Registration is now open for the conference “Housing – Urbanism and Quality of Life”, promoted by Algarve urban planner António Nóbrega, which will take place on January 30, 2026, at the Hotel Paraíso, in Albufeira, between 09:00 and 16:30. The meeting proposes a direct, critical and technical debate on the New Urban Simplex, construction on rustic land and the crisis in access to housing, at a time when, according to the promoter, the management of the territory faces “a structural change, like we have never faced before”.
With the New Urbanistic Simplex and construction on rustic soil, “the so-called licensing is completely transformed”. “We’ll see if… for the better!”, launches António Nóbrega, inviting professionals, mayors, technicians and interested citizens to participate in a session that aims to bring together different stakeholders in the urban planning and real estate process to discuss rules, impacts and responsibilities.
In the statement, the urban planner highlights that the Government has announced its intention to establish rules that would allow citizens to start works “eight days after submitting the request”. “Will this be the case?” he asks, insisting that “only the accountability of all those involved in the urban planning/real estate process can help”.
For António Nóbrega, bureaucracy “is nothing more than… living under unregulated rules”, especially when it comes to their application and the rigor of their compliance, even though the rules are often “poorly structured”. And he insists: “the management of the territory faces a structural change, like never before”.
The urban planner also criticizes the lack of a serious investment in the training of professionals who apply and make decisions on the ground. It argues that, as long as the legislator does not implement intensive, mandatory and structured training for designers, municipal technicians and mayors, and insists, instead, on extending legal deadlines to resolve urban planning operations, there will hardly be any real gains. In his understanding, deadlines have been adapted to the timing of municipal councils, without imposing decisions in short periods appropriate to current requirements, and without objectively holding all stakeholders accountable and guiding them.
Another point that promises discussion is tacit approval. António Nóbrega recalls that tacit approval “represents an act constituting rights valid for all purposes” and that, as long as this approval is enforced “as the effective act constituting rights that it is”, “never, but never, will there be any type of simplification”. It also emphasizes that revocation, that is, rejection after the legal deadline has passed, is only permitted upon compensation to the interested party by the local authority.
“This is not a miracle”, he states, supporting his positions on his 43-year experience as an urban planning leader, on hundreds of technical-scientific articles and on thousands of hours of training on this subject. “The Simplex Urbanístico does not just represent simplification: it is above all the redistribution of responsibilities. We will discuss this at the conference”, he reinforces.
With the theme “The New Urban Simplex, Bill No. 48/VII, Construction on Rural Land (DL 117/2024), Housing Cooperatives and Real Estate Mediation as structuring instruments for housing policy”, the conference also aims to frame the role of cooperatives and the social economy and discuss the contribution of real estate mediation in a sector under strong pressure.
The initiative will be carried out in partnership, with the newspapers Postal do Algarve and diariOnline Região Sul as media partners, as well as the – Association of Real Estate Mediators and DESA, Business Solutions.
Registration is now open and can be made using the form provided by the organization:
Also read:
