Re.Rural – Centro Co.Re is a Rural Learning Centre based in the Transition Village of São Luís, Odemira, dedicated to regenerating rural communities through immersive learning, agroforestry, cooperative economics, and cultural reconnection. It operates on a four-pillar vision: Regenerate, Reactivate, Rejuvenate, and Reconnect.
Re.Rural – Centro Co.Re is a Rural Learning Centre rooted in São Luís, a vibrant Transition Village in the municipality of Odemira, home to more than 50 nationalities and a living network of dozens of cultural, ecological, and social projects. Founded by Rafaela Leal and José Donado, the centre is guided by a four-pillar Re.Ruralisation vision: Regenerate, Reactivate, Rejuvenate, and Reconnect rural landscapes.
Socially, the centre trains young community leaders through learning programmes that inspire the next generation to care for the land and their territories. The Empoderamento Regenerativo Rural programme specifically empowers rural youth from Odemira to engage actively in the regeneration of the territory and in democratic life.
Economically, it reactivates the rural economy through regenerative residential experiences co-created with the local village community, grounded in an integral cooperative model that generates value for all beings — human and non-human alike.
Ecologically, the centre tends the Floresta Aprendiz — a 1.5-hectare agroforestry site featuring an agromedicinal labyrinth with more than 500 plants — cultivating a food production model that cares for both land and people.
Culturally, the centre reconnects people and projects through encounters, practices, and dynamics that strengthen bonds and create synergies across the Re.Rural ecosystem — a collaborative guild of organisations and communities leading this movement cooperatively.
The centre offers regenerative hosting services including accommodation for learning groups, purpose-driven agroecological logistics, and facilitation by an experienced pool of trainers. Its programmes address themes such as regenerative agriculture, community building, eco-social entrepreneurship, systems thinking, and reconnection with nature. It also produced the documentary 'Histórias Reais de Regeneração Eco-Social em Portugal', directed by Rafaela Leal and José Donado, with realisation by Heitor Carvalho (Pohema), following the Re.Rural Movement and communities reimagining villages as places of sharing, belonging, and possibility.
Our Goal
Re.Rural – Centro Co.Re aims to regenerate rural social, ecological, cultural, and economic landscapes through immersive learning programmes, cooperative community models, and agroforestry practice rooted in the Transition Village of São Luís, Odemira.
Our Wishes
The centre welcomes young people, adults, travellers, rural transformation agents, and organisational leaders who wish to engage with regenerative practices and contribute to building more inspiring rural futures.
