The “Find Your Greatness” program addresses the challenges highlighted by Alba Iulia (Romania), the leading city of this program, that includes seven more cities from the European Union: Bragança (Portugal), Voru (Estonia), Wroclaw (Poland), Candelária (Canary Islands), Perugia (Italy), Limerick (Ireland) e Budafok (Hungry). The goal is to improve the cities` territorial marketing strategy, through cooperation between European cities, based on the potential of each, and successfully create Europe's first branding strategy building program for smart cities. The planning of the Small Scale Action happened during the sessions of the Urbact Local Group of Bragança, which brought together people from various institutions and professional areas, from the Municipality of Bragança, Polytechnic Institute of Bragança, Brigantia Ecopark, More – Collaborative Laboratory, Associação de Municípios da Terra Fria do Nordeste Transmontano, and local entrepreneurs.
To promote a territory in the interior of Portugal as the ideal place to work remotely, inviting young couples to a new beginning, was the motto for the Municipality of Bragança to launch the pilot project “Bragança. Freedom to Start Over”. It was a challenge that gave the opportunity to four families to enjoy the experience of living and working in Bragança, during the month of May, in urban and rural areas.
A social experience for active people, with the desire of exploring different work environments and with the possibility of developing their jobs remotely. It is a new approach to promote Bragança and the local economy, showing it as the ideal destination to work remotely, away from home, with the flexibility and freedom to enjoy life.
In only eight days the initiative received 1879 applications from Portugal and other parts of the world like Brazil, Spain, United Kingdom, Germany, Poland, Russia, Norway and many others.
Four families were selected to live in Bragança for a month, giving them the opportunity to experience the quality of life of Trás-os-Montes. This initiative, that allowed them to keep their remote work routines, took place during the month of may of 2021and was recorded as a documentary, where these “new Brigantinos” share their experiences.
That was how a journalist, a communications advisor, and a cat, embraced Bragança as theirs, right next to the Fervença river, in the center of the city and an anthropologist and an audio-visual producer with their two daughters, lived in the mythical cross-border village of Rio de Onor, located in the Montesinho Natural Park.
Two creative producers of video and photography chose a “pombal” (dovecote) in Santa Comba de Rossas and a professional photographer and an online yoga instructer, with their daughter, dog, and cat, were housed in the magnificent village of Montesinho (located in the natural park as well).
“Welcome to this wonderful kingdom. It is, indeed, to all of you, a unique opportunity to know the real quality of life that Bragança has to offer to those who chose to live and work here”, said Hernâni Dias, in the welcome session, highlighting that, in Bragança “is possible to be connected to any part of the world and work, enjoying a unique region, ideal to escape from the hectic pace of everyday life, keeping all the necessary work tools”. The mayor highlighted that “this initiative aims to raise awareness of the territory's full potential and, by sharing the experience, inspire those who are able to keep working remotely even after the pandemic, to live in Bragança”.
Over the course of a month, these families had complete freedom to explore, experience and work, always with the support of the Municipality in case there were any problems or to clarify any doubts.
By participating in this project, these couples were hoping to be able to “Connect with Nature, eat well… meet new people and new habits.”, with the current social context being one of the main reasons to participate in this project: "The psychological fatigue of the pandemic led to a need to reconnect with Nature."
Since only one of the participants had visited Bragança before, more than 15 years ago, when questioned about what they thought of Bragança and the territory, they replied that “It has been a very pleasant surprise.” and that Bragança is “a city of many good contrasts. On the one hand monuments with centuries, on the other the effort to rejuvenate, with cultural equipment that highlights contemporary art, …”
This experience was considered a success. “...I would recommend it 100%, highlighting the way we were received in the village and the experience should be repeated in Bragança and replicated in other places of Portugal.” “... the work we developed in Bragança was exactly the same as what we were doing at home. It just changed the location.”
“Bragança. Freedom to Start Over", allowed us to show that Bragança, city and rural areas, is a territory where remote work can be enhanced and valued and, in a post-pandemic time, could be aligned with a strategy for the revitalization of villages, economic growth, and reinforcement of social cohesion.
The characteristics of inland territories, where nature, culture, and gastronomy are authentic, will be an asset for the future of these territories, that for years were places of departure, and now have become places of opportunity and return.
The impact of the “Bragança. Freedom to Start Over” project, associated with the territorial marketing strategy, allowed a Return of Investment (ROI) of 1.825.507,00€.
“Bragança. Freedom to Start Over” is a Small Scale Action within the project “Find your Greatness”, the first European strategic brand development program for smart cities, in the URBACT Cooperation Program.
