From peripheral margin to smart city: The impacts of the new Lisbon airport on centrality

In recent decades, metropolitan areas have been profoundly transformed not only by the intensification of the urbanization process, but also by inspiration drawn from the Smart City paradigm. These dynamics extend from consolidated urban spaces to suburban territories, contributing to the redefinition of relationships between the center and the periphery. In this context, this research aims to analyze the territorial transformations in Benavente, on the peripheral edge of the Metropolitan Area, driven by the location of the new Lisbon Airport. This type of infrastructure plays a structuring role in territorial organization, changing the dynamics between central spaces and peripheral zones.

The main goal is to implement a Pilot-Project in Benavente, a pioneering Smart City experience, inspired by pivotal examples at both, the global scale, such as Dubai or Singapore, and the European realm, such as Barcelona or Copenhagen, through a partnership between the Municipality and the private i-tech sector. Among the planned actions in the Pilot-Project there is the testing of an integrated network of sensors and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies for the real-time collection of territorial data, digital platforms for the management and analysis of urban data, to support municipal decision-making processes, as well as mobile applications aimed at managing incidents across various infrastructures and improving communication with citizens and their engagement. There is the expectation that the results achieved in this research may contribute to establishing Benavente as a pole of urban centrality within the metropolitan context. From the Pilot-Project, there is the main outcome that the results will encourage the consolidation of this and other Portuguese territories as Smart Cities.

Keywords: Smart Cities, Peripheral Areas, Urban and Metropolitan Centrality, New Lisbon Airport, Benavente.