Lisbon. Livable Cities
Cities, Culture, People & Place

Instituto Universitário de Lisboa
Event Date: July 9-11, 2025
Abstract Date: December 10, 2024
July 2025
An international & interdisciplinary conference on the issues affecting the ways we live in our cities.
Lisbon Livable Cities: Culture, People & Place. Part of the Livable Cities Series 2025

Call

Lisbon, the capital of Portugal has increasingly become a ‘mecca’ for European expats wishing to relocate. Attracted by sun, beaches, food, culture and a low cost of living, it has been ranked as the world’s third most livable city for foreigners. Inevitably, the results of this have been varied. Seen as a boost to the local economy, it also adds to property prices. It places strain on public services like health and transport, and is criticized repeatedly from a social sustainability standpoint.

Livable for many then, Lisbon is also a city of challenges for others. Like a multitude of other places across Europe, it has experienced epochs of deindustrialization, periods of population growth and decline, and varied phases of investment and disinvestment. It has had architectural and urban ‘golden ages’, as well as times of abandonment and degeneration. It has seen attempts at city boosterism, concerns about resilience and public health, efforts to improve its sustainability, and attempts to preserve its heritage. It has been a site of innovations in housing, and a place of social unrest.

In all this it is prototypical – a city that has documented the social and urban changes of recent times – whether they be Daniel Bell’s post-industrial society, Jane Jacob’s life and death of cities, or David Harvey’s city and social justice. It has echoed Richard Florida’s cultural city and reflects the traits of the smart city. It is the home of UNESCO world heritage sites and a place where public transport can be, and is, complicated and slow. It is a city and, as such, is contested.

Interested in examining the city as a site of livability across times and places, this conference uses the host city as a point of departure for examining the varied issues at play when we think about livability:

Architecture, urban planning, social integration, community participation, housing, public health, smart city technology, sustainability, resilience, transport, urban economics, heritage, the arts and cultural sectors, and more. Themes are varied and reflect the diversity of perspectives offered by international and interdisciplinary scholars on the notion of the ‘livable’.


 

Themes include, but are not limited to:

Urban identity, culture and communities | Architecture, design, planning and context| Public health and wellbeing | Urban regeneration and economic prosperity | Sustainability and resilience | Human geography and urban migration | Critical sociology and the urban experience | Cultural policy and arts management | Communities, participation and representation | Landscape design, art and placemaking | Heritage, conservation and tourism | Intelligent cities and smart urbanism | Transport, mobility and infrastructure | Social justice, accessibility and inclusive design.

Image: Colin Lloyd

Disciplines

  • Urban Planning
  • Sustainability
  • Architecture
  • Sociology
  • Human Geography
  • Transport
  • Art
  • Landscape Architecture
  • Media Studies
  • Sociology
  • Communications
  • Digital Design
  • Humanities
  • Public Health
  • Community Studies
  • Design
  • Urban Economics
  • Cultural Studies
  • Public Services
  • Creative Industries
  • Tourism
  • Heritage

Key Dates

Abstracts (Round 1)
10 December 2024
Feedback
5 January 2025
Conference
9-11 July 2025
Full Paper Submissions
05 September 2025
Full Paper Resubmissions
10 January 2026
Publications
01 April 2026

Themes

Architecture, Landscape & Urban Design
Design, placemaking, planning, participation...
Communities & Cultures
Gentrification, community studies, immigration, activism...
Sustainability & Resilience
Resilient cities, sustainable design, the circular economy...
Technology, Management and Planning
Smart cities, intelligent infrastructure, cultural cities...
Transport & Infrastructure
Integrated transport, the walkable city, green-blue infrastructure...
Public Services & the City
Public health, access to services, community support...

Formats

In-person: Live in Lisbon at the ISCTE campus

Zoom: Virtual presentations coordinated by AMPS

@Lisbon: For delegates visiting Lisbon but presenting virtually on Zoom

Pre-recorded:  Pre-recorded presentations or films will be available permanently on the AMPS Academic YouTube channel

Written papers: In all cases, delegates can present full written papers for inclusion in associated conference publications

In-person: (15-20 mins)
Zoom: (15-20 mins)
@Lisbon: (15-20 mins)
Pre-recorded video: (15-20 mins)
Written papers: (3000 words)

 

Publications

The publishers that AMPS works with include Routledge Taylor & Francis, UCL Press, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Vernon Press, Libri Publishing and Intellect Books.

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Conference outputs include the AMPS Proceedings Series, ISSN 2398-9467; Special Issue Publications of the academic journal Architecture_MPS ISSN 2020-9006; Books from this event will be developed by Cambridge Scholars Publishing, with short films available on the AMPS Academic YouTube Channel.

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Written papers are optional.  If submitted they should be 3,000 word length. Formatting instructions to follow after the conference. All papers are double- blind peer reviewed for the AMPS Conference Proceedings Series. Subject to review, selected authors will be invited to develop longer versions as articles in the academic journal Architecture_MPS or in specially produced conference books.

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Submissions & Registration:

Registration Delegate Fee: $410 USD  |  Audience Fee: $210 USD                                                                                       Queries: team@amps-research.com

 

Click the button below to submit your abstract. To resubmit or revise an abstract click here.