Renaissance city was an urban theoretical model which defined not only the urban shape, but also the changes in the urban societies. Such model was restricted to the treatises and its practical applications used only some aspects of the Renaissance scholars. However, in last years, some Portuguese authors tried to demonstrate that in Portugal and, even, in its colonies, Renaissance Urbanism was an undeniable fact. This article analyzed this hypothesis and found a very different reality which theoretical knowledge was not enough to change, significantly, a reality defined along Middle Age neither to erase vernacular knowledge of “making cities”.
Keywords: City history, Urbanism history, Renaissance Urbanism, Portuguese Urbanism.