Territorial Strategic Planning as a support instrument for Regional and Local Development : a comparative analysis between Lisbon and Barcelona metropolitan areas - a first approach

The present work aims to make a comparative analysis of local development processes at metropolitan scale, territories whose administrative and institutional limits do not always match with their political and economic identity and are inserted in global processes of socioeconomic transformation. One also intends to analyse the competitive advantages that local and metropolitan political powers have over the Central State in what may concern the creation of favourable measures for companies’ productivity and competitiveness and the new forms of democratic political participation, namely around the so-called Territorial Governance. Given the nature of the present work - a Master Degree Project Work - the practical component will be postponed for future Doctoral studies.