How a historic Portuguese city is reinventing itself for a changing climate

Hello and welcome to Local Voices for Sustainability. I'm your host Laura Schubert. In each episode of this podcast, we explore the urban sustainability challenges and triumphs taking place in Eclay member cities across Europe. In this episode we had to Gimme Rush, a historic city in northern Portugal, often known as the birth place of the nation with around 150,000 residents. Its historic center is UNESCO listed, so the city is rooted in the past but is also becoming a front runner in sustainable Urban Development.

So our central question of today is how does a city with so much history reinvent itself for the future while still keeping its cultural identity? Joining us is Carlos Hibajo, president of the Landscape Lab, Gimer Aisha's landscape laboratory. The lab brings together research, policy and the community to support sustainable territorial development, and under Carlos's leadership, has become a key driver of the city's green transition.

Carlos, welcome. Thank you for the invitation, Laura. Across Europe, historic cities are facing big challenges, heat waves, fires, floods, while also trying to protect the cultural heritage that makes them unique. Kimuraish has taken the long term approach, weaving sustainability into city planning, education and everyday life. This year the city is hosting the European Urban Resilience Forum and was named a European Green Capital, which shows the leadership it's taking in sustainable Urban Development. So, Carlos, to start us off, can you tell us a bit about how Gemarais got here?

What was the first big step that showed the city was serious about sustainability? As you told before, Gemarais is often described as the the birth plate of Portugal, the throttle of the country. It is a very industrialized city and industry brought prosperity, but also pollution, also some disconnection between citizens and and nature.

And recognizing that legacy, the city decided that needs to also to use this challenge as an opportunity to to change and to to transform its its landscape. In 2013, the mayor decided to increase the investment in sustainability to design A better city with better quality of life and well-being, and started this kind of climate journey with a large political consensus. So in 2013, the mayor decided to increase the investment in sustainability, first with the environmental diagnosis and we designed an action plan for each indicator, quality of hair, biodiversity, noise, also mitigation, adaptation. We we started this climate journey with this kind of connection between university, the private sector, the public sector and the citizens.

We need to improve several environmental indicators, using the past as a challenge to move forward to a better future. So 2013 was really the turning point. Then, when this new mayor instigated this change, this analysis took place and it sounds like across multiple sectors this sustainable transition was kicking off at the same time. Yeah, if you if I need to mention some of the key points, of course that the political decision in 2013 was important and the signing a political consensus in 2017 was real really important to be sure that the transformation needs the engagement of all political parties and all of the community.

And of course, in this part of the time we have two other key points. For example, the creation of the Landscape Lab in 2014 with the University of Minu, University of Tras, Montes and Deltodoro, and also the City Hall and the creation of a kind of governance ecosystem that tried to engage the public sector, the private sector, the universities and citizens. It was very important at that time to to achieve some of the goals that we achieved, for example European green Capital, but also the new challenge that we have now, for example, being climate neutral by 2030.

Right, nice. So it's really a cross sectoral approach to climate governance. So Hemiraj has invested heavily in urban greening and riverbank restoration. How does the city decide where to focus these interventions to have the greatest impact for residents? When I told before that industry had a strong and negative impact, we realized that we need to invest in increasing the quality of our rivers, the quality of our riverbanks.

This was central for reconnecting citizens with nature, reconnecting citizens with water, restoring ecosystems and also improving resilience. And today the green and blue corridors link rural areas to the strike center through a kind of radial greening strategy that improves biodiversity, supports mobility, reduces also its island and helps also to manage floods in polycentric territory. So.

Sorry, what's polycentric mean? Territory very dispersed with some of, how can I say village 9 village dispersed in the territory. So we need to manage this kind of dispersed territory that transformed the city in a challenge territory, of course, because we need to support all of these parts of the territory regarding mobility and regarding water distribution. For example, 2/3 of our citizens live outside the city center. So this is a challenge for us, of course. And I'm curious, before you started these riverbed restoration efforts, what were they like before? One of our rivers was 1, the most polluted in Europe. Because of industry.

Yeah, because of the industry. OK. All of our projects, we work in a kind of three-dimensional approach. Why? Because the first dimension is not transforming the landscape. The first dimension is creating identity between the climate challenge and also the citizens. Try to improve the sense of belonging, educating citizens, improve the raising awareness with with our citizens. And after that we can move to the second dimension to transform the territory, to the rehabilitation, for example, of riverbanks.

Also using citizens as guardians of this transformation. Because citizens needs to understand why we need the transformation, why we need to improve riverbanks, why we need to improve the quality of our rivers. And after that, OK, we can move to the third dimension, a kind of replication of our innovative solutions in all of our territory. So This is why we always say that our projects are based in this kind of 3D approach, first education, second transformation and the third, replication.

OK, so fire risk has become a growing concern across Europe, yet Gemerise has seen a dramatic reduction in burned areas over the past decade. Can you share what worked best in terms of planning and improving the city's preparedness for and resilience to fire risk? It was very important the the forest defense plan that was designed and a key step in this kind of reduction.

