Third International Conference on Tourism & Leisure Studies

Abstract

Places are being transformed and, as competition increases between destinations, places are also in need of reinventing themselves. At the same time, there are other challenges that places, and in particularly cities, face such as to reinvent (obsolete) infrastructure and make use of these spaces. Technological evolutions have made some physical activities unnecessary and many structures have become obsolete. For instance, in many places, a portion of infrastructure has no use today. These might be historic buildings, port spaces, railway stations, or industrial complexes. This fact provoked a search for the reframing of obsolete infrastructure and its function. In particular, and in Europe, the mode of rail transport has been widely used for many years. The modernization of the stations, through the use of emerging technologies with the advancement of information technologies, has made, in many cases, its spaces unnecessary. This has happened as well in Portugal, which will be the focus of the study. In Portugal a search for the revitalization of train stations has occurred in recent years. We use examples from different stages of decision-making. This research explores how this process of reframing obsolete spaces into use happens. As theoretical background, we build on social practices, organizational and social theories of change, and on works on urban sociology and sociology of culture. In this study the data were collected through direct and participant observation, conversations, and dialogues and through photos and videos made available in the public domain, especially in digital media.