Cities and urbanisation in democratic Portugal

Cities are continuously gaining importance in an increasingly urban world. They are transformed by processes of extension and restructuring, with multi-centrism tendencies and growing metropolitan concentration of people, economic capacity and political power. In the Portuguese case, gaining insight into this question is essential for understanding the post-1974 transformations, and the deep changes promoted by democracy and accompanied by the European integration, with the animation of the consumer society and the anxiety of the Lehman Brothers and sovereign debt crisis. Through complex mechanisms, cities must take on the heavy responsibility of shaping the future of the country. Thus, we will pay particular attention to cities, urbanization, urbanism and urban politics. We present a detailed synthesis and analysis about the urban development in Portugal and suggest reflection on the future.