This document describes Portugal's Critical Urban Areas Initiative, a national program coordinated by the State Department for Territory and Cities Zoning. The initiative aims to intervene in urban areas facing critical vulnerabilities through integrated social-territorial projects. It started experimentally in three territories. The initiative is guided by six principles, including mobilizing projects with structural impact, social-territorial integrated projects, and sustainability of results. The document discusses the involvement of different actors, challenges in targeting interventions, and lessons learned around building participation and local partnerships.

1. Critical Urban Areas
Initiative
v@w, March 2007

2. Critical Urban Areas Initiative
• It’s a National Programme coordinated by the State
Department for the Territory and Cities Zoning and it’s a
Cities Policy instrument.
• It’s purpuse is the intervention on urban territories which
present critical vulnerability factors through integrated
social-territorial interventions.
• It started with an experimental phase in three territories
(Cova da Moura – Amadora; Lagarteiro – Porto and Vale
da Amoreira – Moita).
• Seven ministries are involved (presidential, environment,
labour and social security, internal affairs, health,
education and culture).

3. Six Guiding Principles
• mobilizing projects with a structural impact capacity
• social-territorial based integrated projects
• innovation driven interventions
• strategic coordenation and participation of local actors
• mobilizing new ways of financing/integrated financing
mechanisms
• sustainability and durability of the results and effects.

4. Talking about...
• one step forward concerning the territorial and
sustainable communities approach in the Cities Policy,
in Portugal
• an experimental initiative in three territories (three
different at-risk areas)
• building a participatory transversal process
• 14 months on a shared path of learning towards a
Community of Practice (CoP’s).

5. In DCom we talk about...
• social, economic, cultural factors
in the production and way of living of the
territories (people, spaces and time)
GTIM
GAT’s
PF
GPL’s UAEL
INH
GC
Grupo de Trabalho Local
GTIM
GAT’s
PF
GPL’s UAEL
INH
GC
Grupo de Trabalho Local
The relational dimension of
approaches in DCom
• policies, policy instruments,
planning and evaluation, designing
solutions (why and what for)
• solutions to make it operational
(how, skills)

6. Talking about...
• Places
GTIM
GAT’s
PF
GPL’s UAEL
INH
GC
Grupo de Trabalho Local
GTIM
GAT’s
PF
GPL’s UAEL
INH
GC
Grupo de Trabalho Local
• Organizations
• Power

7. Talking about...
generative relational processes in
the social production of Places
Organizations as crucial actors
in the social action system
multiplying Power by sharing
Power and learning from the
territories’ Power (proximity)

8. Challenges:Challenges:
• How to involve different actors (inter-ministerial, local
organizations and population) so we can focus the
action on the territory
• How to reach a territory focused intervention (area,
place...) avoiding sectorial and/or vague interventions
• How to intervene in order to cause desirable and
effective changes in the residents well-being
• How to develop initiative to ensure the advantage of
the positive dynamic of change

9. Steps:
• Action Plan building up procedures (who was to
intervene, doing what, how it would work, milestones,
expected outputs)
• identifying local partnership groups to be involved and
selecting technical support staff to assist partnership
groups
• building participatory action plans, financing
engineering and management model
• partnership protocols: compromise, negotiation and
formalization
• launching the action

10. Who was involved?
Local working group
GPL
GPL – Local Partnership Group
GTIM
GTIM –Inter-ministerial Working Group
GAT
INH
GC
INH – Housing National Institute
GC – Consultancy Group
GAT – Technical Support Group
PF
PF – Financial Partners
UAEL
UAEL – Local Strategy Action Unit

11. LOCAL MANAGEMENT MODEL
(intervention stage)
Project’s
Local Teams
Executive
Commission
Inter-ministerial
Working Group
Technical
Support Group
Monitoring
Commission

12. Lessons (so far...)
• building confidence – “faces” and commitments
• permanent reification of locus decision (LPG) and validation of all
decisions
• technical support and recognizing other skills within groups
• exchanging information and reflection + sharing seminars
• “a good diagnosis” as a basis to focus the territories’ action plans
• thinking towards innovation and the promotion of change
• timing and rhythms in the participatory process
• action organizational and management model instead of
organizing according to financial availabilities

13. Skills and learning process
• Sharing values and respecting differences
– Experience diversity
– Sharing values and rules
– Joint work between local and central actors
– Formal and informal positions
– Incorporating skills as a starting point for action
• Building a shared vision
• From a focus on target-groups to a focus on the territory
• From a focus on the organizations to a focus on the community
• Articulating efforts to build a network
• Including risk and uncertainty in local dynamics

