If literature has stressed the role of marginal gentrifiers in bringing resources to the areas where they move, apart for relevant exceptions, the potentialities and limits of their contribution to urban struggles has not been systematically addressed. This article assesses the role of these newcomers in the defence of the right to housing in post-austerity Lisbon focusing on their interaction with established activist networks. Resorting to a multi-method approach and an interactionist social movement framework, our study is supported by event analysis, 22 interviews, ethnographic observation and a questionnaire-survey. Our findings show that interactions between marginal gentrifiers and previous housing players helped to consolidate the local activist arena and contributed to the emergence of new urban collective contentious identities. Nevertheless, this contribution seems partially affected by further displacement waves in the context of growing gentrification and touristification, which have threatened the survival of resistance networks. The case of Lisbon can help illuminate similar processes in contexts highly impacted by gentrification and touristification.

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Right to housing,Marginal gentrifiers,Gentrification,Social movements,Touristification,Lisbon

• Earth and related Environmental Sciences - Natural Sciences
• Sociology - Social Sciences
• Social and Economic Geography - Social Sciences

This publication is an output of the following project(s):

• HOPES - HOusing PErspectives and Struggles. Futures of housing movements, policies and dynamics in Lisbon and beyond
• Candidates Survey (MPs and non-elected candidates) for the 2019 Legislative Elections
• Candidates Survey (MPs and non-elected candidates) for the 2022 Legislative Elections