Martins points out that one of the keys was to start with the youngest members of the community. Over the past decade, Guimarães has worked particularly with schools to promote environmental awareness among children and teenagers.
Many of those students are now young adults who, according to the councillor, have grown up "imbued with a strong personal awareness of the environment". That seed has ultimately spread to other generations. "The work of raising awareness among young people has been fundamental," he says. A patient, years-long strategy has allowed sustainability to cease being an issue exclusive to the City Council and become a shared concern across the city.
AN INDUSTRIAL CITY THAT HAS CLEANED UP ITS RIVERS
But Guimarães has also changed physically. Martins cites its rivers as an example, particularly significant in a city with an industrial past whose waterways became heavily polluted.
The recovery of water quality has been accompanied by measures to address another problem caused by climate change: torrential rain. The creation of retention basins and small dams makes it possible to store some of the water when major storms arrive and reduce the risk of flooding in the city centre. "We have done this work as well," Martins explains, also highlighting the role of the Laboratório da Paisagem, an organisation linked to the City Council that conducts environmental research and provides scientific and technological data so that municipal decisions are not made blindly.
Ultimately, this is the recipe Guimarães offers from the experience of a city that has already won: education, political continuity, citizen participation and decisions supported by data. It has not been a trouble-free journey, Martins admits, but it has been a direction the city considers right and now wants to use to project itself in Europe and around the world as a city offering quality of life. As Zaragoza waits to defend its bid to become European Green Capital 2028 this afternoon, Guimarães displays the marks of a title it is already enjoying.
