The regional land use management plans (PROT) set the regional strategy for territorial development, integrating the options defined at the national level and considering the municipal strategies for local development, constituting the reference framework for the elaboration of the municipal land use management plans (PMOT).

The PROTAL was approved by the Decree No. 11/91 of March 21. However, preventive measures were established by the Decree-Law No. 33/89 of January 26, to avoid changes in the existing circumstances, likely to endanger, hinder or increase the cost of its implementation.

The evaluation study focused on the 1989-1996 period and was the only study to evaluate a regional land use management plan in Portugal. It aimed at evaluating the implementation of the Plan in its first years, in order to elaborate recommendations for improving its performance, focusing mainly on: (i) the evaluation of the urban occupation process, (ii) the physical and environmental evaluation (iii) the evaluation of the urban system and channel-spaces. It also defined a set of evaluation indicators and a monitoring framework for the Plan follow up.