Abstract

PADEIRO, Miguel. Domination and reproduction of automobility: the motorway network of the Lisbon and Oporto Metropolitan Areas. Finisterra [online]. 2018, n.108, pp.161-188. ISSN 0430-5027.  https://doi.org/10.18055/Finis12218.

Contemporary mobility is dominated by the car. As an auto-reproductive system, automobility has been reinforced in the last decades, contributing to a set of major social, cultural and spatial changes. In this context, motorways reveal the relationship between territories and automobile. This paper examines the case of the two Portuguese metropolitan areas (Lisbon and Oporto), where motorway networks have grown significantly in the last three decades. Based on a literature review and on some numbers produced during an ongoing research, some ideas are explored on the Portuguese case. It is shown both metropolitan areas hold an outstanding position in the European context, with a motorway density above 140km per 1,000km², equivalent to a possible oversizing in 35-42% comparing to other European cities. The recent expansion (2000-2016) of the motorway network suggests that this situation is not only the result of the necessary modernisation policies, nor an automatic outcome of economic growth. It is mainly due to the inefficient regulation of urban expansion and to the total acceptation, until very recently, of automobile as a response to mobility needs.

Keywords : Motorways; highways; automobility; Portugal; infrastructures; urban sprawl.

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