The metropolitan area (Portuguese: área metropolitana) is a type of administrative division in Portugal. Since the 2013 local government reform, there are two metropolitan areas: Lisbon and Porto.[1] The metropolitan areas of Lisbon and Porto were created in 1991.[2] A law passed in 2003 supported the creation of more metropolitan areas, under the conditions that they consisted of at least nine municipalities (concelhos) and had at least 350,000 inhabitants.[3] Several metropolitan areas were created under this law (Algarve, Aveiro, Coimbra, Minho and Viseu),[2] but a law passed in 2008 abolished these, converting them into intermunicipal communities, whose territories are (roughly) based on the NUTS III statistical regions.[4][2]

The branches of administration of the metropolitan area are the metropolitan council, the metropolitan executive committee and the strategic board for metropolitan development. The metropolitan council is composed of the presidents of the municipal chambers of the municipalities.[1]

List

The legal status of metropolitan area is held only by two:[1]

A map of Portugal showing the population density (number of inhabitants / km2) by municipality

The OECD and Eurostat have identified the following metropolitan areas ("Functional Urban Areas") based on commuting patterns.

Rank City name Population[5] Region
1Lisbon3,008,000Lisbon
2Porto1,758,531Norte
3Coimbra264,656Centro
4Braga247,719Norte
5Funchal215,396Madeira
6Guimarães176,206Norte
7Aveiro141,577Centro
8Ponta Delgada126,518Azores
9Faro115,836Algarve
10Viseu108,829Centro

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Law nr. 75/2013" (PDF). Diário da República (in Portuguese). Assembly of the Republic (Portugal). Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 Fernanda Paula Oliveira (2009), The Evolution and Regulation of the Metropolitan Areas in Portugal at the Internet Archive PDF (677 kB)
  3. ↑ "Law nr. 10/2003" (pdf). Diário da República (in Portuguese). Assembly of the Republic (Portugal). Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  4. ↑ "Law nr. 45/2008" (pdf). Diário da República (in Portuguese). Assembly of the Republic (Portugal). Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  5. ↑ OECD (July 2022). "Portugal - Functional urban areas" (PDF).


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