14. Different actors….
• Performing in different scales
• Sharing different levels of experience
• Sharing different levels of responsability
• With different sources of resources
• With different locus of control regarding
resources

15. Sustainable Communities
(Bristol, 2005)
Sustainable
Communities
Participated
and well lead
Well
equiped
(infrastruct
ures)
With good
services
Environme
ntal friendly
Well
designed
and built
Fair for all
Creative
and
innovative
Active,
inclusive
and secure
Sustainable Communities are places where people
want to live, work, now and in the future
They demand skills for their leadership
“Place-making” Skills
(technical, administrative, governance and others)
• Territorial Leadership
• Community Commitment
• Partnership Work
• Project Management
• Community governance system
• Cross-fertilisation work

16. Sustainable Communities
(Bristol, 2005)
New Capacities | Basic skills
1. ... inclusive vision
2. ... project management
3. ... leadership
4. ... brokethrough thinking
5. ... team work | partnership work (within and between teams who
want to share common purposes)
6. ... go around obstacles | “make things hapen”
7. ... processes management | change management
Sustainable
Communities
Participated
and well lead
Well
equiped
(infrastruct
ures)
With good
services
Environme
ntal friendly
Well
designed
and built
Fair for all
Creative
and
innovative
Active,
inclusive
and secure

17. New Capacities | Basic skills
Sustainable Communities
(Bristol, 2005)
8. ... financial management
9. ... stakeholders management
10. ... assessment, decision making, learning through
mistakes, evaluation
11. ... communication
12. ... conflict resolution
13. ... careful with endusers and assure feedback
Sustainable
Communities
Participated
and well lead
Well
equiped
(infrastruct
ures)
With good
services
Environme
ntal friendly
Well
designed
and built
Fair for all
Creative
and
innovative
Active,
inclusive
and secure

18. A structuring do-it-yourself
Colective and integrated
practices for intervention
... done with different actors...
... in a co-production of commitments...
... in a network
Starting-point!

19. Adds...
• ... to correction, the vision (to be built together)
• ... to the answers, the questions (... they were always the
best way to get good answers!)
• ... to planning, monitoring (in a sustainable colective
learning sense)
• ... to the instruments, the action (in a community of practice,
in a network, in a compromise...)
A structuring do-it-yourself
Colective and integrated
practices for intervention

20. • ... perform in different scales
• ... have different experiences
• ... share different levels of responsability
• ... have different sources / types of resources
• ... have different levels of resource control
... Done with different actors that...
A structuring do-it-yourself
Colective and integrated
practices for intervention

21. • Sharing values in respecting differences (ethical dimension)
• Building rules to manage action (e.g.: decision locus, procedures
and timing definition, responsibilities)
• Cooperation between actors at central, regional and local
levels
• Converting ability between formal and informal positions
... in a co-production of commitments that implies...
A structuring do-it-yourself done with different actors
Colective and integrated
practices for intervention

22. • Building a shared vision as the action starting point
• Going from a focus on “target-groups” to a focus on “places”
or “territories”
• Going from the focus of each “organization” to a focus on |
of the “communities”
• Incorporating Risk and Uncertainty in the capacity of action
... in a co-production of commitments that implies...
A structuring do-it-yourself done with different actors
Colective and integrated
practices for intervention

23. ... in a network
... It’s not enough to choose partners... all partners must choose
the intervention project at stake
... Building an action identity (good diagnosis | vision sharing | co-
production of an action programme)
... Managing different moments (timings) and paying attention to
the “cues” (orchestra effect!)
A structuring do-it-yourself done with different actors in a co-
production of commitments
Colective and integrated
practices for intervention

24. ... in a network
... Proximity is a co-production of action arguments (pay
attention to the left-out, stand-out, left-behind and stand-
behind!)
... Managing risk, uncertainty, conflicts
... Generativity, creativity and innovation (potentialities and
small steps count too!!!!!!)
A structuring do-it-yourself done with different actors in a co-
production of commitments
Colective and integrated
practices for intervention

25. For debate...
Considering the multiplicity of actors involved in
these processes, their performance in different
scales, with different levels of responsibilities,
different types of resources and ways of
controlling them...

26. For debate...
• How to build the bridge between principles and basic
ethical values and technical skills?
• What skills can be expected to be enhanced when
individual and collective processes (of groups,
organizations, community) of empowerment are
developed?
• How do formal and informal knowledge and capacity
production centres articulate to face information and
capacity gaps and inadequate replies to new actors and
new challenges of the generative action systems?

27. Thank You!!!!