On June 24th, around twenty of us – members of civil society, representatives of local organisations and the public administration, security professionals and researchers – took part in a collaborative exercise to develop urban security solutions at the beautiful Casa Varela in Pombal.
The project director, Natália Machado, presented CO-SECUR. This European project, funded by the Horizon Europe programme, is in its third and final year of development and aims to contribute to the safety of public spaces and strengthen people’s confidence in high-density environments, including large-scale events.
SHINE is part of the consortium led by the international consultancy firm Kveloce, which brings together 10 multidisciplinary partners, from 9 European countries, with expertise in participatory research, public engagement and mixed methods — Spain, Belgium, Finland, Germany, Portugal, Romania, Poland, Greece and Lithuania.
This 3rd Participatory Meeting, held in a hybrid format, featured interesting presentations by Ana Sutcliffe of ANI | National Innovation Agency, David Brás of the Pombal Municipal Civil Protection Service, and Mónica Diniz of the Lisbon Municipal Police. These presentations were packed with information, but also provided concrete and successful examples of efficient urban security management based on collaborative approaches.
In the second part of the meeting, a participatory exercise was held to analyse the strategic guidelines of the Societal Development Plan. The participants were divided into three groups, each responsible for analysing a specific set of guidelines, taking into account their clarity, relevance, feasibility and applicability to the local and institutional context.
It was an excellent afternoon and we would like to thank our partner, Pombal Municipal Council, for their support, as well as the guests, participants and the local press who were also present.
Collective participation is indeed essential to ensure more informed, inclusive and representative decisions.