Spatial Planning System: A Comparative Analysis East-Timor/Portugal

Abstract

Each country has its own spatial planning system comprising a set of instruments and goals focused on the cities issues and territorial development. After a period of administration by the United Nations, on 20 May 2002 East-Timor, officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, became one of the youngest nations in the 21st century, having become a democratic rule of law. To promote the development of its territorial cohesion, on April 19, 2017, the Basic Law on Spatial Planning was approved in this island country in Southeast Asia. It intends to translate a set of principles contained in the National Constitution that could manage the praxis of spatial planning, focused on cities and territorial improvements. Consequently, there is a framework establishing the basis of public policies for this country whose primary objective is to accomplish the territorial quality, regarding the collective culture that integrates the values of the local culture. Given that East-Timor was part of Portugal until 1975, there is still a strong identity between both countries, sharing not only the same language but also several other aspects of culture, politics, and administrative organization. In this sense, this article aims to present a comparative analysis between spatial planning systems in East-Timor and Portugal, in order to find common features and particular aspects. Among the conclusions, this research shows that the land-use bases in East-Timor are similar to the Portuguese system, although it has fewer levels of intervention regarding the public administration framework. In East Timor, there are only spatial planning figures for national and municipal level, with no regional nor inter-municipal levels such as in Portugal.