On 20th May Vera Rodrigues, one of ClairCity’s modellers from the University of Aveiro, participated in an initiative organized by the municipality of Oliveira de Azeméis to bring children into the conversation about climate change, and discuss what can be done about it.
The municipality has been proactive in tackling social-ecological issues, with an Adaptation Plan for Climate Change and an Education for Sustainability strategy. Under this framework, they organize an event every year called The Week for the Changing Climate (in Portuguese “Semana pelo Clima (S)Em Alteração”), in partnership with the Department of Environment and Planning of the University of Aveiro. This event aims to raise awareness and inform young people of climate change, its consequences, and the actions we should adopt to adapt and mitigate climate change.
Due to COVID, this year they needed to adapt, with the municipality, together with the high school Escola Soares de Basto, instead opting to organise four webinar sessions. In total 9 classes of approximately 210 students attended the sessions, from years 5 and 6 (9 – 12 year olds).
“My talk was about climate change, with a special focus on our actions to adapt and mitigate climate change,” explains Vera. “The title was inspired by our climate change infographic: A better future is possible – how will you play your part?”
“It was really interesting to notice the enthusiasm of this students! I think they are in a particular stage of their lives, where they are very curious and surprised about the situation. I had a lot of reactions about “is it still possible to control this problem”.“
During the ClairCity project Vera and her colleagues worked with a number of schools in the Aveiro Region to raise awareness of the health impacts of air pollution and climate change, and involve students, in the form of a school’s competition, in clean air and zero carbon decision making. One of the participating schools also attended these webinars, testament to the strong relationships developed throughout our engagement process.
If you are a young person or educator wishing to act on air pollution and climate change then head to our take action page.
On October 17, 2019 ClairCity held it’s “Regional Day”, as part of the Aveiro Region Congress 2019 (16-18 October). This year’s Congress focused on the central themes of transport, environment, civil protection and forests, and took place at the Auditorium of Aveiro Fair and Exhibition Park.
Four issues in particular were on the agenda:
the transfer of the competence of the public passenger transport service to the Municipalities and the Intermunicipal Communities, carried out by the Government in 2015, as well as the legislative responsibilities and defined legal deadlines;
the results of the consultation with citizens of the Aveiro Region under the ClairCity project, revealing a growing importance of the public transport sector for the region;
the policy choices identified by the citizen for the Aveiro Region for the future, as most (9 out of 10) relate to the mobility sector;
the acknowledgment by the Aveiro Intermunicipal Community that the problem of molibility is increasingly a critical and essential factor for the Aveiro Region, including the multipolar and dispersed characteristics of the territory, with specific mobility requirements
ClairCity speaking at the Aveiro Region Congress 2019
The Aveiro Intermunicipal Community considered the most important issue to reflect and debate to be mobility and its implications for the environment and urban spaces. That is why the Regional Day program was very focused on these themes, given its interconnection and importance for this region.
The event had a global participation of 230 people, both from Aveiro Region and from outside Aveiro Region, including: citizens, municipal policy makers and workers, intermunicipal communities, associations, infrastructures entities, education entities, mobility and transport entities, companies, energy and health entities.
Taking into consideration the themes of the conference and the Regional Day, the Intermunicipal Community decided to promote an exhibition under the ClairCity project. This was to allow the dissemination of examples of good practices of projects and services from each of the eleven municipalities in the region, covering the environment (carbon footprint reduction, air quality), mobility (pedestrian, cycling, electric), climate change adaptation, health and well-being, and energy efficiency.
Many ideas were put forward during the Day. We have chosen to highlight the following recommendations, comments and suggestions:
Recommendations:
Optimize the region’s public transport service
Optimize the intercity mobility network
Promote active mobility – with particular emphasis on citizens with reduced mobility
Build bike paths for everyday commuting (eg. to and from work)
Reduce the number of free car parks in the region
Promote tele-working
Implement more energy efficiency measures in the residential sector
Modernise residential heating systems
Implement measures to control and eliminate agricultural burning
Optimise policy articulation at different levels – EU, national, regional and local
Explore the co-benefits between air quality, climate, energy and health
Comments and suggestions:
Transport and mobility are as essential as the air we breathe and health
Citizens’ freedom is also the ability to move
Transport and mobility today have new challenges
Mobility should be viewed as a service that the consumer chooses
Integration of various forms of transport services into a single, easy-to-use service / platform (“Maas” logic)
Implementation of other solutions to reduce the need for people to move around (eg. work zones near residential areas; video conferencing)
Behaviour change – sharing modes of travel
Promote nautical mobility – important in this region that has a vast area of water (Ria de Aveiro Lagoon)
Reduction of bureaucracy and simplification of information to citizen services, placed in strategic locations of urban spaces
Micromobility (buses / trains / electric / soft modes) is more sustainable and allows for a better quality of life
Micromobility – The challenge lies in educating users to comply with the rules
Promoting public transport will help to remove / reduce vehicles in cities
Seek flexible mobility solutions to adapt to developments as they occur
Bicycle – Important Mode for Intermodality
Walking – Take better care of degraded floors in urban centers and other public spaces outside urban centres
Lack of regulation of insurance in the soft mobility sector and pedestrian protection. There is a lot of room to develop at this level
How to solve end-of-life pollution from electric vehicles?
