The first phase of the project for an Ecological Park in Ericeira was recently concluded by Quaternaire Portugal. The park will occupy an area of 16 ha near the sea and to the Empa and Orelheira beaches. The project aims to improve the quality of the site, which as an extreme sensibility, and to increase its natural features.

The project includes a small building aimed to support the activities of the park, as well as parking and access to emergency vehicles.

The first project consists of the definition of six urban rehabilitation areas in Povoação (S. Miguel Island, Azores). The work involved meetings with the local authorities and field work, urban analysis and strategy definition, aimed at increasing urban renewal and building rehabilitation.

The second project is the South Matosinhos Urban Rehabilitation Strategic Programme, that was commissioned by the City Council and coordinated by Quaternaire Portugal. The Programme’s public discussion was held in October, and the document is available here: Link  (in Portuguese only)

The third, and last project to briefly highlight here is the Póvoa de Lanhoso’s City Centre Urban Rehabilitation Strategic Programme, which was recently presented to the City Council. This Strategic Programme defines a local urban regeneration strategy, as well as a mid-term action plan. Also, it identifies the public and private initiatives that are needed to improve the quality and the attractiveness of the urban space in this area. The action plan also quantifies the financial resources needed and potential funding sources. After the approval, the Strategic Programme should be presented and discussed publicly.

The company was present at the annual event that took place in Vila Nova de Gaia, last November, where the instrument's main results were publicly present and discussed.

The Quaternaire Portugal’s team has also been involved in the organisation of public sessions regarding IFRRU 2020. In Arouca (metropolitan area of Porto), Daniel Miranda, coordinator of the local Urban Rehabilitation Strategic Programme, presented the programmme main features as well as the main fiscal incentives available for owners and investors that want to participate in this urban rehabilitation strategy.

The Tourism Operational Plan is an initiative of the Municipality of Redondo that aims to assess the Redondo’s positioning and to define lines of action for its tourist development.

The eastern part of the Porto city, which corresponds to around one-fifth of its territory, is marked by a series of social and territorial cohesion problems. The Municipality wants to answer to this problems through an ambitious policy, which bets on housing and social inclusion, environmental re-qualification, urban rehabilitation, investment attraction and the creation of high-impact public equipment projects, namely on the former Municipal Slaughterhouse and the new Campanhã’s Intermodal Transports Terminal.

After validating the diagnosis and the strategic approach by the Municipal Executive, Quaternaire Portugal’s team is currently developing the final phase of the Strategic Masterplan (vision, strategy, and territorial model).

Quaternaire Portugal is currently leading two relevant studies covering the circular economy topic.

On the one hand, we are supporting the Centre Regional Coordination and Development Commission on the elaboration of the Regional Circular Economy Agenda and it's Action Plan. This project involves a diversified group of regional stakeholders, mainly those that participate actively in the Coordination and Monitoring Platforms and Working Groups of the Strategies for Smart Specialisation (RIS3). On the other hand, we are supporting the Alentejo Regional Coordination and Development Commission to elaborate the regional economic metabolism analysis. Both studies are coordinated by Quaternaire Portugal and involve a collaboration with SIMBIENTE.

The Environmental and Social Strategic Assessment Study of the Tourism Sector in Cape Verde was conducted by the consortium Mundi Consulting - Quaternaire Portugal. Its main objective was to identify the necessary conditions to ensure that the dynamics of tourism growth in the country continue within a framework of environmental and social sustainability.

The study is based on a diagnosis, analysis of the institutional and legal framework, characterization of stakeholders in the tourism sector and the synthesis of the main opportunities, threats and main challenges of tourism development in Cape Verde, as well as its the potential impacts.

In addition, recommendations and planning guidelines were formulated for the preparation of Tourism Planning Instruments and Investment Packages, ensuring that environmental and social issues are taken into account.

The study was concluded with a public seminar, held in the city of Praia in May.

In November 2018, Quaternaire Portugal concluded the study for the competitivie repositioning of Matosinhos within the framework of opportunities and challenges generated by the Blue Economy.

The specific assets encompass:

(i) the relevant critical mass of scientific and technology resources in marine activities, fisheries and aquaculture, as well as and in robotics for exploiting the deep ocean resources located in Matosinhos, located in the port of Leixões;

(ii) the port and its logistic activities;

(iii) the intense modernization of fish canning industry;

(iv) the still relevant concentration of fishery activities;

(v) the relevance of tourism cluster (beach, nautical, cruises, sports and gastronomy);

(vi) the heritage and cultural endowment of the municipality itself.

