A Geografia do Desemprego no Porto. Comunidades e territórios com maior vulnerabilidade à pobreza e à exclusão social

The incidence of unemployment varies for both social groups and areas, the effect of the experience depends on a diverse set of factors, such as length of time of unemployment or the level of social protection of the state and of family or friends. Faced with this complexity, it is hoped to articulate in this four-part study, a perspective of sociological and geographical analysis of the problem of the unemployment. In the first one, there is a discussion of the relationship that is established between unemployment and poverty, and unemployment and social exclusion, noting that these connections depend on the mechanisms of support of the state and on the family. In the second one, an empirical approach is developed for the problem of unemployment in the context of Great Oporto, trying to identify and to explain the intra-urban variation of the phenomenon. In the third one, the social and spatial organisation of unemployment in Oporto is analysed, as well as the distribution of the social protection associated with the funding of unemployment. This part concludes with an analysis of the existence of a intra-urban variation between the western part and the eastern part of the city. Finally, there is a consideration of the persistence of the patterns of unemployment and on the effects of some spatial concentrations of unemployment created by the redevelopment of some of the biggest districts of social housing in the city. The discussion then concludes with a revision of the theories of the ‘area effects' (or neighbourhood effects) and its relevance in explaining the historical legacy or immutability that is associated with unemployment in these areas, which tends to favour processes of spatial devaluation leading to an increase in urban segregation. The consideration of these effects develops a notion of sense and sensibility in the cultures and practices of the urban planning in Portugal.