Urban planning and policy in Portugal: an overview on the role of EU funds and guidelines

ABSTRACT This work aims to shed light on the contribution of the Cohesion Policy to the urban dimension of Portuguese cities. This research is based on a case study of Porto. The results show that their contribution was positive, especially concerning the extensive rehabilitation of problematic urban areas, the reinforcement of local administrative entities’ strategic planning and the development of citizen participation mechanisms, accountability and public‒private partnerships. However, the research also identified that the government structure is too centralised and excessive local funding competition made the process more complex, with concepts being applied more to the discourse than practice.