Living territories: local power between people, nature and the future

On 18 October 2025, another opinion piece by Fátima Alves* was published in the newspaper Diário As Beiras: “Living territories: local power between people, nature and the future”.

This piece invites readers to relearn how to inhabit the world, reminding us that public money is collective and that local government should care for the common home with prudence, vision and transparency. It argues for structural strategies to address climate change, territorial inequalities and the erosion of community bonds, bringing spatial planning, ecological regeneration and community participation into prevention and landscape restoration. It further stresses that effective policy must understand people–nature relations (perceptions, values, practices) and that local authorities face a dual challenge: recognising territorial diversity and pinpointing policy failures when socio-cultural and economic nuances are ignored. Attracting and retaining young people is framed as a condition for the future, imagining living territories that welcome innovation, regenerative agriculture, the arts and transdisciplinary research.

We invite you to discover the full article in the PDF below.

* Research Group Societies and Environmental Sustainability at the Centre for Functional Ecology – Science for People & the Planet, TERRA Associated Laboratory at the University of Coimbra and its Extension at Universidade Aberta of Portugal.