This study corresponds to a first step in the definition of a Plan of Action for the Matosinhos’ Blue Economy.

The Municipality of Vila Nova de Famalicão invited Quaternaire Portugal to design the mission, role, strategy and action plan of the Centre for Enhancing and Transferring Technology to Meat Sector (CETT-Meat), following the legal constitution of TECMEAT, a non-profit association targeted at creating a Competences Resources Centre for the agro-food sector which is dedicated to the meat sector

The work also integrated a dimension of helping TECMEAT association to submit a tender to the Regional Operational Programme North 2020 to finance the preliminary installation activities of the CETT-Meat. Under the coordination of Quaternaire Portugal’s team, the work involves the collaboration of SIGMA Consulting.

Invited by the Baião City Council, Quaternaire Portugal is developing an assessment of the potential for recognizing and valuing intangible cultural heritage manifestations in this municipality. Theses intangible manifestations are part of the social and cultural history of a given community and territory, due to the uniqueness of techniques and products, the exceptional quality of execution, and also by its symbolic value of cultural representation and its aesthetic quality that determines the demand for these productions.

These activities have an exemplary character and show up a surprinsing modernity in contemporary economic and environmental contexts, being connected to current notions of permaculture, green economy, and circular economy. This fact is deeply linked to the nature of these activities and the use of resources and raw materials extracted in the territory and abundant in the region.

The Catalog design of Tourist Experiences based on the Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Alentejo and Ribatejo Region was completed last May. The project was commissioned by the Regional Entity of Tourism of the Alentejo and Ribatejo, and conducted by Ideias Maiores with technical assistance of Quaternaire Portugal.

It included documentary analysis and fieldwork carried out by the team, in order to developed a proposal of a catalog of tourist experiences based on the Intangible Cultural Heritage which is present is this region. Also a  conceptual approach has been developed to design this Catalog, presenting a range of preliminary proposals for different tourist products and experiences that have been structured according to the motivation of the tourists, the territorial distribution of intangible cultural manifestations and their aggregating capacity with other intangible cultural heritages with which it is obvious to explore thematic affinities. Thus, it was proposed a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Route, Thematic and Territorial Programs and, finally, a varied range of Tourist Experiences based on each individual intangible cultural heritages.

The ATIVA_MENTE project is an integrated project for active inclusion in Santo Tirso city, developed by the Municipality in partnership with the Ringe’s Housing Complex Residents' Association, a municipal social neighborhood.

The project integrates a set of activities that seek to empower individuals, families, and communities. It is intended to promote and increase employability in socially disadvantaged populations and to strengthen the empowerment of the most vulnerable groups within this population, in order to foster more structured and self-respect trajectories from a personal, family, collective and professional point of view. These most vulnerable groups include ethnic minorities, women and people with addictive behaviours.

Quaternaire Portugal maintains an important activity in the skills needs anticipation field, within the skills needs anticipation system (Portuguese acronym: SANQ), dynamized by the National Association for Qualification and Vocational Training. This work includes conducting regional diagnostic and supporting planning and coordination process for the Vocational Training network.

Considering, on the one hand, the company’s history of involvement in SANQ and also, on the other hand, the current conditions of the Intermunicipal Communities (CIM) and Metropolitan Areas in supporting the planning of the courses, the development of  works in this field has assumed different profiles – such is the case of the ongoing SANQ projects for the Coimbra Region CIM and for the Lisbon Metropolitan Area.

In Alentejo Central and Alto Tâmega CIMs, studies are being carried out to support municipal education policies and inter-municipal action. These studies include the production of information and reflection concerning educational underachievement and college drop-out phenomenon. Also, the exploration of proposals that aim to contribute to consolidate the municipal intervention and to foster a complementarity of the action with the educational community.

The methodology is characterized by the active participation of all stakeholders, integration knowledge and reflection on the territories and issues of success/failure and a combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches.

In Santiago do Cacém (Littoral Alentejo), the project "Zero Insecurity - Equality in Education" is being supported technically by Quaternaire Portugal on the project’s monitoring and assessment and also on the creation of a Local Education Observatory. In Mora (Central Alentejo), Quaternaire Portugal is providing technical assistance to the implementation and monitoring of a municipal project to combat educational underachievement.