Guimarães: Adapting a Historic City to Heat Waves

Guimarães, a UNESCO World Heritage city in northwestern Portugal, faces the challenge of balancing heritage preservation with climate adaptation. Industrial activity, particularly in textiles, adds to its environmental footprint. Heat waves pose a growing risk, especially to vulnerable populations. Through its C-CAP strategy, the city is implementing targeted solutions, such as expanding green spaces and restoring natural water corridors, to reduce heat stress and improve urban resilience. 

A Strategic Approach to Climate Adaptation 

Guimarães has adopted a multi-layered climate strategy that integrates mitigation and adaptation efforts. The city’s Sustainable Energy and Climate Adaptation Plan (C-CAP) plays a central role, identifying priority areas for intervention and establishing clear targets for climate neutrality by 2030. This framework enables the city to take precise, data-driven actions—like creating cooling zones and enhancing vegetation cover—to combat rising urban temperatures while preparing for future climate challenges. 

One of Guimarães' flagship initiatives is the Green Radial Strategy, which connects green and blue infrastructure to enhance natural cooling. It consists of three expanding green belts: 

1. Restoring natural corridors and riverine habitats.
2. Developing urban forests and community green spaces to provide climate refuges.
3. Implementing nature-based solutions such as rain-fed meadows and retention basins to manage heat stress and urban flooding.

^{Green Belt Strategy. EGC Application 2026}

In addition, Guimarães actively integrates scientific research and technology into decision-making. The Landscape Laboratory, a research and education institution, collects real-time data on temperature, green cover, and biodiversity connectivity to guide planning. Using tools like the Singapore Biodiversity Index, the city measures improvements in habitat connectivity and carbon sequestration. This data helps refine policies and ensures that climate adaptation measures yield measurable results. 

^{Source: LL, 2024} 

Stakeholder Involvement 

Guimarães’ success in climate adaptation relies on multi-stakeholder collaboration. The local government leads policy planning and implementation, while academia and research institutions, such as the Landscape Laboratory, provide essential scientific expertise. The private sector also supports these efforts by contributing resources and workforce for forest restoration and green infrastructure. At the same time, citizens play a key role through active participation in workshops and urban greening initiatives, fostering strong community engagement.

^{Source: Municipality of Guimaraes}

Main challenges in addressing heatwaves

• Balancing Heritage & Climate Action: Implementing green solutions while preserving historic structures.
• Urban Density & Industrial Activity: High energy consumption and emissions from the textile sector.
• Climate Extremes: Managing both heat waves and occasional floods through integrated solutions. 

Lessons learnt and next steps

• Starting with small-scale pilot projects allows for testing, adaptation, and successful city-wide expansion.
• Guimarães has successfully involved private companies in green infrastructure projects, such as reforestation and maintenance, reducing costs for the municipality and accelerating implementation.
• Citizen participation in planning and implementation increases project success and community resilience.

In its next steps, the city will extend urban cooling strategies, refine data-driven decision-making and accelerate the transition to climate neutrality by improving green and blue infrastructure. 

Replicability

Guimarães’ scalable approach demonstrates that small-to-medium projects can be effectively expanded. Other cities can adopt solutions such as:

• Radial green infrastructure models for urban cooling.
• Public-private partnerships for climate financing and restoration.
• Data-driven climate adaptation strategies to target high-risk areas.
• Community-led initiatives to integrate local engagement in urban planning. 

The City has partnered with Torres Vedras as a twinning city, sharing expertise on climate adaptation. This collaboration highlights how cities can exchange knowledge and scale successful strategies in different contexts. 

^{Source: EGC Application 2026}  

Guimarães's Refresh

Maximum temperature reached during extreme heat events: 41ºC 

Solutions to address heat waves: 4

• Nature
• Urban Design and Technology
• Governance
• Community-driven
  • Green Radial Strategy (three green belts for urban cooling)
  • Riverine habitat restoration
  • Urban forests and community green spaces
  • Nature-based solutions (rain-fed meadows, retention basins, water management systems)
  • Data-driven monitoring of urban heat islands 

Expected results with the solutions implemented:  

• Increased green cover and urban cooling
• Reduction of urban heat island effects
• Enhanced biodiversity and carbon sequestration
• Improved climate resilience for vulnerable populations 

Covenant Figures 

Signatory to the Covenant of Mayors since: 2013

Emission reduction ambitions:  

• Overall CO2 emission reduction target:  137,173 tCO2eq
• % GHG emissions reductions by 2030:  80%
• % GHG emissions reductions by 2050: 80%  

City Awards

• EU 100 Cities Mission
• Mission-labeled city under Climate Neutral and Smart Cities
• Signatory of Adaptation Mission, Climate Adaptation Mission, Soil Mission, and Restore Our Oceans and Waters Mission
• European Green Capital 2026 

Related links 

• Guimarães2030 Mission Website
• Landscape Laboratory Website
• Guimaraes EU Green Capital 2026 video