The president of the Municipality of Coimbra, Ana Abrunhosa, defended in Rio de Janeiro, during CIMI360 – International Real Estate Market Congress, that the management of public heritage should take on a strategic role in the preparation and response of cities to crisis and disaster situations. The mayor participated as a speaker on a panel dedicated to the use of public properties in disaster situations, held on Friday.
Ana Abrunhosa considered that public buildings go far beyond temporary shelters, functioning as collective safety infrastructures and social protection instruments. She argued that resilience must cease to be a sectoral policy and become a structuring principle of all public action, covering everything from prevention and preparation of territories to emergency response and subsequent reconstruction. The president also highlighted the role of municipalities as the first line of response, due to their proximity to territories and populations, and pointed to the coordination between civil protection, security forces, health services and civil society as fundamental in crisis situations.
During her speech, Ana Abrunhosa recalled experiences from her career as president of the Coordination Commission for Regional Development of Centro and minister of Territorial Cohesion, as well as the response adopted in Coimbra to the storms and flood risk of the Mondego, in February. The mayor advocated for greater integration of climate change adaptation and the relationship between cities and rivers in urban planning.
On the sidelines of the congress, Ana Abrunhosa and the CEO of CIMI360, Heitor Kuser, signed a cooperation agreement between the Municipality of Coimbra and the event organization, initially valid for two years. The agreement does not include direct financial commitments and aims to promote external cooperation, investment attraction and the development of joint initiatives related to the real estate sector and urban transformation. The trip to Brazil is part of an institutional agenda dedicated to city promotion, investment attraction and exchange of experiences in urban regeneration, economic development and resilience.
