In the presence of the Mayor of Porto, Rui Moreira, and the Vice-Mayor of the Municipality, Filipe Araújo, a new chapter in the lives of the population of Campanhã was opened this Saturday. The community can now enjoy a multifunctional and inclusive green park, which offers a pedestrian circulation network and a new form of soft mobility, while also looking to the preservation of nature.

In the presence of the Mayor of Porto, Rui Moreira, and the Vice-Mayor of the Municipality, Filipe Araújo, a new chapter in the lives of the population of Campanhã was opened this Saturday. The community can now enjoy a multifunctional and inclusive green park, which offers a pedestrian circulation network and a new form of soft mobility, while also looking to the preservation of nature.

“This is a park that not only improves the quality of public space, but also meets the specific needs of the community that lives here. It is a meeting point, a leisure area, where we want to relax”, highlighted Filipe Araújo, also councilor for the Environment and Climate Transition and Innovation and Digital Transition.

A more connected Porto

The “green lung”, as described by the vice-president, represents a “fundamental link for the various communities and surrounding facilities, connecting housing groups to essential infrastructure”.

Furthermore, the four hectares that flourished there are “closely linked to the City’s Eastern Park, allowing the community to enjoy a free connection to another 18 hectares of green area, along the Rio Tinto , thus also reinforcing the strategy of creating a more connected Porto”.

However, this park is not the only reason why it is special. “It connects lives. It solves everyday challenges for our community, as we witnessed when, in February, a resident with reduced mobility told us how this park changed his life by allowing him to leave his house and walk around the area with ease and safety,” recalled the councilor.

The city’s new green space also responds to some urgent environmental challenges. “All the rainwater that falls here is infiltrated into the soil, contributing to the recharge of aquifers, which is vital for the survival of the more than a thousand trees that were planted here,” noted Filipe Araújo, who was also accompanied during the visit by the president of the Porto Municipal Assembly, Sebastião Feyo de Azevedo, by the president of the Campanhã Parish Council, Paulo Ribeiro, and by other councillors.

Community spirit that inspires

Since the Municipality chose the community of Campanhã to be part of URBiNAT, the European project for building healthy corridors with the involvement of the people who make the spaces, it is with pride that the population now observes a place that they also helped to design.

“They themselves [the population] also defined how they wanted the park: which paths and which connections. They taught us how to design the park”, playing a fundamental role in identifying needs, explained the vice-president, highlighting the importance of the main stakeholders being part of a process that was jointly designed by architects Gonçalo Canto Moniz and Luís Miguel Correia.

With the work completed, the locals are able to enjoy this long-awaited space with a smile on their faces. But they don’t sit back and relax – because there is always more to do. Those who walk through the Alameda de Cartes Park will find the Campmarket: a small fair selling crafts, organic products and antiques, where the locals come together to liven up the place. The market is celebrating its first edition in this new space in Porto.

For the future, the vice-president of Porto guarantees that the green commitment continues to be a priority. “There is a policy of continuity that responds to multiple challenges that the city faces”, such as increasing green spaces and combating climate change, he said.