ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses a profile of the Greater Lisbon area, followed by a description of its economic development. It outlines the administrative structure in the Greater Lisbon area. The chapter deals with the EXPO and its impact on Lisbon, followed by an analysis of the project on the basis of the theory of organising capacity. Social segregation, is closely bound up with the demographic development and unfavourable migration patterns. That demographic phenomenon has had a major impact on the city centre, which gets progressively emptier, only the people in poor socio-economic conditions remaining in the area. Politically the signs are green for EXPO '98 as well as EXPO URBE. The national government not only creates the conditions for the project, it is also its initiator and orchestrator. In the 1970s and 1980s too little was invested in renovation, not only of Lisbon but throughout Portugal. One results is the unsatisfactory traffic situation in Lisbon.
