AREAM – Agência Regional da Energia e Ambiente da Região Autónoma da Madeira
AREAM is the regional energy and environment agency of Madeira, a non-profit association of public utility dedicated to promoting sustainabl…
1 project
Walkable Communities
The Portuguese village was walkable long before the word existed. Azeitão Eco-consciente organises its neighbourhood around walking, cycling and gathering, and AREAM plans the same at regional scale in Madeira.
Projects in this focus
Walkable communities in Portugal
Portugal built walkable places for centuries without a policy for it, and then spent forty years handing the street to the car. The historic centres still work; what fails is everything built around them since, where a school run of eight hundred metres is a drive.
Azeitão Eco-consciente is the clearest local example listed here: a community movement near Setúbal that organises bike rides, biodiversity walks and garden gatherings, which is what walkability looks like before it becomes infrastructure. AREAM works the planning side across Madeira.
Most of the change here is municipal, slow and decided at meetings. If you run a movement of this kind, we would like to list it. Related focuses: cycling infrastructure, public transport and low-impact travel. Dated activities from these projects are listed in our events calendar.