveness of this document.
O Regulations for the Allocation and Management of Non-Housing Spaces in Municipal Neighborhoods is in public consultation until July 2nd on the municipality's website. Anyone can read the document and make criticisms and suggestions to dmhdl.ddl@cm-lisboa.pt .
