INTRODUCTION

The Porto Metropolitan Area (AMP) is a public law association of municipalities with multiple purposes, whose territory is defined by the corresponding NUTS III, as defined in Act No. 75/2013 and in Regulation (EC) No. 1059/2003 on territorial units for statistics (NUTS). In this sense, the AMP represents the sub-region with the greatest relevance within Portugal’s northern region and the second national metropolitan area. This because it includes fundamental infrastructures such as the airport, the seaport, the road and rail network, the largest university in the country and a historically relevant productive fabric. Furthermore, it includes the country's second most important city, Porto, as well as the set of significant municipalities that surround this centrality.

As an institutional structure, the AMP has the mission of promoting the planning and management of the territory's economic, social and environmental development strategy. The AMP has a wide range of functions mainly focused on the work of a team of political representatives and qualified officers, who seek to articulate and promote the common projects of the municipalities that compose it. Its duties also include representation of the municipalities and management functions in different structures and entities of metropolitan importance, such as public transport companies, regulatory bodies, regional development agencies, the energy agency, and cultural, social and tourism institutions.