The problem of the value of investment in the purchase of electric buses. The solution could be financing measures in the early years.
To celebrate our video activity with older people in the Aveiro Region in 2018/19, we organised a lunch with some very special guests. The President of the region (CIRA), José Ribau Esteves, along with the President of Albergaria-a-Velha Municipality, António Loureiro, had lunch with our winning video entrant, José Seixas and his wife Maria. Olga Cravo from the ClairCity project also joined the lunch, held at the “Mercado do Peixe” restaurant at the end of April 2019.
Mr Seixas, a resident of Albergaria-a-Velha, is involved in the Idade Maior Program which was how he had come to get involved in the ClairCity video project. The Idade Maior program is an initiative of the Municipality of Albergaria-a-Velha, working with people aged 55 or over. The program aims to promote new discoveries and healthy lifestyles, and value lifelong learning and the capacities, skills, knowledge and culture of older age groups. The activities are selected to increase the self-esteem and self-confidence of seniors and promote social opportunities and the exchange of experiences.
Our 2019 conference was hosted in the Portuguese city of Aveiro on 10th April. We were delighted to host over 60 external participants which included high-level polititians (including the President of the Aveiro Region and Mayor of Aveiro, and Mayors of various other municipalities in the Aveiro Region), NGOs (environmental NGOs and sustainabile mobility / cycling focused NGOs), and university and school staff and students.
You can also read about the conference in Portuguese.
Posters from each of the municipalities in CIRA showcasing their best practices in themes of health, air quality and carbon emissions are also available.
Decorreu, com enorme sucesso, no passado dia 10 de abril de 2019, no edifício da Assembleia Municipal de Aveiro, a terceira Conferência Anual ClairCity, uma iniciativa conjunta entre a Universidade de Aveiro (UA) e a Comunidade Intermunicipal da Região de Aveiro (CIRA).
A conferência teve como objetivo principal sensibilizar os cidadãos da CIRA em relação à poluição atmosférica e às emissões de carbono, observando como todos contribuem para o problema e de que forma este afeta a saúde dos cidadãos e as suas vidas. Para isso, contou com a presença de diversos oradores, desde investigadores do projeto a representantes de entidades locais.
Quer ser parte ativa na decisão sobre em que cidade viveremos no futuro? Se tem mais de 16 anos e reside ou trabalha na Região de Aveiro, convidámo-lo(a) a preencher este questionário. Ao participar estará a contribuir para o maior observatório europeu sobre esta matéria.
O questionário demorará cerca de 10-15 minutos a completar e encontra-se disponível, até dia 20 de fevereiro de 2018, no link: http://bit.ly/2zi7XXl
Este questionário constitui uma das atividades de envolvimento e auscultação da população local, pretendendo conhecer melhor o estilo de vida dos cidadãos na Região de Aveiro e como gostariam de o melhorar. Este questionário surge na sequência do questionário anterior da Ronda 1. Se não preencheu ao questionário da Ronda anterior, continua a poder responder a este questionário.
Contamos com a sua participação e divulgação por familiares, colegas e amigos.
Obrigado!
A Universidade de Aveiro, a Comunidade Intermunicipal da Região de Aveiro e toda a equipa ClairCity agradecem!
A Universidade de Aveiro apresentou, no passado dia 30 de janeiro 2017, o projeto ClairCity na primeira reunião do Conselho Intermunicipal da Região de Aveiro, que contou com a presença dos presidentes (ou seus representantes) das 11 Câmaras Municipais da CIRA.
Foram apresentados o consórcio, o conceito e objetivos e tarefas do projeto, e discutida a importância das autarquias para o envolvimento dos cidadãos e instituições locais nas ações previstas. Os presentes reconheceram a importância da qualidade do ar para a qualidade de vida dos habitantes da Região de Aveiro e a necessidade de sensibilizar os cidadãos e grupos de interesse para os problema de poluição do ar existentes, estimulando uma maior participação nos processos de decisão.
