Grande Área Metropolitana do Porto
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Grande Área Metropolitana do Porto ("Greater Metropolitan Area of Porto") or Grande Porto ("Greater Porto") in Portugal consists of 14 municipalities that made the second biggest urban area in the country:
It was originally composed of nine municipalities: Porto (the capital), Espinho, Gondomar, Maia, Matosinhos, Póvoa de Varzim, Vila Nova de Gaia, Valongo, and Vila do Conde. In 2006 (due to the municipal elections held in late 2005, it grew to Santa Maria da Feira, Santo Tirso, Trofa, Arouca and São João da Madeira. By the 2001 census, its population was 1,551,950.
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Government
The metropolitan area is administrated by the Junta Metropolitana do Porto (JMP), and its president is Rui Rio (also the mayor of Porto municipality) since the Municipal Elections held late 2005, he succeded Valentim Loureiro (mayor of Gondomar).
The Assembleia Metropolitana do Porto (Porto Metropolitan Assembly) is composed of 43 MPs, the PSD party has 20 seats, the PS 16, the CDS 3, CDU another 3 and the BE, one.
Although the government has halted the intention of creating new metropolitan areas and urban communities, it is keen to ensure greater autonomy to Porto and Lisbon metropolitan areas.
Conurbations
Greater Porto is am agglomeration composed by a big conurbation, a surrounding conurbations and several urban areas. The bigger and central conurbation is composed by the municipalities of Porto, Matosinhos, Vila Nova de Gaia, Matosinhos, Gondomar and Maia. A second and close conurbation includes the one formed by the cities of Póvoa de Varzim and Vila do Conde.
Although Vila Nova de Gaia is the biggest municipality in terms of population that is merelly due to the extent of its territory, the city is much smaller than Porto.
There are some intentions to merge Porto with Gaia and Matosinhos into a single and greater municipality, and there is an ongoing civil requisition with that objective. The government also started to discuss the merger of some municipalities due to conurbations, but give up.
Population
| Municipality | Area | Population (2001) | Density |
|---|---|---|---|
| Porto | 41.66 km² | 263,131 | 6,316.2/km² |
| The rest of Grande Porto | 775.74 km² | 997,548 | 1,285.9/km² |
| Espinho | 21.42 km² | 33,701 | 1,573.3/km² |
| Gondomar | 133.26 km² | 164,096 | 1,231.4/km² |
| Maia | 83.70 km² | 120,111 | 1,435.0/km² |
| Matosinhos | 62.30 km² | 167,026 | 2,681.0/km² |
| Póvoa de Varzim | 81.94 km² | 63,469 | 774.6/km² |
| Valongo | 72.99 km² | 86,005 | 1,178.3/km² |
| Vila do Conde | 498.2 km² | 74,391 | 498.2/km² |
| Vila Nova de Gaia | 170.82 km² | 288,749 | 1,690.4/km² |
| in Ave | 207.04 km² | 109,977 | 531.2/km² |
| Santo Tirso | 135.31 km² | 72,396 | 535.0/km² |
| Trofa | 71.73 km² | 37,581 | 523.9/km² |
| in Entre Douro e Vouga | 549.55 km² | 181,294 | 329.9/km² |
| Arouca | 327.99 km² | 24,228 | 327.99/km² |
| Santa Maria da Feira | 213.45 km² | 135,964 | 637.0/km² |
| São João da Madeira | 8.11 km² | 21,102 | 2,602.0/km² |
| Total | 1,573.99 km² | 1,551,950 | 986.0/km² |
Transportation
The Metropolitan area is keen to develop its transportation network. Porto Metro is a Rapid transit system controlled by the Metropolitan area that links the municipalities of Porto, Vila Nova de Gaia, Matosinhos, Maia, Vila do Conde and Póvoa de Varzim.
The Sá Carneiro Airport (or Porto Airport), between the municipalities of Matosinhos, Maia and Vila do Conde, is also one of its greater investments. It was transformed from an old and obsolet airport to a modern transportation centre, that from April 2006 will be linked to Porto Metro. The JMP is also trying to pressure the government to add a TGV line to link Vigo in Galicia (Spain) to Porto Airport in order to make Porto the air traffic centre of the North-eastern Iberian Peninsula and to tighten its historical ties with that Spanish province.
Greater Porto is served by a great number of expressways linking the main central areas of the metropolitan region and the region with other main Portuguese cities.
Expressways:
- A1 - Lisbon - Porto (North Expressway)
- A3 - Porto - Valença
- A4 - Porto - Amarante
- A7 - Póvoa de Varzim - Vila Pouca de Aguiar
- A20 - Carvalhos - Nó de Francos (CRIP - Porto Innner-Ring Expressay)
- A28 - Porto - Caminha
- A29 - Estarreja - Porto
- A41 - Perafita - Espinho (CREP - Porto Outer-Ring Expressay)
- A43 - Porto (A-20) - Aguiar de Sousa
- A44 - Gulpilhares (A29) - A20
See also
External links
- Porto Metropolitan Area - official
- LIPOR - Greater Porto Residues Managment
- Sá Carneiro Airport
- Porto Convention Bureau