Government: Urban planning news in Portugal

Porto City Council and PSP launch security plan in Pasteleira, Fluvial, and Aleixo

The plan covers Priority Intervention Zones. Various locations in the city are undergoing interventions in security, social action, health, and urban cleaning. A Municipal Overnight Centre is opening to provide support.

“Front stores”. Historic centres to be protected from zero-licensing

Municipal assemblies will be able to define a percentage of their urban territory where business activities will be under municipal control and where zero-licensing does not apply, the Minister of Economy and Territorial Cohesion revealed this Wednesday at the Committee on Economy and Territorial Cohesion. The new legislation on business licensing, which...

One year later, metro and drainage works at Santa Apolónia have not left the drawing board

Since July 2025, the Lisbon City Council has announced three times the start of the delicate structural reinforcement intervention at the metro station, which will require its closure for eight months. However, there are no new dates.

Porto lifts embargo on construction near City Park

The local authority clarifies that “legality was restored through the correction of the detected irregularities.” At issue was a partial embargo due to an 80cm deviation in the maximum authorized height.

Porto City Council installed kiosks with public toilets. Then it dismantled them

The installation of eight structures had been launched by the previous executive and cost 475,500 euros. With new leadership in the municipality, the equipment was removed, with no provisional solution in place.

Portugal’s €8 million urban nature plan risks becoming ‘greenwashing’ – ZERO

Group proposes safeguard plan for the historic centre

The researchers' proposal is organised into three vectors, presented this Tuesday at a meeting with the municipal executive. In the short term, they recommend the creation of a 'heritage alert'.

Experts suggest Detailed Safeguarding Plan to protect Porto's historic centre

A working group created in July to rethink the management model of the historic centre has presented 13 recommendations to Porto City Council. “When there is dialogue, many problems are solved,” notes the rapporteur.

Santa Maria da Feira has approved the Municipal Master Plan

The second revision of the Municipal Master Plan aims to increase the areas designated for economic activities by 11%. The plan also seeks to address the demographic growth of Santa Maria da Feira.

Association considers solution for Glória funicular “culturally unacceptable”

The Fórum Cidadania Lx contests the solution presented this week for the future of the Glória funicular and has sent a letter to the Lisbon City Council, the Cultural Heritage authority, and Carris.

When heat is no longer the exception: we need to prepare more resilient cities

In recent summers, Portugal can no longer speak of heatwaves and wildfires as exceptional events. What was once the exception has become regular. Opinion piece.

facebook.com31 Aug

The lesson from Nepal and our dunce caps

“Better safe than sorry” (Popular proverb)

Portugal among EU countries where building renovation is not yet linked to urban heating and cooling

Portugal is identified as one of the European Union nations where efforts to renovate buildings are not yet integrated with urban heating and cooling infrastructure.

Revista Edifícios e Energia29 Aug

PSD calls for Albufeira to move away from mass tourism after Oura incident

Albufeira should move away from a tourism model focused largely on visitor numbers and instead prioritise quality, safety and higher-value tourism, the local branch of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) The post PSD calls for Albufeira to move away from mass tourism after Oura incident appeared first on Portugal Resident.

Army insists on occupying community garden in Graça and says it will build a structure there

The Ministry states that the registration listing the land as part of the school originated from an error in a 2008 topographical survey. It also assures that 'support infrastructure for military housing' will be built on the site.

New 16E tram proposes four alternative routes in Lisbon, three avoid Alameda dos Oceanos

The Environmental Impact Study, under public consultation until 30 September, anticipates five scenarios. One of them involves the demolition of the Avenida Marechal Gomes da Costa viaduct. A route via Av. João II is also a possibility.

Tarmac at Ribeira das Naus is temporary and intended to prevent accidents, says Lisbon City Council

“My job is to fill potholes, I fill them every day and I will continue to fill them,” says Moedas, responding to criticism from the Fórum Cidadania Lx, which labelled the work as “environmentally retrograde.”

Should we suspend a Municipal Master Plan to build more on floodplains?

A city cannot build its future by recklessly exposing itself to flood risk.

Almirante Reis: the cycle path that mirrors Moedas

The author reflects on the Almirante Reis cycle path, a central issue in Carlos Moedas's 2021 campaign, which he promised to remove but has left unchanged. The article criticises Moedas for his lack of decisive action, his reliance on a non-publicised LNEC study, and his tendency to focus on propaganda rather than governance. It argues that the city needs clear urban planning for bicycles and scooters, and that Moedas's failure to act or explain his position highlights a lack of genuine leadership.

Lisbon City Council to pave Ribeira das Naus Avenue: project is "environmentally retrograde", association accuses

Fórum Cidadania Lx criticises the paving of Ribeira das Naus Avenue in Lisbon

“Never has there been so much talk about landscape and never has the landscape been so ignored”

In a three-way interview, representatives of architects, landscape architects, and urban planners express concern over the lack of a “global vision” in the country's land-use planning.

Plan for Vale de S. António: Another missed opportunity

Is it by living in expensive 18-storey towers, surrounded by 'ample green spaces' that, due to their high maintenance costs, become 'dry no-man's lands', that we are going to mitigate the housing crisis?

When fear marks the heart of Lisbon

We are concerned that the Lisbon City Council continues to concentrate certain social services in the same territories. Opinion by Maria João Correia

CDU files complaint with the Public Prosecutor's Office regarding urban planning protocol in Loures that 'may have cost the municipality over one million euros'

PCP councillor reports that Loures City Council 'accepted an exchange for unvalued land'. This is the second time in a year that CDU/Loures has reported urban planning operations in the municipality to the Public Prosecutor's Office.

Under Lisbon’s flight path, civil society’s different futures came into view

Alliance magazine10 Aug

Petition to preserve the gardens of Porto Cathedral

A petition calls for the preservation of the gardens on the Porto Cathedral hill, which are at risk due to a construction project originally approved as 'monastic lodging' and later changed to a 3-star hotel.