The 4th Revision of the Évora Urban Urbanisation Plan involved a broad participatory process, involving citizens in the various stages of the revision. It was organised into four phases: gathering of expectations, assessment, formulation of proposals, and pilot experiences.
Problems and Purpose
Évora’s Urban Development Plan had become outdated in the face of the city’s urban, environmental, heritage and socio-demographic changes in the recent years. Its revision, the fourth since the original plan was approved, aimed to provide Évora with a renewed planning tool, capable of addressing challenges such as the housing crisis (high prices and a shortage of supply, with a particular impact on young people), car dependency and the fragility of soft mobility, the deterioration of public spaces and the built environment of the UNESCO Historic Centre, an ageing population, tourism pressures on heritage, and climate change.
From the terms of reference of the public tender, the municipal technical team established that the process would be fully participatory, under the motto “Building the city we love together”. The central aim of participation was twofold: on the one hand, to develop a citizen-led assessment that would complement and enrich the technical assessment; on the other, to actively involve citizens in formulating proposals for the plan, ensuring that the review reflected the community’s aspirations and priorities and not merely technical and political guidelines.
Background History and Context
Évora is a medium-sized city, with a population of 53.577 in the municipality [1], and was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986. Its history of public participation in urban planning predates the current review: in the 1970s, the context of the post-revolutionary housing crisis sparked intense community mobilisation around the first Municipal Master Plan, the first to be approved in Portugal. This tradition has left its mark on the local civic culture, notably through the Grupo Pró-Évora, an association with over a century of existence that has historically served as a public forum for discussing the city’s heritage and urban planning issues.
The revision of the PUÉ took place in a political context characterised by the absence of an absolute majority on the City Council, which made the involvement of all political forces a practical prerequisite for the viability of the process. The technical proposal was submitted in December 2024.
Organizing, Supporting, and Funding Entities
The process was initiated by Évora Municipal Council (CMÉvora), which launched the public tender for the preparation of the PUÉ. The successful team, responsible for drawing up the plan and coordinating the participatory process, included:
- UEst - Urbanismo Estruturante (UEst-Structural Urban Planning);
- Laboratório de Planeamento e Políticas Públicas da Universidade de Aveiro, L3P|UA (Planning and Public Policy Laboratory of the University of Aveiro) responsible for the participatory process;
- Municipal technicians from CMÉvora.
Participant Recruitment and Selection
The process included four forms of engagement, each with a different recruitment approach:
- Open public participation: widespread promotion across the entire community, with voluntary registration for public sessions. Given the high number of registrations, the diagnostic sessions were repeated to accommodate all interested parties. Participants were divided into round-table discussions to ensure an atmosphere of close dialogue.
- Working sessions with specific organisations: direct contact with key organisations, CCDR Alentejo, the Évora 2027 European Capital of Culture team, the University of Évora, lecturers from the Department of Landscape and Planning, CIMAC, Grupo Pró-Évora, Eugénio de Almeida Foundation, Espírito Santo Hospital, business associations (ACDE, ANJE, Yageo) and the Order of Architects.
- Collaboration with municipal services: staff from ten municipal divisions and departments were systematically involved, contributing to specific analysis reports and the review of sectoral proposals.
- Pilot project with children and families: four primary schools were selected (São Mamede, Frei Aleixo, Quinta da Vista Alegre and Comenda). Surveys were conducted with the children, their families and the school community. During the walkthrough sessions, participation was extended to 74 children accompanied by municipal staff.
Methods and Tools Used
The participatory process employed a combination of methodologies tailored to each phase and the profile of each audience:
- Opening plenary session (Phase 1, Expectations, May 2022, Salão Nobre dos Paços do Concelho, 88 participants): public presentation of the participatory process, with contributions from the Mayor of Évora, the plan coordinator and the L3P|UA team; gathering of expectations regarding the plan and the participatory process; emerging themes were mobility, housing, environment, climate change.
- Round-table working sessions, a Collaborative Diagnosis (Phase 2, June 2022, Grand Hall of Évora City Council, 89 participants, 544 contributions): each session was organised into three sequential stages, furthermore the division into two sessions was necessary to accommodate all registered participants: i) sharing of collective memories of the city; ii) collaborative identification of problems and resources, organised by theme (Urban Form and Public Spaces, Mobility, Economic and Social Development, Urban Regeneration and Housing, Heritage, Environmental Challenges); iii) election of a spokesperson per table to summarise findings in the plenary session.
- Thematic working group sessions - Proposals (Phase 3 - October 2023, Palácio de D. Manuel, around 70 participants, 199 proposals): participants were divided into five thematic working groups aligned with the key areas of the Operational Diagnosis previously drawn up by the technical team. Each panel validated the operational diagnosis for the corresponding axis and produced proposals for intervention.
