Mayor of Porto stated mission is enhancing synergies between Porto and the North Region of Portugal and Galicia

"We don't want the AVE (high speed train). Vigo's airport has to be Porto's airport because the airport of Vigo doesn't exist", Mayor of Porto, Rui Moreira stated.

In an interview for the newspaper "Voz de Galicia", Rui Moreira, Mayor of Porto lays out his long-term vision for the city of Porto and the North region of Portugal, and explains how the city of Porto has experienced gentrification, economic slowdown, and a disappearing middle class throughout the eighties and the nineties and even in the last decade.

Rui Moreira is committed to building a strong network of synergies with the neighbour region of Galicia, Spain, and openly shares that he feels better in Sanxenxo than in the Algarve.

The 6th largest daily newspaper in Spain publishes a report on Portugal, with particular attention to Porto.

"We don't want the AVE (high speed train). Vigo's airport has to be Porto's airport because the airport of Vigo doesn't exist", Moreira stated. "I am aware this is a political problem for me", he further adds.

For Rui Moreira, "cities are changing every day and today they change ever faster. And why? Because I believe we are going back to the 19th century. In those times, people did not have a private space and the communication space, the social space were the streets and squares". Rui Moreira enhances this sense of community at the street level as a community engagement, which requires the effective use of public space.

"In 2007, this city (Porto) was like a ghost town, there was no cultural activity, the historic centre was abandoned. It was like a doughnut, there was nothing in the centre. Today, the city which was abandoned and lost has regained its inhabitants".

For the Mayor, this change in cities entails a political shift. First and foremost, people need a comfortable and an interesting city and that is why culture is important because culture forms the basis for our societies. 

"We are not the wealthiest, we may not have the best industry, but we do have culture, which is like Aladdin's lamp: we have to find a way to get the genie out of the bottle and that is what brings this new society closer to becoming a viable city".

"What's important is that people who arrive in the city of Porto are citizens who fully integrate in society and are included in economic growth. It is not about Porto being a vacation metropole", Mayor Rui Moreira further declares.

Check out the full interview here.