GRANDE LISBOA - Geography and history
The Grande Lisboa is an area comprising the municipalities of Amadora, Cascais, Lisboa, Odivelas, Loures, Oeiras, Sintra and Vila Franca de Xira. These municipalities have an area of 1 055 square kilometres, bordering on the Oeste sub-region to the North, Lezíria do Tejo to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the banks of the Tejo to the south.
The landscape is very varied, with restful beaches bordering on rugged terrain, and steep escarpments between Cape Roca and the Boca do Inferno. The mouth of the Tejo (the widest in the Iberian peninsula) is between the Fort of São Julião da Barra and the Torre do Bugio. Inland, at the very gates of Lisboa, the delightful Serra de Sintra is part of the protected Sintra-Cascais Nature Park. This range also contains the 210-hectare Parque da Pena, which, with the Parque de Monserrate, constitutes one of the prime jewels in the nation's natural heritage, with exceptional conditions and its own microclimate.
The regional hydrography is dominated by the Tejo, one of its tributaries - the Trancão - and a few streams. The subsoil is limestone, sedimentary and microcrystalline. Cambrssols dominate the entire region, ranging from the schists and quartzites of the Ordovician era to post-Palaeozoic sedimentary and volcanic rock.
Privileged by any definition
Grande Lisboa could not be more accessible by virtue of its strategic location and the fact that it includes the capital, the largest urban centre in all of Portugal. Densely built-up (1 779 inhabitants per square kilometre in 2001), it has road, rail, sea and air routes to all the main cities and population centres in Portugal, and a busy network of communications to all major cities across the world. New integrated solutions are, however, being brought to bear on transport infrastructures to tackle congestion caused by heavy daily travel by the resident population and visitors coming to the region for work or recreation. The sub-region's long-standing strategic position has marked it with innumerable historical and cultural sites and landscapes, many of which are considered world heritage. This region can boast basic sanitation infrastructures and domestic water supply well above the national average and which cater for nearly all its inhabitants.
Other indicators betray regional imbalances and a heavy bias towards Grande Lisboa, and the capital in particular: in 1995, this sub-region accounted for 29.1 % of hospital beds (7.3 beds for every 1 000 inhabitants, as against 5.3 in the region and 4.6 nationally), 32.2% of higher education establishments, 22.6% of all registered students, 25.4% of museums, 28.8% of libraries and 51.7 % of the audience for shows.
The population of Grande Lisboa has been very slightly increasing, by 0.5% between 1995 and 2001, whereas the total population of the country rose during the same period by 2.3%. The population of Grande Lisboa numbered 1.9 million inhabitants in 2001, representing 73% of the Lisboa region?s population and 18.4% of the country?s population. In the short term, however, the gradual ageing of the population will depress activity levels. The resident population of the capital declines (by 18% in the period 1981/ 91), surrounding municipalities and Amadora, Sintra and Cascais are growing.
There has been a constant and significant increase of the birth rate in the region, as it rose from 10.4 per thousand in 1995 to 12.5 per thousand in 2000, still higher than the one observed at national level. In the same time, the mortality rate has been rather constant and was 9.8 per thousand in 2000.The increase of the birth rate is partly responsible for the growth of the population observed over the same period.
The tertiary sector in the ascendant
In Portugal, Grande Lisboa is in a league of its own with a solid, dynamic tertiary sector, and the city of Lisboa has always led the way in promoting the move to this sector.
The last ten years have brought a marked increase in the services sector, led by tourism, the distributive trades, banking and business services, to the point that in 1999, services was responsible of 80% of employment. At the same time, activities linked to central government, health, education, defence and public order, significantly swell the numbers of the tertiary sector. This is also the branch of activity with the most working women, who account for over 75% of the total workforce in education, health and social services.
The remaining 20% of employment concerned industry, as the primary sector represented less than 1% of employment of the region, which is virtually confined to the municipalities of Loures and Sintra. This proportion of the different sectors is comparable to those observed for the share in Gross Value Added, the shares of industry and services are respectively 19% and 81%.
On the strength of its strategic position, domestic investment and ability to attract foreign investment, Grande Lisboa is the prime site for the head offices of leading companies, virtually the only one for banks and financial institutions, large distribution operations (whether or not associated with large shopping centres) and the services associated with accommodation and the restaurant trade.
Breaking with the traditional model of cheap labour, a skilled workforce has begun to draw in foreign investment and has been a trump card for the sub-region for some time. A long-standing commitment to vocational and academic training was expressed in the setting up of universities and research centres, and middle and senior managers are recruited at levels far above those observed in other sub-regions.
The business structure of the area is, nevertheless, dominated by a huge number of small and medium-sized enterprises engaged in retail trade, hotels and catering. Of some 80 000 enterprises in these sectors in the Lisboa region, around 50% are located in Grande Lisboa, particularly in Lisboa itself, which is home to more than 25% of all its enterprises.
At the beginning of the decade (1991), significant numbers of Grande Lisboa's active population (27%) were working in construction. Since then, however, several large-scale projects (e.g. construction of the outer and inner ring roads and the recently completed Colombo megastore centre) have forged changes in the structure of the population by sectors of activity and in the actual volume of employment. This trend is continuing, with current large-scale projects including the second bridge over the Tejo, Expo'98 and the construction of the rail line across the older bridge. As a major employment catalyst, even at national level, these projects are the keystone in the considerable rise in employment in the construction sector, and this effect is, of course, much more evident in the sub-region of Grande Lisboa.
As part of the Lisboa region with an average municipal purchasing power index of 144.60, the Grande Lisboa sub-region scores an average of 188.30, and peaks in the city of Lisboa, which scores three times the national average of 102.00.
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