1. General information
Location and description of the intervention
City or FUA
Lisboa (FUA)
Region
Europe
Native title of the NBS intervention
Segurança da mulher no espaço público
Short description of the intervention
The pilot project in Bairro Padre Cruz, Carnide, Lisbon, is a groundbreaking initiative aimed at enhancing women's safety in public spaces and improving access to public transport. Launched in June 2024, this project stems from extensive consultations with local women to address their specific security concerns (Ref1). It involves strategic interventions like better lighting and the relocation of bus stops to safer areas, ensuring a more secure environment for women (Ref4). A key element of the project is the greening of the area through tree planting and the creation of more harmonised public spaces, contributing to a more pleasant and welcoming neighbourhood (Ref2). Funded by the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP), this initiative aims to foster greater inclusivity and safety in urban design, with completion expected by 2025 (Ref4).
Website of the intervention
https://www.ateliermob.com/noticias/projecto-piloto-no-bairro-padre-cruz
Principal problems
Health, Well-being and Social cohesion
Insecurity in public spaces
Implementation area characterization
Climate
Temperate ( Humid subtropical, Hot-summer Mediterranean, Warm-summer Mediterranean, Warm-temperate with dry winter)
Ecosystem
Urban or built environment
Address

Bairro Padre Cruz
1600-746 Lisbon
Portugal

Location
The NBS is situated in an area, with clear delineation of boundaries and a specific shape (polygon). The NBS project can also have more than one area location (more than one polygon, situated close by).
Area boundary (map-based)
Area description
Urban (main city)
Type of area before implementation of the NBS
Roads / Roadsides
Central Business District / City Centre
Timeline of intervention
Start date of the intervention (planning process)
2017
Start date of intervention (implementation process)
2024
End date of the intervention
2025
Present stage of the intervention
Ongoing
Objectives of the intervention
Goals of the intervention
-Improved sense of safety: The primary goal of the intervention is to enhance women's safety. The project seeks to address the specific safety concerns of women, particularly in their use of public transport and while navigating public spaces. This includes reducing the risk of harassment and creating a more secure environment (Ref1, Ref4).
- Improved accessibility: improving accessibility with a particular focus on women, children, the elderly, and people with disabilities. This involves improving sidewalks and pedestrian crossings and ensuring that public spaces are more navigable and comfortable (Ref1, Ref4).
- Increase green space area: greening and harmonising public spaces by planting trees and adding greenery (Ref2, Ref4).
- Enhance road safety: reducing traffic speeds and enhancing pedestrian safety. (Ref1, Ref4).
Key Priorities
Social Justice and community
Sustainability challenge(s) addressed
Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
Green space creation and/or management
Regeneration, land-use and urban development
Regulation of built environment
Promote natural styles of landscape design for urban development
Social justice, cohesion and equity (SDG 10)
Social justice and equity
Implementation activities and NBS focus
Implementation activities
1. Installation of Accessible Crosswalks: Implementing crosswalks that are easier for all residents to use, particularly those with mobility challenges (Ref1).
2. Improvement of Sidewalks: Renovating sidewalks with more comfortable and accessible paving, making them safer and easier to navigate (Ref1).
3. Speed Reduction Measures: Introducing measures to slow down traffic, ensuring pedestrian safety and reducing the risk of accidents (Ref1, Ref4).
4. Increased Lighting: Enhancing street lighting, especially around bus stops and pedestrian areas, to improve safety and visibility at night (Ref1, Ref4).
5. Relocation of Bus Stops: Moving bus stops to more central, visible, and safer locations, away from dark and isolated areas (Ref4).
6. Greening of Public Spaces: Planting trees and adding vegetation to create a more pleasant and humanized environment (Ref2, Ref4).
7. Community Consultation and Participation: Engaging with local women and community organizations to gather input and address specific safety and accessibility concerns (Ref1, Ref4).
