Maria Assunção Gato is a researcher at ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, integrating the Centre for the Study of Socioeconomic Change and the Territory (DINÂMIA'CET-Iscte). Her main research interests lie in urban anthropology and sociology, exploring themes like space values, meanings and spatial consumption, social recompositions, lifestyles, residential dynamics in urban territories and tourism. In parallel, she has developed a second line of research focused on cultural, creative and participatory dynamics, considering socio-economic changes and impacts on territories and local communities. Maria Assunção Gato holds a PhD in Cultural and Social Anthropology and a Master in Geography - Territorial Management from the Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas, Universidade Nova de Lisboa. She is currently sub-director of DINÂMIA'CET-Iscte, director of the journal Cidades, Comunidades e Territórios and co-coordinator of Thematic Line 1 -  Regenerative Territories for Carbon Neutrality - of the SocioDigital Lab for Public Policy of Iscte.