With this paper we intend to discuss an urban system resulting from the ways of living in rural areas, taking as a point of reference the colonization policies adopted in the three dictatorial regimes of Southern Europe in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s - Italy, Spain and Portugal. In order to close the vast universe of research in an operational and diversified set, were selected a group of study cases that we consider representative of the particularities of these colonization policies and of the different strategies of territorial occupation in the three countries. The structured and systematic observation of the plurality of selected cases implied the prior definition of a general characterization methodology, organized in three points: 1) landscape/territory; 2) settlement/ urban structure; 3) production methods/way of life. The problem underlying the livelihoods and the rural demand for housing was analyzed, focusing mainly on: the location of clusters, their relationship with the landscape and the distance from nearby settlements, the configuration and articulation between services, public space and lots-dwellings-domestic space.