In search of the urban variable : Understanding the roots of urban planning in Portugal

This article demonstrates how public control over the street was at the origin of modern urban planning in Lisbon. The increased pressure over the street in the nineteenth-century city demanded increased public intervention, which was at the roots of urban planning as practice and as a body of theor...

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Main Authors: Álvaro Ferreira da Silva, Maria Luísa Sousa
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Métropoles 2011-06-01
Series:Métropoles
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/metropoles/4029
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author Álvaro Ferreira da Silva
Maria Luísa Sousa
author_facet Álvaro Ferreira da Silva
Maria Luísa Sousa
author_sort Álvaro Ferreira da Silva
collection DOAJ
description This article demonstrates how public control over the street was at the origin of modern urban planning in Lisbon. The increased pressure over the street in the nineteenth-century city demanded increased public intervention, which was at the roots of urban planning as practice and as a body of theory. The strategic character assumed by urban planning derived from the fact that it was at the crossroads of the most important problems that nineteenth-century cities experienced: sanitation, circulation, and beautification. The preparation of the first Portuguese law on urban planning (1864) and the first improvement plan (1881) resulted from this need to exercise public monopoly over the use of the city streets. However, the financial, political, and technical conditions defined the scope of possibilities for the programme of improvement and beautification of the Portuguese capital. This article analyses the compromises between the forces driving modernisation and the limits of the possibilities.
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spelling doaj-art-acdaeebf86904c86813b77673611d8b02025-08-20T03:16:01ZengMétropolesMétropoles1957-77882011-06-01610.4000/metropoles.4029In search of the urban variable : Understanding the roots of urban planning in PortugalÁlvaro Ferreira da SilvaMaria Luísa SousaThis article demonstrates how public control over the street was at the origin of modern urban planning in Lisbon. The increased pressure over the street in the nineteenth-century city demanded increased public intervention, which was at the roots of urban planning as practice and as a body of theory. The strategic character assumed by urban planning derived from the fact that it was at the crossroads of the most important problems that nineteenth-century cities experienced: sanitation, circulation, and beautification. The preparation of the first Portuguese law on urban planning (1864) and the first improvement plan (1881) resulted from this need to exercise public monopoly over the use of the city streets. However, the financial, political, and technical conditions defined the scope of possibilities for the programme of improvement and beautification of the Portuguese capital. This article analyses the compromises between the forces driving modernisation and the limits of the possibilities.https://journals.openedition.org/metropoles/4029Lisbonurban environmentcirculationurban planning
spellingShingle Álvaro Ferreira da Silva
Maria Luísa Sousa
In search of the urban variable : Understanding the roots of urban planning in Portugal
Métropoles
Lisbon
urban environment
circulation
urban planning
title In search of the urban variable : Understanding the roots of urban planning in Portugal
title_full In search of the urban variable : Understanding the roots of urban planning in Portugal
title_fullStr In search of the urban variable : Understanding the roots of urban planning in Portugal
title_full_unstemmed In search of the urban variable : Understanding the roots of urban planning in Portugal
title_short In search of the urban variable : Understanding the roots of urban planning in Portugal
title_sort in search of the urban variable understanding the roots of urban planning in portugal
topic Lisbon
urban environment
circulation
urban planning
url https://journals.openedition.org/metropoles/4029
work_keys_str_mv AT alvaroferreiradasilva insearchoftheurbanvariableunderstandingtherootsofurbanplanninginportugal
AT marialuisasousa insearchoftheurbanvariableunderstandingtherootsofurbanplanninginportugal