Of course that investment in the different way to manage our forests, involving the private sector, also the the the public sector, increasing the monitoring of our forests and also using real time sensors, I think that was very important, this kind of connection between science to support the political decision. So would you say that science was driving political decision making?

Of course, the creation of the landscape Lab was very important to increase this kind of support for the political decision, using research and using science to support the the municipality. The Landscape Lab also provides continue monitoring of ecosystem, for example in the case of climate risks.

I'm curious because I've never been to the city before. I'm wondering if you can paint for me a picture as to how forested areas interact with the city. Are forested areas on the edge of the city? Like can you see the burned areas from the city? Yes, but we can we can see now the transformation of also of these these forest areas. One of our main lengths of the city was the Pena Mountain that we can see from the city center, for example. It is now one of the most important spots of biodiversity that we have here.

And this is a great example of how we reduced the burnt areas and how we are transforming the landscape, how we are promoting a native forest and how we are engaging the private sector with a with a public sector. A moment ago, you mentioned the involvement of community or civil society in these initiatives. Would you say that the public has been involved or invested in this transformation?

Yes, sure. One of the projects that we have here in Ghimanish is a project called Ghimanish Mishloreshta, Ghimanish Moore Forest, if we can translate. And for example, last Saturday, more than 25 companies invested in, in the plantation of native trees in an an area here in Gimmage with more than 2000 trees planted with the investment of the of this kind of companies, this kind of private sector since 2017, we planted more than 27,000 trees with the investment, direct investment of the private sector. Wow, OK, so the private sector is really buying into the future of the city.

Yeah, yeah. They understand that they are part of this transformation. And it is very important to reinforce this connection between the private sector also the the, the civil community and, and the research centers as as the landscape plan. It's a social responsibility, it's an environmental responsibility, of course.

That's true. So, Gimerash has been an E Clay member since 2017, meaning that the city has had the chance to connect with other cities facing similar challenges. Can you share an example of how that collaboration has influenced the city's approach to sustainability? I can say that all of this, this, this journey, this climate journey was an important learning process.

And one of the key points of this learning process was the connection between the city and the different city networks that we have, of course, at Eclay was also very important reinforcing this sharing knowledge between Gimmes and other cities. Because I think that all of this journey in all of in all cities, not only Gimmes is also important to inspire other cities and also to be contaminated positive contamination with with the other cities.

Of course, learning with them, learning for example, with the cities that were European green capital, learn with the with the cities that have the same challenge that we have medium sized cities, for example. And this kind of sharing and knowledge was very, very important to increase capacity building also with our technicians and also our researchers. So I think that these kind of networks are very, very important to move forward the the cities also in Europe. Kimuraish is a classic medium sized city you could say. Can you think of a specific example where the city learned something from another city?

Why? I can give you different examples. You you talk about the green radial strategy. It was very important what we learned with the Victoria Castais in Spain, with the creation of of the Greenbelt of Victoria. It was very important to learn with Valencia, one of the last European green capitals, about the transformation of the city and the creation of sense of community.

So I think there are very good examples that we can use that can be important to to this climate journey. And This is why, for example, in the beginning of the European Korean capital here in Gemarage, in beginning of this month, we launched the declaration of Gemarage. That can be a declaration that we launched for the different European cities. Because this kind of medium sized cities has with this kind of past linked with the industry, with the connection that we are doing between culture, sport and the climate action, It is important to have this kind of the declaration. So moments that can be an inspiration for the other European cities.

So I think that this kind of networks are very important to create this link between cities and also between politicians. Of course, to understand that we need to change, we need to move that we can also learn with the bad examples to improve, of course. I have one final question for you before we move into our second segment of the show.

So as Gamerasha sustainability work has grown, it's moved from individual projects to bigger long term plans. Things like urban cooling, water management, and planting more trees as you just mentioned a moment ago. How does this city make sure all of these efforts work together across different departments while still looking after the historic areas? So This is why it is important to underline this creation of the government sector system that we created in 2015, involving also the different departments of the municipality to act in a more holistic way.

And of course that we decide with these technicians from the municipality, with different research, we analyze the landscape, the challenge that we have, the priorities that we have. And of course, when we talk about the biggest challenge in the past, we talk about the water quality, of course, but we need to talk about the impact of the floods, for example. And an example of a challenge that the city looked back in the past and decided to create a great example of adaptation, the retained basins that solved the the flood problem in the city centre.

And at the same time, we realized that, OK, we need to add this kind of adaptation measures, but we need to improve our mitigation measures also with the rehabilitation of our green corridors, the investment in our natural capital, not only planting trees, but reinforcing our urban green radial strategy with different nature based solutions, spreading all of the territory. So it is always very important to have this team with the technicians from the municipality, with the experts from the university, the researchers from the landscape, analyzing the challenges, analyzing our priorities and creating some innovative solutions. Yeah, just to.

Clarify. The strategy you mentioned is called the urban Green radial strategy, correct? We created this green radial strategy that reinforced the connection between urban green areas and the other green areas of the territory. For example, creating new greenways along our rivers, reinforcing the connection and the green corridors between the pre-existing parks and creating more green areas to the city. So this green radial strategy is very important not only to improve the green areas of the city, but also to promote biodiversity, to reinforce the importance of reducing Thailand and also to support the soft mobility and reinforce the the territorial cohesion.