Type of NBS project
Creation of new green areas
Creation of any other green urban spaces
NBS domain and interventions
Ecological domain(s) where the NBS intervention(s) is/are implemented
Grey infrastructure featuring greens
Alley or street trees and other street vegetation
Amenities offered by the NBS
Other
Please specify other amenities offered by the NBS
Street lighting, accessible paving (Ref1, Ref4)
Design elements for well-being
None of the above
Services
Expected ecosystem services delivered
Cultural services
Mental and physical health and wellbeing
Scale
Spatial scale
Micro-scale: District/neighbourhood level
Beneficiaries
Demographics in implementation area
"Bairro Padre Cruz is a low-income, social housing neighbourhood at the edge of the city borders." (Ref 5)
Socio-economic profile of the area
Low-income
Communities vulnerable to environmental hazards or climate change impacts
Yes
Specification of climate or environmentally vulnerable communities
Low-income neighborhoods
Non-government actors
Citizens or community groups
Primary Beneficiaries
Citizens or community groups
Marginalized groups
Specify primary beneficiaries
The local female citizens benefit from the measures which are implemented. (Ref 1-5)
Marginalized groups
Children, young people or youth groups
Elderly people
Women
People with functional diversities
Measures for inclusion of marginalised groups
Women and girls benefit from this project entirely. (Ref 1-5)
Specify measures taken for vulnerable or marginalized communities
Targeted outreach and engagement efforts with vulnerable or marginalized communities to understand concerns or identify risks
Collaboration with local community organizations or advocacy groups representing these communities
Other beneficiaries
Unknown
Governance
Governance arrangements
Co-governance with government and non-government actors
Please specify the roles of the specific government and non-government actor groups involved in the initiative
The project is co-organised and engages the local neighbourhood institutions, Lisbon city council and local citizens. (Ref 1)
Key actors - initiating organization
Local government/municipality
Citizens or community group
Key actors - Other stakeholders involved (besides initiating actors)
District/neighbourhood association
Stages of citizen and community engagement
Planning and design (e.g. site selection, identification of key priorities)
Development of project proposal
On-the-ground implementation
Level of citizen and community engagement
Moderate
Community empowerment or capacity-building initiatives
Creation of collaborative decision-making processes that actively involve community members
Participatory methods/forms of stakeholder involvement (all stakeholders)
Co-planning (e.g. stakeholder workshops, focus groups, participatory mapping)
Deliberative decision-making processes (e.g., consensus building, deliberative polling)
Consultation (e.g. workshop, surveys, community meetings, town halls)
Uncommon actors ("Missing actors")
Community & Social Groups
Women or Women's groups
Land owners
Public space owned by the city
Policy drivers
NBS intervention implemented in response to a Regional Directive/Strategy
Unknown
Please specify the "Regional Directive/Strategy"
The project was in line with the Lisbon Pedestrian Accessibility Plan. (Ref 1)
NBS intervention implemented in response to a national regulations/strategy/plan
No
NBS intervention implemented in response to a local regulation/strategy/plan
Yes
Please specify the "local regulation/strategy/plan"
The project was in line with the Lisbon Pedestrian Accessibility Plan. (Ref 1)
Relevant strategy or plan
Urban redevelopment plan
Mandatory or voluntary intervention
Voluntary (spontaneous)
Intervention is mandatory
Spatial planning guidance
Enablers & Barriers
Type of enablers
Capacity-building projects
Please provide details (e.g, name of the plan or strategy) for the selected policies or initiatives.
The project is co-organised and engages the local neighbourhood institutions, Lisbon city council and local citizens. (Ref 1). Launched in June 2024, this project stems from extensive consultations with local women to address their specific security concerns (Ref1).
Governace and decison-making instruments
Legislative and regulatory instruments (e.g. laws, strategies, regulations or restrictions)
Public - community agreement (e.g. citizen science programs; citizen assemblies)
Arrangements for governance cooperation
Formal coordination mechanisms to oversee project implementation and decision-making (e.g., multi-stakeholder steering committees, working groups)
Barriers
Unknown
Financing
Total cost
€500,000 - €2,000,000
Please specify total cost (EUR)
530000 € (Ref 4)
What is/was the Cost/Budget (EUR) of the NBS or green infrastructure elements?
Unknown
Source(s) of funding
Public local authority budget
EU funds
Type of fund(s) used
Earmarked public budget
Direct funding (grants, subsidies, or self-financed projects by private entities)
Non-financial contribution
Unknown
Co-finance for NBS
Yes
Co-governance arrangement
A fund / grant
Entrepreneurship opportunities
No
Business models
Business models
Risk reduction model
Green densification model
Which of the involved actors was motivated by this model?
