21.05.2019, Porto

Interreg North West Europe programme visits the Atlantic Area

The exchange included a visit to AtlaS.HW, a project dealing with sustainability of the Urban World Heritage Sites

Interreg colleagues from the North West Europe programme visited the Atlantic Area Joint Secretariat in Porto this week as part of their annual teambuilding exercise. The two Interreg programmes met on Tuesday May 21^st for an exchange between the two staff groups and followed this with a trip to downtown Porto for an introduction to AtlaS.WH project at the City Hall. AtlaS.WH project brings together five World Heritage cities from around Europe to find common solution for the long term sustainability of their historic centers and the various challenges they have to face, from overcrowding to housing, from climate change to energy efficiency.

The presentation was followed by a tour of the historic center of Porto, down Rua das Flores and then to the riverside. The North West team had the chance to see a few of the spaces in the historic center targeted for urban regeneration. In some areas, selected buildings were bought by the Municipality, renovated and then used for resettlement. In other areas, like Praça das Cardosas, old decadent buildings were torn down and new communal spaces were created.

Based in Lille, Interreg North West Europe has a working budget of €370 million and works across eight countries: Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Their work is focused on three main priority axes: innovation, low carbon and resource and material efficiency.

_{Photo credits: Câmara Municipal do Porto}

Published on: 2019-05-23