All right, so it's truly a strategy for the territory. It's not just for the city. Yeah. Now we've arrived at the lightning round of our show, which we like to call hot takes. I'll ask you a few rapid fire questions and I'm looking for your first instinctual response. Ready. OK, I will try. If someone had only one afternoon to experience the culture and heritage of Kimuraj, where should they go and why?

Of course, the UNESCO Heritage site, because it's why Humanize is well known as the cradle of Portugal. So the UNESCO Heritage is mandatory to know about the history of the country, the history of the city and from the city center, use our green map that we launched for the European Green Capital and understand the different areas and places, places, the environmental good practices that we have and that we want to show to our visitors.

OK, I'm curious about the green map. I'm hoping you can send us a link to that. Yeah, of course, the green map, we selected 15 places with our best climate good practices regarding adaptation, mitigation, biodiversity spots, also research and we selected these different places to showcase our climate journey.

One of them, for example, the landscape lab, the other one our irritation basins, a great example of adaptation, another example of mitigation, our self sustainable building, our gymnastics Academy, also our mainland of the city, the Pena mountain and also our greenways along the rivers. So different climate good practices that we want to showcase to our visitors. Are there any local traditions or celebrations in Ghimraj that you think also carry a message about sustainability or caring for the environment?

Of course, during the European Green Capital, yes, all of our events that we are planning for the year, also the traditional moments that are linked with our medieval history, all of them are in 2026, of course, linked with the climate action and European Green Capital. Of course, the planning of the year that we have are linked with the with this transformation that we did and the transformation that we are planning. What's your favorite spot in the city where history and nature meet?

I'd like to say Penya Mountain because it was a great transformation from the past. Nowadays is the main green area of the territory. But in the past when we go back for the 19401930 and we looked to the photos we had in the past, only rocks and now we have the major green area of the city. So maybe I would say Pena Mountain. And from the Pena Mountain, we can see all of the city center. That must be so satisfying for everyone to see that mountain turn from rock to green.

If you could turn a historic landmark into a space that also tells a story about sustainability, which site would it be and how would you do it? Yeah, maybe I can choose to. One of them is District C It's a neighborhood in the city center that was transformed in the last years from industry buildings into the research centers into a more creative and a more sustainable neighborhood. We called it by Jose, District C, the sea from creativity, the sea from science.

Because in Portuguese with the sea, the sea from carbon I can see from culture, of course. So we are trying to transform this neighborhood into the first climate neutral neighborhood of the city. Wow, OK. In the past, we get lots of industries linked with the leather industry, for example, and we transform these industry buildings into science apps. And This is why we are creating this kind of neighborhood that is part of the Union School average site. One of the main rivers crosses also this neighborhood and is also the part of the city that was impacted in the in the past by the floods.

And that we and we solve this problem with the rotation basins that I told before. So maybe I can choose District C as one of the places? So that's one that's already a work in progress. Yeah. I'll be curious to check in on that site 10 years from now and see how things are going. And finally, imagine someone visiting GEMARAJ 10 years from now.

What aspects of sustainability and culture would you hope for them to see? 10 years from now, they can see all the transformation that we are planning, for example, regarding greenways, more than 60 kilometers of greenways along the rivers, the transformation that we are planning for public transport, increasing the soft mobility, all of the transformation that we are also creating with this green radial strategy that will improve the green areas of the city.

So lots of transformation that we are doing now and of course that some of them needs time to understand and to see. Well, Carlos, that's it. We've reached the end of our show. I would like to thank you so much for joining us and for giving our listeners a behind the scenes look at how a historic city like is balancing sustainability and heritage and planning for a greener, more resilient future. So thanks for the invitation and of course, this is an important here for us because we are European green capital. We'll be very welcome to the city to see the transformation, to see the good practices, to see the passion of our citizens, the sense of belonging and the ownership of our citizens. And do not forget that humanity

is a very special city and historical city and that to pronounce the name of the city, you need to smile. We always say the name of our city with great smile and we want to showcase you and our visitors and our networks the transformation and also share our good practices but also learn. And before we go, I just want to give a shout out to the European Resilience Forum, which is coming up from the 17th to the 19th of June in Gemaraj.

Carlos, could you tell us something you're looking forward to about the event? It will be a great moment. One of the major events that we have in our European Green Capital Plan. The expectation is very high of our stakeholders with the city. It will be a very, very important moment for the city. And it will be a great moment also to showcase transformation of Kimarange, to showcase the climate good practices that we have, but also to learn with each other. So I think that was great that we can host the arrest meeting and we are trying to create, we declay a great moment not only for the city, but of course for the different European cities that we will visit us.

Wonderful. OK, listeners, you've heard it here. You've gotten a taste of what is waiting for you and Gmailash at the European Resilience Forum, as well as all the things that have been happening across the city during its European Green Capital Year. So that's all for now. Carlos. Thank you again for joining us on the show.

And listeners, until next time.

How a historic Portuguese city is reinventing itself for a changing climate

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