- Project with children, families and the school community (Phase 4 - February to October 2024): a three-part methodology in four primary schools: i) the Surveys targeting children (212 responses), families (202 responses) and the school community (24 responses), totalling 438 responses and 309 contributions; focused on the home-to-school journey and perceptions of the urban environment; ii) Mind maps: each child drew their home-to-school route, producing 218 maps that revealed significant differences in urban perception between those who walk and those who travel by car; iii) Walkthrough (June 2024): guided walks through the public spaces surrounding each school, involving 74 children and municipal officials, resulting in 22 site-specific proposals.
What Went On: Process, Interaction, and Participation
Throughout the four phases, the process engaged a wide range of participants and generated a considerable volume of contributions. Public participation exceeded expectations at every stage: the opening plenary session brought together 88 participants, the diagnostic sessions were attended by 89 people (split into two sessions due to high demand) and the proposal sessions involved around 70 citizens.
The diagnostic sessions resulted in 544 contributions, distributed relatively evenly between the identification of resources (41%) and problems (59%). Mobility, the urban form and public spaces accounted for almost half of the total contributions, followed by the themes of economic and social development, urban regeneration and housing, heritage, and environmental challenges. A methodologically significant element was the collection of collective memories at the start of each session: by evoking the city as a space of closeness and shared life, these accounts provided the technical team with a narrative framework for the plan’s vision of the future.
The proposal sessions produced a total of 199 suggestions organised around the five strategic axes of the Operational Diagnosis. The theme relating to the City’s Infrastructure and Amenities received the highest number of proposals (32%), with a particular focus on initiatives concerning pedestrian, cycling and public transport mobility.
The project involving children revealed data with direct implications for planning decisions. The surveys, which received 438 responses and generated 309 contributions, showed that around 74% of children travel to school by car, whilst only 23% walk. The mind maps confirmed this finding qualitatively: children who walk to school produce considerably more detailed and richer representations of the urban space than those who travel by car, which highlights the relationship between mode of travel and the appropriation of public space. The walking routes resulted in 22 location-specific proposals relating to lighting, pedestrian infrastructure, street furniture and green spaces in the areas surrounding the schools.
Influence, Outcomes, and Effects
The contributions gathered during the four participatory phases had a direct impact on the content of the PUÉ’s technical proposal, which was submitted in December 2024. The plan’s five strategic pillars were developed by combining the technical assessment with the priorities identified in the participatory processes: Strengthening Évora as a Regional Urban Centre, Broad-based Heritage Enhancement, Enhancement of the Surrounding Landscape, Structuring and Enhancement of the City, and Strengthening Social Cohesion.
The presentation of the plan to the Municipal Assembly was accompanied by explicit references, from various political groups, to the value of the participatory process as a means of legitimising the instrument. At the institutional level, the process is recognised by municipal officials as a model with the potential to be replicated in other areas of intervention by the Évora Municipal Council [2], particularly in the regeneration of public spaces and in initiatives involving the school community.
Analysis and Lessons Learned
The PUÉ (Plano de Urbanização de Évora) experience suggests that the success of mobilisation does not automatically result from formally opening the process to participation, but rather from the quality of the methodological design and its suitability for different audiences. The extension of the diagnostic sessions in response to the high number of registrations, the adaptation of tools to the profile of the children and their families, and the commitment to a process involving multiple stages over two years are factors that distinguish this case from others of a more one-off and consultative nature.
The process also highlighted the limitations inherent in participation in planning instruments of high technical complexity: contributions tend to focus on problems and resources from everyday experience (namely pedestrian mobility, public space, housing) and less frequently on matters of a more abstract or regulatory nature. This finding, highlighted by the experts involved, does not invalidate the process, but requires the facilitation team to invest in creating conditions for ‘informed participation’, such as learning opportunities integrated into the proposal sessions[2].
References
[1] INE. (2022). Recenseamento da população e habitação - Censos 2021. Lisboa, Portugal: INE, Instituto Nacional de Estatística. Available at https://tabulador.ine.pt/indicador/?id=0011609
[2] Lopes, C., & Falanga, R. (no prelo). Do laboratório pós-revolucionário à efervescência contemporânea: inovações democráticas em Évora, Lisboa e Porto. Em Falanga et al., Municípios e Inovações Democráticas: 50 anos de participação cívica em Portugal. Imprensa de Ciências Sociais.
External Links
https://www.cm-evora.pt/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/3i_Relatorio-Participacao.pdf
https://www.cm-evora.pt/inscricao-processo-participativo-do-plano-de-urbanizacao-de-evora/
https://www.cm-evora.pt/plano-de-urbanizacao-em-revisao/
