Teresa Fidélis

Surrender or resistance to the implementation of Local Agenda 21 in Portugal: the challenges of local governance for sustainable development

The aim of this paper is to understand how Local Agenda 21 (LA21) is contributing to update local policy and decision making towards sustainable development in Portugal. Departing from a theoretical view of governance for sustainable development – its core values and challenges – and the role of LA21 in its endorsement, the paper presents the main results of a questionnaire survey submitted to Portuguese municipalities, with the purpose of understanding how far LA21 is being incorporated into planning and management. The paper then tries to expose some of the main potential, limitations and challenges in the local Portuguese case for the short-term sustainable future.

Natura 2000 and the narrative nature of nature: a case for critical discourse analysis

The histories of particular places and of the elements that constitute and occupy them are interpreted through different narratives by different subjects. This translates into various, often conflicting, notions of “sustainability” that need to be adjudicated. Highlighting the importance of cultural heritage for the preservation of “natural” heritage, we argue that the mapping of the social, representational and discursive terrain of local contexts is relevant for understanding and managing conservation in semi-natural areas. We suggest that practical arrangements, which are needed to protect biodiversity, should strive to become coherent elements of local narratives, and vice-versa. In the process of harmonizing local discourses toward localized definitions of “sustainable” development and conservation, we believe that Critical Discourse Analysis may constitute a relevant tool for exploring the dialectical relationship between local representations and the strategic behavior displayed by actors within decision-making with spatial and socio-economic implications.

Grassroots Environmental Action in Portugal (1974- 1994)

There is increasing evidence that citizens of non-core nations are as (if not more) concerned about the environment than citizens of core countries, especially regarding health, economic impacts, and private property (Dunlap 1996; Figueiredo 1999; Kousis 1999b).1 While environmental attitudes and movements have been relatively well studied with reference to the more developed countries (Dunlap and Mertig 1995, Dunlap 1996), these works have just began for Portugal, a non-core nation (Rodrigues 1995; Fidelis et al. 1996; Gil Nave 2000). During the first years of democracy in the seventies, Portugal experienced a relatively large number of protests, while in the eighties their numbers decreased. The effective consolidation of democracy, social stability, both economic and political, as well as a change in social values was strongly felt after the mid–80’s, when notable increases in participation in civil society and public life occurred.

The perception of environmental quality in Aveiro, Portugal: a study of complaints on environmental issues submitted to the City Council

This paper presents an environmental diagnosis based on public complaints on environmental issues submitted to the Environmental Department of the Aveiro City Council, Portugal, between 2000 and 2005. It discusses the potential influences of these in local environmental planning and governance. The paper has been organised into five sections. The first of these introduces the study. The second section focuses on the conceptual approaches relating to environmental grassroots movements, the main actors involved in these movements and the role played by the local government. It also contains a brief review of the most recent urban environmental quality challenges in the European context together with a description of the main features of the associated political and legal framework in Portugal. The third section describes the case study and the methodology used. The results of the empirical study are detailed in the fourth section. The final section critically analyses these results with emphases on the temporal evolution of the submission of complaints, the actors involved, the local environmental problems and their associated spatial pattern as well as the responses given by the City Council. This information may then be used to provide a useful indicator for the perception of environmental quality as well as a credible instrument for the visualisation and evaluation of local performance in terms of environmental planning and management.

Citizen complaints as a new source of information for local environmental governance

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to focus on the relevance of citizen complaints as a new source of information for local environmental governance. It represents an initial attempt to construct a fresh approach to the field.Design/methodology/approach – The paper comprises a brief literature review around the concept of environmental governance, the role played by institutions, and the challenges of local environmental governance; an empirical study of a Portuguese municipality based on environmental complaints submitted to its City Council and a comparative analysis between the results garnered from the empirical study and the areas of intervention in the Municipal Environmental Plan.Findings – The results suggest that the information gathered from public complaints on environmental issues has the potential to reveal the most significant environmental problems from the standpoint of local actors. This knowledge is relevant for self‐evaluation by local authorities whilst remaining a promising avenue...

Environmental complaints in Aveiro, Portugal: actors, concerns, territorial pattern, and resolutions

This paper shows the main results of an environmental diagnosis based on public complaints regarding environmental matters submitted to the Environmental Department of the Aveiro City Council, Portugal, between 2000 and 2005. The paper is structured in five sections. The first one presents the developed study. The second section brings the conceptual approaches concerning environmental grassroots movements, the main actors involved in these movements and the role played by local governance, and it succinctly reviews the most recent challenges regarding urban environmental quality within the European context as well as the main features of the associated political and legal framework in Portugal. The third section presents the adopted methodology. The results of the empiric study are shown in the fourth section. Finally, the last section critically analyses these results bringing to the fore the temporal evolution of the submission of complaints, the actors involved, the local environmental problems and their associated spatial pattern as well as the responses given by the City Council which provide a useful instrument to visualize and evaluate the environmental perception evolution and local governmental performance in terms of environmental planning and management.

