The changes to the Legal Framework of Urban Regeneration [RJRU], Law n.º 32/2012, gave the municipalities the possibility to implement urban rehabilitation processes in a “Urban Rehabilitation Area” [ARU],  in  phased periods: firstly, the approval of the delimitation areas of the ARU; secondly, the approval of the “Urban Rehabilitation Operations” [ORU] to be developed in these areas.

The intervention areas in the base of this ARU delimitation process are identified according to the structure and specificities of the buildings, their conservation state and rehabilitation capacity, in a perspective of potential urban development.

In this scope, housing facilities are characterized, considering the concerned social dynamics. This analysis and identification also focus on mobility and general accessibility of intervention areas and surrounding spaces, by portraying public spaces; as structural transport routes, general conservation state and urban features, circulation conditions, green spaces systems and urban infrastructural networks.