déjà vu

“Déjà vu” is a series of photographs that reflect on the cycles of urban transformation by focusing on the regeneration of Praça Martim Moniz, a public square located in Lisbon’s Mouraria quarter. The square was the target of an intense urban makeover in 2012, which transformed the center of the squarer into an open-air ethnic food court. Back then, the privatization of this public space was justified as an attempt to tackle the decay of the praça, historically associated to the immigrant groups that occupied and used this place.

Six years later a new regeneration project is on the table, but this time the pre-existing kiosks will be substituted by cargo containers to create new commercial spaces within the perimeter of the square. Six years laters the arguments put forward by the municipality and the private promotores are the same as the ones deployed six years ago.