THE MELGAÇO 2030 STRATEGIC PLAN
Architect José António Lopes is the author of the Melgaço 2030 Strategic Plan. In the conference Glocal Melgaço – Pensar Global Agir Local, an initiative by Jornal de Negócios, a national newspaper, with support from Melgaço Municipality, about the strategy defined for this municipality.
«This tool intends to support the action of the municipality, giving it a technical component, supported by reality, which allows the executive, in its political action, to mediate processes at both national and regional scales. Projects aren´t prioritized based on financing opportunities, but partners are sought and opportunities based on priorities and ambitions that the territory requires and lacks”, said architect José António Lopes.
The Plan covers the period between 2021-2027
The Melgaço 2030 Strategic Plan covers the period between 2021-2027, within the scope of the new community framework. “It was intended to be much more operative, guiding, mobilizing agents and actors. It was assumed from the beginning that the conditions for starting this tool were one step ahead of the usual, that is, recognizing that there is a lot of diagnostic and study material developed, but that I didn´t want another volume to be placed in the municipal library and be a mere theoretical consultation”, considered architect José António Lopes, also coordinator of the Re-grow City Urbact working group, carrying out the Melgaço Tem pop-up project.
During the intervention, the architect spoke of the main objectives contained in the plan for the municipality of Melgaço: «this tool intends to support the action of the municipality, giving it a technical component, supported by reality, which allows, in political action, the executive can mediate the processes at both national and regional scale and thus be attentive, active, proactive”, said José António Lopes, stressing that “this dominating strategy of the territory’s identity obviously aims to inform everyone in a richer and more robust way about the instruments of territorial management and to develop in this period 2021-2027 all the projects that are based on the priorities of the territory».
The strategic assets that make a difference in the Melgaço 2030 Strategic Plan
«To be a strategic asset, it must have an intrinsic value, bring differentiation. Something that isn´t repeated as mass bets by our neighbors, this differentiation is also originality, authenticity, it isn´t copying the neighbor’s bet. Municipalities must be unique, bearers of a structure of innovation, that is, capable of bringing institutional innovation, flexible and innovative and even disruptive partnerships between public authorities and local private actors.», said the architect José António Lopes .
Also in his speech, he highlighted the economy of Alvarinho wine and the formatting and qualification of the terroir, as having a great value of differentiation and notoriety, as well as the natural heritage with the PNPG, the mountain as an ecosystem, the river Minho, the urban center of the village, the complex of hotel equipment, high competition sports and the spa.
Finally, the architect stressed that European policies are very much shaped by the issues of big cities, which have weight and influence on European decision-makers: «the programs that Europe approves eliminate at the top cities and towns that, for a mere question of population, are incapacitated to compete. It’s not a question of competence but of size. These policies further aggravate the situation of small towns that are losing population, and provide a life option for families in the labor market as well as for young professionals. The territories must pay attention to the policies to be adopted for the sake of the growth of their municipality.”