Cascais
Cascais, a coastal municipality located just west of Lisbon, is home to around 215,000 residents.
Known for its scenic beaches and historic charm, Cascais is also emerging as a leader in sustainable urban development. Approximately 40% of its territory is covered by natural and semi-natural green spaces, including the expansive Sintra-Cascais Natural Park. The municipality is recognised for its forward-thinking environmental policies, including the Cascais Climate Adaptation Strategy and smart city initiatives that incorporate citizen participation in urban planning.
Cascais actively promotes green infrastructure through participatory budgeting and community engagement platforms, encouraging residents to help shape their local environment. With a strong focus on local involvement and the deliberate use of digital tools, the city is working to increase tree cover, improve climate resilience, and make green spaces more accessible to all.
Combining citizen feedback and heat monitoring to improve green spaces.
In Cascais, residents are helping to identify how public green spaces can better support comfort and well-being during hot weather. Building on earlier campaigns where citizens shared greenspace perceptions through surveys across 7 city parks, the city now engages participants in heat stress monitoring using wearable temperature and relative humidity (TRH) sensors paired with the EcoPulse mobile app.
Participants walk designated park routes, such as Quinta da Carreira and Fontainhas Woods, using the app to log areas of thermal comfort or discomfort. This data contributes to mapping “hot spots” and “comfort zones”, informing green infrastructure planning and supporting the city’s Climate Adaptation Plan. Engagement activities target students, older adults, and greenspace visitors, supported by local youth volunteers who provide on-site guidance. After each walk, participants reflect on their experiences and suggest improvements to enhance comfort in green spaces.
The data is shared with Cascais Ambiente and is made publicly accessible via the Data Cascais and GEO Cascais portals. This collaborative approach ensures that greenspace design responds to real-world needs, helping to reduce heat stress and enhance park usability throughout the year.
Themes
Greenspace
Perception
Heat
Stress
Sensors / Technology / Data
Mobile
Applications
Wearable
Sensors
Discover Cascais’ approach
Pop Up Community and Culture Labs
Urban ReLeaf Pop-Up Labs are short-term creative initiatives that transform citizen-generated environmental data into accessible community and cultural experiences, connecting science, creativity and local knowledge to make climate challenges visible and meaningful.
In Cascais, the Pop-Up Lab explores urban heat and cooling in green spaces. Sensor data is combined with residents’ lived experiences to create a series of poems reflecting on shade, comfort and climate. Led by artist Alexandra Dias, workshops took place in seven parks, inviting people to reflect on their surroundings. Selected poems were installed on park signage, creating lasting artworks rooted in place. A published poetry collection makes invisible climate data tangible, fostering new connections between communities, culture and local climate adaptation.
