The development of the Portuguese urban network (1801-1940)

Abstract

The subject matter of this study is the development of the level of urbanisation and the characteristics of the urban system in Portugal from 1800 to 1940. Particular importance is given to the position occupied by Lisbon in relation to the other Portuguese cities. The article analyses the forms that the relationship of primacy of the largest city with the urban system as a whole takes, highlighting the fact that the so-called macrocephalic position of the capital is far from unalterable. The article concludes that throughout the 19th century important changes in the Portuguese urban system were carried out, in comparison to the urban network inherited from the 17th and 18th centuries. These alterations conduce to the establishment of a new balance in the urban system, the outlines of which could already be seen in 1940 but which was not consummated until the period from 1960 to 1980. Finally, the article emphasises the fact that although the configuration of the urban hierarchy was the object of important changes - a fact which must be underlined, opposing recent reviews which emphasise that the system was practically unchangeable - it did not, however, experience the impact of the administrative architecture introduced by liberalism from the 1830s onwards.