Decentralization and Governance in Portugal

This chapter discusses subnational governance in Portugal, within an historical context of centralization, and the problems it creates for suitable ways of addressing contemporary urban challenges. The argument presented here is based on a general model of successful subnational governance that is dependent on the capacity and competences of multiple tiers of governmental agencies and institutions. This is, ultimately, indissociable from a clear institutional design and from opportunities for effective engagement in policy coordination, which has practical implications for the definition of competences of each of the intervening actors in urban governance and policies. Portugal’s challenges related to subnational governance, namely its illusive two-tier system, highlight problems of scale and capacity of regional and local authorities. The imbalances between municipalities, with strong asymmetries in institutional capacity and governance tools, amplify these problems and limit urban potential. This chapter’s discussion about the need for unambiguous subnational governance for urban policies underlines the relevance of an appropriate design of territorial arrangements and effective multilevel mechanisms.