This paper intends to shed some light upon one of the most recent processes of reconfiguration of the Portuguese urban landscape, namely, state-led gentrification. In order to do so, it looks at one of the most relevant instruments that have been used in recent years with the goal of creating a more dynamic housing market, thus fostering urban renewal and regeneration processes. In this sense, this paper seeks to contribute to a debate that is crucial to understand contemporary dynamics of urban change in the Portuguese context. It begins with a description of the ways through which the production of urban environments is profoundly interwoven with the current economic and financial crisis. Next, it characterizes how neoliberal urbanism has been inscribing itself into the Portuguese urban landscape. Obviously, the role played by the state in this process and the reconfigurations it goes through during it are also addressed.

Finally, a detailed description of the implementation of the New Urban Lease Regime (in Portuguese, Novo Regime do Arrendamento Urbano – NRAU), here considered to be a pivotal instrument of state-led gentrification, is provided, focusing on how it has been implemented. Its immediate and potential consequences are also taken into account, against the backdrop of the most recent political changes occurred in Portugal. Arguably, by looking at the NRAU from a historical and geographical perspective, necessarily focused on the spatial transformations and power relations in presence, it is possible to provide a significant contribution to a better understanding of the ways Portuguese main cities have been changing throughout the years, reflecting class relations and a political economy of housing operating at multiple scales and necessarily hindering the possibilities of producing a more just urban fabric.