Can everyone live a ‘good life’ without destroying the planet?
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- Guimarães is pursuing "One Planet City" status by 2050 after a University of Aveiro analysis found that if everyone lived like its residents, we would need the resources of 2.3 Earths.
- A 2025 study led by Joel Millward-Hopkins at the University of Lausanne found consumption growth is four times higher in countries already exceeding "decent living standards," pushing full achievement of those standards in lower-income nations to the end of the century.
- Guimarães's waste circularity index runs 2.5 times Portugal's national average, supported by a "pay-as-you-throw" waste system and repair fairs that extend product lifespans, with the council investing millions of euros in resource reduction.
- RDD Textiles and Zouri shoes are reviving the city's historic textile industry through recycled materials and natural dyes, recovering more than 20 tonnes of textiles annually.
- The city's Landscape Laboratory has restored 95 hectares of green space since 2012 and converted 200 community-submitted project ideas into 150 active initiatives, according to director Carlos Ribeiro.
- Floodwater retention basins built in Guimarães held back January's heavy storms that killed at least 16 people elsewhere in Portugal, providing a concrete early test of the city's nature-based defenses.
- Humanity has crossed 7 of 9 planetary boundaries identified in Johan Rockström's landmark 2009 framework, with total domestic water use increasing sixfold over the past 50 years.
Why it matters: Guimarães's experiment tests whether a mid-sized European city can slash an ecological footprint currently equivalent to 2.3 Earths while preserving quality of life, offering a template as 7 of 9 planetary boundaries are already breached. The January 2025 floods — which killed at least 16 across Portugal but were held back by Guimarães's retention basins — provide an early, concrete payoff from the city's nature-based infrastructure investments.
