2021 Award "Best Practice in Citizen Participation"
15th Edition 2021
Supports are subject to the following rules:
- You can support up to 5 proposals.
Vale Domingos, Magnolia Capital of the World (Águeda)
This space, owned by Águeda City Council, became the focus of the entire intervention project’s . The aim was to build a thematic centre for environmental interpretation, including education, training and communication facilities.
The intervention area of the Vale Domingos Botanical Park (PBVD) corresponds to an area of approximately 1.1 hectares. This project aimed to involve the whole population and partners in an intensive magnolia plantation, transforming Vale Domingos into a tourist village as the Magnolia capital of the world.
The population was mobilised to present different projects to the participatory budgets, they had the idea of being able to change things in the community.
They won the first places in the national participatory budget (PB) in 2017 (year of its creation) and 2018 (the first two, gave up the third). The first place represents €250,000, which will be used to organise the Lambarices fair for three days. They have ovos-moles from Aveiro and Pastel de Águeda, as well as other national confectioneries. The idea is for Vale Domingos to be the capital of magnolias and sweets, a tourist village, with local accommodation in the social houses of the Amizade district.
Today, the Vale Domingos Botanical Park is gaining in coherence. It has 136 varieties of magnolias, making it the largest in the Iberian Peninsula, and a collection of 76 different acres, including the Acer palmatum, one of the most popular bonsai species. In addition, there are 50 other exotic trees - because in a way the village considers itself "exotic" - imported from Italy, Spain and England. The money was also used to build roads, buy benches and tables, and to light the area.
Vale Domingos Botanical Park is eight years old. It was born out of the desire to unite the population around a collective project and to transform the purpose of the place. The park is an environmental project with social objectives, which can unite, improve and affirm the community of Vale Domingos.
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