Carried out within the framework of the multidisciplinary research project PERIURBAN (Periurban areas faced with the challenges of sustainability: developing scenarios for Lisbon Metropolitan Area) this paper aims to present the diversity of territories within the territory of Lisbon Metropolitan Area through the reference to the typology of periurban areas designed in the project. Periruban areas encompass both characteristics of the urban and rural world and they are located somewhere in-between the urban core and the rural landscape. They have been traditionally approached from an urban planning perspective as ground for urban sprawl and location of regional and trans-regional infrastructures. European key policy documents (e.g., Lisbon Strategy, European Spatial Development Perspective, Territorial Agenda, Lieipzig Charter, European Landscape Convention) have been fostering the understanding of sustainable urban development as an increased integration of economic prosperity, social equity and cohesion, and environmental protection, as well as the strengthening or rural-urban relationships Periurban territories have gained a renewed interest in contemporaneity, in the face of the challenges of sustainability. However, the exploitation of its potential requires an approach that goes beyond the classic urban perspectives of a space to be consolidated and (re)developed. To that extent, a more comprehensive perspective is required, focused on their specific needs and their particular aptitude to contribute to an increase of the life quality of the population. Recognizing that the opportunity of these territories lies in the ability to integrate multiple sectoral policies and visions in the territorial planning process, the PERIURBAN project constructed a typology of periurban areas. The typology integrates a multi-dimensional analysis and was designed through a cluster analysis resulting in 5 types of periurban territories. The paper considers all the dimensions used in the design of typologies but goes deeper in social and economic domains by presenting the indicators used in the construction of the typology: e.g., family and housing characteristics, territorial recomposition, and spatial inequalities, economic structure and specialization. The results allow the acknowledgment of the diversity of territories within the (periurban) territory of Lisbon Metropolitan Area

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territory, periurban areas, typology, Lisbon Metropolitan Area