Area of dispersed building (área de edificação dispersa): can you build on it in Portugal?
Only within the limits the plan sets: an area of dispersed building (área de edificação dispersa) is a mixed urban-rural area that the plan must contain, organise and equip, so new building depends on the PDM's containment rules.
- Answer
- Depends entirely on the plan's rules for that area.
- Definition
- Existing spaces with hybrid character and an urban-rural pattern of occupation.
- Aim of the rules
- Containment, organisation and infrastructure that suits the area.
- Who decides
- The municipality, through the PDM.
- Council rules
- The municipal plan (PDM) sets the detail for your plot; ask the council for a planning certificate (certidão) and the plan maps.
- Legal basis
- Decreto Regulamentar 15/2015, article 23(2)(e)
- Sources
- files.diariodarepublica.pt/1s/2015/08/16100/0613706143.pdf
- Checked
- 2026-11-05
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