On the Admissibility of Extrajudicial Means of Dispute Resolution in Environmental and Urban Planning Matters – Current Experiences, Future Possibilities

Abstract

Environmental conflicts have particular characteristics that demand efficiency and speed in their resolution—qualities that are not fully embodied in the current judicial system, which is slow to respond to the procedural demands it receives. In this context, other means of resolving environmental disputes have begun to emerge and gain practical application, offering approaches better suited to the specific nature of such controversies.

In the following pages, we present the various extrajudicial mechanisms for resolving environmental and urban planning disputes that have developed most vigorously in the United States, analysing the admissibility of their practical application within the Portuguese legal framework. Although introducing new realities and innovative international experiences with a different approach to the subject, this text compiles many of the ideas previously developed in our work *“Resolução extrajudicial de conflitos em matéria ambiental: um inexorável mundo novo”*, in *Direito do Urbanismo e do Ambiente – Estudos compilados*, MARQUES CEBOLA, Cátia, Quid Juris, Lisbon, 2010, pp. 404–439.