Local perceptions and postures towards the SPA “Ria de Aveiro”

It has been widely argued that guaranteeing the participation of local stakeholders is a key factor for the successful implementation of the Natura 2000 Network. One of the most vital elements for guaranteeing local participation in this context may be the image that the network enjoys among local authorities and stakeholders. Perceptions towards Natura 2000 result from the way the network has been implemented so far, and may simultaneously play an important role in fostering acceptance regarding the necessary compromises of further stages of implementation, i.e., the adoption of management and conservation measures. This article presents a critical survey on the positions of key politicians and employees of municipalities that share an important part of the Ria de Aveiro, an important Portuguese wetland area designated as SPA under the Birds Directive. Our survey indicates that local perceptions are not particularly favourable to Natura 2000, which may consequently bring additional difficulties to an implementation process that has been problematic and conceptually complex from the start, not only in Portugal, but throughout the EU. In particular, the image of Natura 2000 has been further aggravated by the perception that Natura 2000 designation represents a ban on development and thus a constraint to the economic sustainability of municipalities.

Assessing the socio-economic impacts of green/blue space, urban residential and road infrastructure projects in the Confluence (Lyon): a hedonic pricing simulation approach

Urban green/blue spaces are put under pressure as urban areas grow, develop and evolve. It is increasingly recognized, however, that green/blue spaces provide important ecosystem services, stimulate higher real estate prices and prevent flooding problems. This paper aims to assess and compare the socio-economic impacts of potential green/blue space, urban residential and road infrastructure development scenarios in the Lyon Confluence project area (France), using the Sustainable Urbanizing Landscape Development (SULD) hedonic pricing simulation model. Results show four major tendencies regarding the value-added of green/blue spaces in urban landscapes: (1) cities become more compact; (2) population densities increase; (3) real estate values rise; and (4) demographic distribution patterns change. The magnitude of these impacts depends, however, on the quality and size of the intervention, the social classes attracted to the intervention area and on the location of the intervention relative to existing residential areas, urban centres, road infrastructure and environmental amenities.

Estuary planning and management: the case of Vouga Estuary (Ria de Aveiro), Portugal

Estuarine areas often concentrate complex and conflicting sets of natural, economic and social resources and activities with multiple challenges to planning and management approaches as well as to governance practices. Using a set of integration factors depicted from the literature review, the paper analyzes the main features of the new set of the Portuguese estuary types of plans and assesses their potential added value, while focusing the analysis on the estuary of the Vouga River (Ria de Aveiro). The results are twofold. On the one side, their uniqueness, by treating the estuary as a planning unit, integrating the water resources and the land use planning systems and by establishing mandatory rules for the estuary uses, embodies relevant potential for reducing boundary tensions and to improve integrative approaches. On the other side, while at the level of plan content the contribution of the Portuguese Estuary Land Use and Management Plans (Planos de Ordenamento de Estuário) legislation brings strong new prospects for integration, at the level of planning process and implementation, further efforts should be undertaken. Their added value, especially in complex institutional and societal estuarine contexts, such as the Ria de Aveiro, strongly depends on more robust participation schemes through which knowledge, institutions, aims and measures are articulated in a collective vision and shared governance process.

Confronting environmental perceptions of local populations and local authorities

– The main focus of this paper is on a study of environmental perceptions in the municipality of Aveiro, Portugal., – The study draws pn complaints regarding environmental matters submitted to the City Council and on a critical analysis of the results in comparison with the opinions of local government authorities and non‐governmental organisations, which have responsibilities for local environmental management, and experts., – The results reflect the local actors relevant to the protests, including, among these citizens and local authorities, the main concerns intrinsic to the complaints and questionnaire responses, such as those relating to urban solid waste, water, air pollution, noise and unhealthy lots; and the “preferential zones” in which environmental problems are most likely to generate complaints, more specifically the dense urban areas and, to a lesser extent, the classified natural areas, and the preferential zones for the occurrence of environmental problems in the opinion of the respondents, namely the hydrographical nets and associated margins and the rural or sparse areas. The respondents were also encouraged to identify measures required to solve the local environmental problems, revealing a great range of suggested procedures, from educational to coercive types., – There are few studies concerning complaints on environmental issues and a comparison of these data with the perceptions of local decision‐makers and experts offers a useful route to the characterisation and evaluation of local environmental concerns, identifying the most significant environmental problems within the study area. Proper management of this information can positively influence the decision‐making processes, allowing a more directed and efficient performance on the part of local government.