Urban Dynamics and Horizontal Property: Case Study of the Boavista Axis, Porto, Portugal

Abstract

The horizontal property regime was established very late in Portugal [1955], but had important repercussions upon subsequent real estate developments. In fact, the urban land register itself developed as a result of the need to individualise ownership in accordance with the site on which the property stood. The law also had important implications for urban design. The aim of this paper is to analyse the urbanization and building mechanisms that developed in the wake of this specific legal provision; for, although the new law did not directly regulate building activity, it nevertheless had important repercussions upon construction dynamics in the city of Porto. The analysis is based on a particular case study, the axis of Boavista in Porto, an urban alignment around 7 km long that drove the city's westward expansion during the 19th and 20th centuries.