Welcome to the Official page of the Presidency of the Portuguese Republic

Honourable Mayor of Coimbra,
Honourable Minister for the Environment, Country Planning and Regional Development,
Honourable President of the Polis Coimbra Society,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

I applaud the Municipality of Coimbra, the Polis Coimbra Society and those responsible for the quality of the Coimbra POLIS Programme, which we had the opportunity to ascertain in the works inaugurated today.

This is a good example of urban re-qualifying. It places the river in the centre of the city, enlarges the green zones, encourages pedestrian circulation and leisure activities and opens doors to projects of environmental education.

But it is also a good example, since it results from a partnership between the Central Administration and the Local Authorities to render material the people’s legitimate expectations in the improvement of quality of life.

Projects such as this, even if with a smaller volume, are a positive answer to the challenges with which Portuguese cities are faced today.

In spite of the achievements of the last decades in the transport and energy infrastructures, social equipment and housing, the truth is we are faced with new occurrences of degradation of the urban environment and, in a more general sense, with the loss of quality of life in the cities.

The enlargement of the peripheries of the large and medium sized Portuguese cities was added to the degradation of the urban environment and to the emergence of new social exclusion phenomena.

In view of such a situation it is necessary to act effectively and with determination.

The improvement in the quality of life in the cities should be a top priority of the central administration, of local authorities and of the people. Cities, due to their capacities and resources, are decisive for the development of our economy.

However, changes in urban re-qualifying must contribute, simultaneously, to the improvement in the quality of life, to environmental preservation, to public health, to social inclusion and to the economic performance of the cities.

Quality of life in urban areas is not only a people’s right, but also a competitiveness factor of our cities in a background of demanding globalization.

In the global world in which we live, where all the cities of the world compete to attract investment, resources, talents and enterprises, the ambition of our cities must be concerned with the demand for environmental quality and town planning, sustainable mobility, access to clean energy sources, availability of good quality social equipment and qualified labour. This is the only way we can assert the global competitiveness of Portuguese cities.

In the Route to Science which I carried out last June, I met foreign scientists who had decided to take up permanent or temporary residence in Portugal, who told me they had considered the quality of life in the cities as the main reason for their choice.

Quality of life is essential in global competition and some of our cities have higher standards of quality of life than many cities abroad. I believe that quality of life in Portuguese cities is an important competitive factor for Portugal within a global background.

Due to all this, it is urgent that we progress in the re-qualifying of Portuguese cities.

We have many good examples of urban recovery, re-conversion and rehabilitation, especially in historical zones, in old industrial areas and in urban peripheries.

But we equally require a new attitude in the field of energy in the cities. Portugal faces a crucial challenge in this matter: reduce hothouse gas emissions to prevent climatic alterations, comply with the European targets and diminish its energy dependence from external sources, especially from oil.

We have to take more advantage from our natural resources and secure greater production of energy from renewable sources. But we also have to improve the efficiency in the use of energy. Portugal has much to achieve in this matter. It is necessary to gain improved efficiency in the use of energy in buildings, industry and transport.

Environmental and energy issues are so important that I have decided that the next campaign of the Route to Science will be dedicated to Clean Technologies.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We must be capable to re-qualify cities with improved technologies, improved environmental standards and, not less relevant, active participation of the people. The challenge of quality of life in the cities concerns us all. It is not just a question of building or construction. It is, in good measure, public spirit.

I am certain we will succeed.

N.B. POLIS is the acronym for “Programme for Re-Qualifying the Portuguese Urban Space”