Futures in Regeneration: Stories of Resilience in Southern Portugal
A journey through stories, people and places cultivating different ways of living, caring and imagining the future.
What if, to imagine different futures, we started by listening to the stories already unfolding around us?
Across the Algarve and Alentejo, people and communities are exploring different ways of caring for the land, learning together, strengthening relationships and responding to the ecological and social challenges of our time. These are stories unfolding in gardens, villages, associations, cultural spaces, educational projects and community gatherings. Some are already well known, while others remain almost invisible. Yet all of them can help us imagine what it means to regenerate a territory.
It is from this desire to listen, discover and connect that Futuros em Regeneração: histórias de resiliência (Futures in Regeneration: stories of resilience) was born — an itinerant project by Co Estar – Regenerative Projects and Experiences, supported by the Regenerative Communities Fund (RCF), within the Funding Fairer Futures (FFF) programme, co-funded by the European Union.
What can we learn from the stories of a territory?
Southern Portugal is a place of encounters, contrasts and transformations.
On the one hand, we face increasingly pressing challenges: water scarcity, wildfires, biodiversity loss, pressure on rural areas, difficulties accessing housing and uncertainty about the future of younger generations.
On the other, we find communities organising themselves, sharing knowledge, restoring landscapes, reimagining educational practices and creating new forms of collaboration.
What if we saw these experiences not only as responses to problems, but as clues for building different futures?
We believe stories have that power. When shared, they help us recognise what already exists, discover common ground and imagine new possibilities for action.
More than simply telling beautiful stories, we want to create space for real conversations — about challenges, learning, contradictions, achievements and everything that forms part of a process of transformation. A journey across Southern Portugal
Throughout the project, we will travel across different parts of the Algarve and Alentejo, meeting people and initiatives contributing in different ways to ecological and social regeneration.
Our approach combines conversations, videocast recordings, visits to local initiatives, community gatherings and hands-on experiences. We want to sit down with people who cultivate the land, facilitate learning, care for ecosystems, create art, bring communities together or explore new ways of living collectively.
At each encounter, we want to understand not only what people do, but also what drives them. What challenges do they face? What lessons would they like to share? What does resilience mean in their experience? And how might their stories inspire others?
Some of these conversations will become episodes in a videocast series, which we will share along the way. But the project goes beyond recording stories. We want every visit to become an opportunity to learn, build relationships and discover new possibilities for collaboration.
The themes we want to explore
There is no single way to regenerate. That is why we want to explore different themes that intersect with the experiences of communities across Southern Portugal.
Land, water and ecosystems
How can we restore soils, care for landscapes, protect biodiversity and build new relationships with the living systems we are part of? We want to discover practices connected to agroecology, permaculture, water management and the regeneration of territories affected by wildfires.
Education for regeneration
What if learning could also become a way of transforming the world around us? We will explore educational experiences that reconnect people, nature and community, valuing experiential learning, collaboration and shared knowledge.
Community, culture and belonging
What makes us feel part of a place? How can we strengthen relationships of trust, hospitality and care? We want to explore community life, memory, cultures of peace, migration and collective forms of organisation.
Art and imagining futures
Transformation also needs creativity. We are interested in discovering how art, storytelling and cultural practices can challenge established ideas, bring different experiences into view and help us imagine possible futures.
Youth and participation
What spaces exist for young people to participate in decisions affecting their territories? How can we turn ecological and social concerns into opportunities for learning, engagement and action?
These are some of the paths we hope to explore. Others will certainly emerge from the people and stories we encounter.
Stories that connect people and territories
An important part of the project is discovering how initiatives already active in Southern Portugal can learn from one another and strengthen their connections.
This is where the idea of a bioregional network comes in.
The concept may sound complex, but the idea is simple: to see a territory as a web of relationships between people, communities, landscapes, water, ecosystems, cultures and stories.
Rather than thinking of each project in isolation, we want to understand what connects them. What challenges do they share? What knowledge could they exchange? What gatherings or actions could they develop together?
Throughout this journey, we hope to help bring these experiences closer together and support new relationships and collaborations between the Algarve and Alentejo.
From listening to action
We believe a good conversation can be the beginning of something much bigger.
That is why we want the stories we gather to help identify needs, opportunities and proposals for the future of these territories.
The project includes moments of community participation and dialogue with organisations and public stakeholders, seeking to connect the experiences of those caring for the territory with the spaces where decisions are made.
What do communities need to continue their work? What kind of support would truly make a difference? And how can we create more opportunities for collaboration?
We do not expect to find definitive answers. Instead, we want to help bring these questions into collective discussion and encourage new steps forward.
This story is also yours
Futuros em Regeneração is, above all, an invitation.
An invitation to get to know the places we inhabit, value the knowledge that already exists and recognise the many people who, every day, are exploring ways of caring for life.
Over the coming months, we will share stories, episodes, images, reflections and gatherings through Co Estar's communication channels. If you know a story, a person or an initiative that deserves to be heard, we would love to hear from you.
Because perhaps the future we are looking for is already being lived somewhere.
About the project
Futuros em Regeneração: histórias de resiliência (Futures in Regeneration: stories of resilience) is an initiative by Co Estar – Regenerative Projects and Experiences, with Associação Novas Descobertas as its fiscal host.
The project is supported by the Regenerative Communities Fund (RCF), within Funding Fairer Futures (FFF), co-funded by the European Union.
This content was co-funded by the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of Co Estar – Regenerative Projects and Experiences and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.
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