Project by the municipality of Guimarães involves citizens, universities and cultural and artistic organizations towards climate neutrality.
The European Heritage Platform selected Bairro C, in Guimarães, as one of 10 innovative local practices in cities across Europe. This announcement, which comes after an open application phase – which saw 40 entries from 33 European cities and regions – highlights Bairro C as an exemplary local practice in the field of cultural heritage, also contributing to the ecological, digital and social transformation of society. The selection criteria assessed the alignment of the practices presented with the cross-cutting themes of the platform project, paying special attention to the concept of triple transformation and the innovative nature of the initiatives. Furthermore, the selection committee ensured a balanced representation of themes and locations.
This initiative will serve as a basis for future European Heritage Platform capacity development activities, starting this year, with peer-to-peer learning visits, each open to 20 participants, in two cities selected from the 10 winners. In 2025, a third visit to the Caucasus region will be organized. Each of the selected practices will also be presented individually and in detail in a series of articles that the European entity will publish in the coming months. A variety of case studies, in addition to the 10 selected, will also be presented in four thematic webinars.
About Bairro C
The Bairro C pilot project, located between the area of Couros, Caldeiroa and Avenida Conde Margaride, in Guimarães, is one of several initiatives developed by the municipality for an integrated approach in the areas of energy, mobility, waste and land use, leveraging the behavioural change, social innovation, culture, politics, green technologies, sustainable finance and new business models. The key piece of the project is a Citizen’s Pact for climate neutrality and co-creation processes, thus making it possible to act in the fight against emissions in all its areas.
The project thus promotes strong citizen involvement and decarbonization through, among others, promoting the use of public transport, energy efficiency and local production of renewable energy, particularly in historic buildings and circular economy strategies. The actions involve several entities, namely universities, associations and cultural and artistic organizations, as well as companies that invest in strong civic involvement. The activities promoted address cross-cutting challenges in terms of governance and politics, finance and the ability to change behaviour, which is related to individual and institutional cultural patterns that are difficult to break/change in the city.
In addition to Bairro C, it should be noted that, in recent decades, Guimarães has been developing a set of strategic, medium and long-term projects, capable of enhancing urban regeneration processes, enhancing the historical built heritage and enhancing the fabric of industries’ creative, through programming and contemporary creation. The inclusion of the Historic Center of Guimarães in the UNESCO Cultural Heritage List, in 2001, and the European Capital of Culture, in 2012, are the biggest milestones of this strategy outlined more than 30 years ago.
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