Last Thursday, a joint initiative of Esposende’s City Hall, Esposende Ambiente and EDIGMA gathered more than eighty heads of museums, municipalities and other entities related to Tourism, Culture and Cities.
This workshop, held at the Esposende Environmental Education Center, was hosted by Jorge Sobrado (Advisor to the Secretary of State for Economic and Regional Development), who introduced the speakers and their topics.
In the first intervention of the session, Alexandra Roeger (Chairman of the Board of Esposende Ambiente) explained the role that Esposende Ambiente has been playing, over the past fifteen years, in the promotion and enhancement of the region’s natural heritage, emphasizing the Esposende Environmental Education Center project.
Then, architect Carlos Figueirinhas (GMF Arquitectos) reviewed the touristic strengths of Northern Portugal region, illustrating his analysis with examples of the tourist shops of the future (Ponte de Lima, Esposende, among others).
Next, Susana Marques (Director of Setepés) presented the case study of Paredes furniture design pole, which will represent a new development model for this region.
Focusing on the technological side of innovation, Miguel Oliveira (EDIGMA’s CEO) gave some examples of interactive projects that enhance the touristic and cultural offer, such as the Manchester Visitor Information Centre, Tondela Museum or Lisbon Airport.
To close the speakers interventions, Luis Macedo (Executive Secretary of CIM Cávado) referred to the role of municipal communities as aggregators of the municipalities’ common interests.
After a period of questions and answers, the participants were invited to a guided tour to the "Interactive Environment", a permanent exhibition of Esposende Environmental Education Center, where themes related to environment are explored through interactive equipments (interactive floor and wall, videowall, multitouch table, etc.).
At the end of this event, the feedback was clearly positive, as it was possible to foresee, through practical examples presented by a multidisciplinary panel of speakers, what the future holds in terms of cultural and touristic experiences. |