Public actor (e.g. municipality)
Citizens / local communities
Impacts, benefits
Environmental impacts
Green space and habitat
Increased green space area
Expected increased green space area
Increased number of species present
Expected increased number of species present
Description of environmental benefits
- Increased green space area; Increased number of species present: the project will include "the planting of trees and vegetation, which “will make the environment more human and pleasant”, and this work is expected to be finished in 2025 (Ref 1)
Economic impacts
Unknown
Description of economic benefits
Unknown
Social and cultural impacts
Social justice and cohesion
Improved liveability
Expected improved liveability
Improved access to urban green space
Expected improved access to urban green space
Health and wellbeing
Improved mental health
Expected improved mental health
Safety
Increased perception of safety
Expected increased perception of safety
Description of social and cultural benefits
- Improved access to urban green space & Improved liveability: "the planting of trees and vegetation, which “will make the environment more human and pleasant”. (Ref1).
- Improved mental health & Increased perception of safety: the project "promotes a transformation of public space” by improving “the perception of safety on the part of women, in particular, when travelling on foot and when accessing public transport”. (Ref 1)
Mental health benefits
Reduced stress
Decreased anxiety
Evidence for use of assessment
Presence of an assessment, evaluation and/or monitoring process
Unknown
Presence of indicators used in reporting
No evidence in public records
Presence of monitoring/evaluation reports
No evidence in public records
Availability of a web-based monitoring tool
No evidence in public records
Name of any specific impact assessment tools
Unknown
Use of GIS in mapping impacts
No evidence in public records
Cost-benefit analysis
Unknown
Transparency
Meetings with stakeholders’ representatives
Inclusion of diverse stakeholders in project governance processes (e.g. planning, implementation, monitoring, etc.)
Community forums for information sharing and encouraging the participation of marginalized groups
Public disclosure of project funding sources and/or budgets
Justice
Community satisfaction
Unknown
Description of locals satisfaction with the project
Unknown, the project is still in implementation
Trade-offs & Negative impacts
Unknown
Emphasis of existing social inequalities or injustices
No information reported related to negative social justice-related impacts of the NBS project
Measures to prevent gentrification or displacement
Unknown
High-quality & Transformative NBS
Multiple impacts delivery (climate, biodiversity, just community)
No
Goal setting and impacts delivery
No, project goals were not set, and benefits were not delivered in all 3 key areas.
Reaching original project goals
Inconclusive as the project is still undergoing implementation, or is still on its planning stages
Long-term perspective
Unknown: No information about the project's long-term sustainability.
Cost-effective solutions
Unknown
Equitable impacts
A. All stakeholders benefit fairly from the project
Transformative capacity
Social change (e.g. social relationships, networks and dynamics within them)
Magnitude of change
Incremental: shallow; that is, mostly maintaining business-as-usual approaches to adaptation
Application of lessons learned
The NBS has been shared or used as a good practice to trigger transformative change
The NBS has informed policy and regulatory processes
Perception of Environmental Change
Unknown
References
1.
Lisbon Municipality (2024). More security in public spaces in the Padre Cruz neighborhood. Lisbon: Accessed on August 14, 2024, [Source link] [Archive];
2.
Atelier Mob (2024). Pilot Project in the Padre Cruz Neighbourhood. Accessed on August 14, 2024, [Source link] [Archive];
3.
Atelier Mob (2024). 100% implementation of the European Social Fund program. Accessed on August 14, 2024, [Source link] [Archive];
4.
LPP (2024). CML refurbishes public space in Bairro Padre Cruz with a focus on women. Accessed on August 14, 2024, [Source link] [Archive];
5.
USE (n.d.). Improving safety, mobility and access for women and girls.. Accessed on August 14, 2024, [Source link] [Archive];
Comments and notes
Public Images
The image shows the added greenery to the neighbourhood.
Padre Cruz Street Greening
LLP
The image shows the planned interventions in the streets.
Architectural Plans for Padre Cruz
TC99%/CML
Indicator
Expected increased perception of safety
Impact evaluation
Low
Degree of confidence
Medium