Urban perimeters issues in low-density areas

Abstract

In the domain of spatial planning, there is a concern to preserve the territory whilst ensuring a proper expansion of urban perimeters. Cities, towns and villages should be contained within urban perimeters for building and urbanization purposes. The concept of urban perimeter is defined as the closed polygonal line demarcating the continuous territory of urban land-use. The spatial planning instruments should define the urban land-use referring to areas totally or partially urbanized or built. Regarding low-density territories with a greater propensity to urban sprawl and population ageing, the previously mentioned rules are not always met. Thus, this study focuses on the case of the Interior region of Portugal classified as low-density territory. Here the number of inhabitants is decreasing with low demand for urban spaces. However, the urban perimeters were mainly defined without being based on territorial features, topographic mapping or ecological sensitive areas. Thus, for a diversity of aspects, there are inappropriate areas to build that were wrongly included as part of urban areas, creating as a result urban void. One main reason for this problem are the topographic conditions that don’t fit with the urbanization and building requirements in urban perimeters. In this sense, this research aims to describe the articulation between the urbanization and building processes, under the rules of the Municipal Master Plans, regarding the topographic features of urban perimeters. The conclusion shows that the most sloped areas are those that were less sought after for urbanization, however these zones comprise a significant part of the urban perimeters. Finally, there is the need to stress that in low-density territories, many urban voids will never be urbanized.