The initiative “Culatra2030 – Sustainable Energy Community”, coordinated by myself, André Pacheco, is a pilot transition initiative that has the ambition to be a pivot step on behalf of sustainability issues in Portugal. The true value of the Culatra 2030 initiative lies in its all-encompassing strategy covering multiple aspects of the green transition, including social, economic and environmental issues such as energy poverty, decentralized energy markets and coastal resilience. Rather than the development of new technology per se, the key perspective is the holistic model and the demonstration character of the initiative, i.e., a living laboratory for transition, through which the island will become the first Portuguese coastal community that is fully sustainable. We work on solutions that involve the development of leading practices of material recycling and establishment of new applications, laying the foundations for a circular material ecosystem. And solutions that shift our economies from a linear one – of production and discard – to a circular one – where waste can be regenerated into new raw materials will be vital. In doing so, we can reconnect the community and stakeholders with the marine habitat – its material and ecology – through entrepreneurial activity with an impact on a circular blue economy as well as through various forms of aesthetic creations and cultural heritage, focusing on global citizenship experiences.

Economics
Fisheries Science and Technology
Materials science and engineering

Today, with vast investment and opportunities flowing into large cities that can accommodate innovation and thus attract talent and skill, coastal communities are often neglected, and their future is put at risk. Although small communities tend to develop more sustainable solutions when compared to large cities, these communities do not have knowhow by themselves to develop solutions to cope with ongoing extreme changes, which are unprecedent, justifying the need to develop new roadmaps and strategies towards sustainability. We are looking for a project on New societal models towards Sustainable Communities based on the principle “nothing becomes waste” and on the New European Bauhaus, retaining the intrinsic value of products and material – and strengthening the competitiveness of coastal communities through circularity. The project aims to stimulate entrepreneurial activity as well as capacity building and upskilling opportunities that can lead to economic productivity within coastal communities, particular the valorisation of discarded fishing nets and oyster shells, supporting the generation and co-creation of innovative ideas and products. By putting sustainability as a pillar of their sustainable development, these communities can maintain their identity but at the same time assure that their impact on the environment is reduced, creating employment and enhancing social cohesion.

oyster shells, marine litter, circular economy, sustainability, climate change, coastal communities, resilience, transition, new european bauhaus, environment

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