the law of soils that forgot the territory
The recent change to the legal regime of Territorial Management Instruments (RJIGT), promoted by Decree-Law No. 117/2024, represents, from the perspective of many experts and sector entities, a dangerous setback in territory planning policies in Portugal. Despite being presented in response to the housing crisis, the new law raises serious doubts about its effectiveness, technical foundation and structural impacts.
The main measure introduced – the possibility of expeditious reclassification of rustic for urban soils – ignores one of the fundamental pillars of modern territorial planning: the containment of urban expansion. By allowing this transformation without anchoring in planning instruments such as local housing strategies or municipal housing letters, the government abdicates essential technical criteria. The Portuguese Urbanist Association warned of the absence of any robust factual justification regarding the scarcity of urban soils, noting that more than 90% of municipalities already have instruments that identify and plan housing solutions within existing urban perimeters.
On the other hand, as underlined in the open chart of network H, this measure facilitates real estate speculation and promotes dispersed urbanization. It is a clear incentive to artificial appreciation of agricultural land, with harmful consequences for territorial cohesion, environment and food safety. Portugal already has more than half of its degraded agricultural soil, and licensing facilitated in areas of the National Agricultural Reserve or the National Ecological Reserve only aggravates this framework.
The argument that there is an urgency to respond to the housing crisis cannot serve as an alibi to dismantle legislative advances in recent decades. The lack of a structural approach to the problem exposes the reactive and disarticulated character of this law. Instead of betting on the densification, compaction and intelligent consolidation of our cities and the use of existing infrastructures, the state opts for an easy expansion model.
In addition, the price control mechanisms provided for by the law, such as maximum values 20% below the market, are insufficient. It would be more efficient to replace them with controlled promotion costs, with fair but limited profit margins, as already happens in countries such as Austria or Denmark.
The housing crisis in Portugal requires a holistic and integrated approach by Policy Mix. Among the structural measures that must be prioritized, we highlight: i) systematic urban rehabilitation, with tax incentives and direct support to the conversion of vacant heritage into accessible housing; ii) active fiscal policy, penalizing vacant properties and infrared land used through IMI and creating stimuli to affordable lease; iii) robust public investment in the construction of social and cooperative housing, including partnership models with the third sector; IV) Reinvention of the industrialization of construction, promoting modular housing and rapidly implementation, with controlled costs; v) an inclusive urban planning, ensuring urban continuity, inclusive zoning with public housing quotas in new real estate developments and avoiding social ghettos.
There is no contradiction between environment and housing. The real challenge is in drawing policies that combine social justice and cohesion, environmental sustainability and territorial rationality. Decree-Law No. 117/2024, as it is, fails this test.
