Arade In Vista is the name of the new Digital Commercial District that will be created in Ferragudo, in the municipality of Lagoa, with the aim of boosting and modernizing existing businesses in the parish, through digitalization and the promotion of commerce.
The Lagoa Chamber, the Ferragudo Parish Council and the Algarve Region Commerce and Services Association (Acral) saw an application for the Digital Shopping Neighborhoods initiative approved, with an eligible value of close to 900 thousand euros.
This project, which will be implemented over the next two years, covers a total of 189 establishments, including more traditional local shops, local accommodation units, and tourist entertainment companies, existing in an area of approximately 1,9 hectares. , which corresponds to the main shopping streets of Ferragudo.
During this period, work will be carried out to «boost local commerce, through investment in the digitalization and modernization of economic operators and their business models, in the promotion of trade and in the digital integration of supply and flow chains».
One of the central points of this new Digital Commercial District is a marketplace – in other words, a virtual store -, associated with lockers with locks «whose key is a QRCode», he revealed to Sul Informação Luís Alberto, president of the Ferragudo Parish Council, who was the one who kicked off to the entire process.
In practice, customers will be able, in the future, to purchase a product from stores in the Digital Commercial District, through the marketplaces, and choose to collect it in one of the lockers, which “will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week”.
In addition, they will appear in this town in the next two years, «totems informative, 24 access points Wireless with capacity for 12 thousand users in progress, a landing page for local commerce with 3D map, muppis informative and interactive information and a digital storefront, smart banks and waste bins, automatic toilets, as well as a specific communication and advertising strategy, boosting business and visitors to the neighborhood», according to the Ferragudo Parish Council.
Another dimension of the project is the mapping of the town's streets, associated with augmented virtual reality and 360º vision, which will allow «to know what Ferragudo was like in the past, in a certain location, and even, in some cases, what it will be like in the future, always as long as there are projects planned», according to Luís Alberto.
The center of Ferragudo will also have smart crossings and indicators of improper parking, namely «cameras in parking spaces for disabled people, which will make it possible to understand, through the number plate and signs, whether that car can be parked there».
All of this will be based on “the actions already developed by the parish (cultural events, citizen space, promotion of social networks, points of Wireless, for example), as well as the equipment installed by the municipality within the scope of the 1st SmartCity of the Algarve (smart meters, programmed irrigation, measurement sensors)».
With these measures, «along with preserving the values of the place of Ferragudo, which is 503 years old», the consortium promoting the project aims to «provide the modernization of local commerce, the way in which they relate to their customers, increasingly based on new technologies and digital commerce, as well as modernizing equipment and public spaces, providing them with greater convenience and sustainability».
«We also wanted to meet that idea of the 15-minute city, which Paris was a pioneer. But, as in Ferragudo 15 minutes is a long time, we adapted it to Neighborhood of 5 minutes», where the citizen who is in its center «will be that distance from any of the services they need».
This concept will also allow «a deepening of personal contacts, better mobility and sustainability for those who visit us and for those who live here, above all», says Luís Alberto.
According to the president of the Parish Council, the idea arose, from the outset, «from what we obtained, in contact with people».
«Last year, a notice opened for Digital Shopping Neighborhoods and we thought it would be a good idea to draw up a project and submit an application. We contacted the Lagoa Chamber and moved forward with the process,” he said.
Along the way, the recipients of the project were involved, «in a participatory process, started in 2022, which involved local traders in several meetings, collecting surveys on paper and online, as well as a multidisciplinary team made up of the president of the Board and technicians from the Municipality» ,
For the Ferragudo Parish Council, the work that resulted in the winning candidacy, one of the 65 in the country and four in the Algarve that received funding in this first phase, «is an example of how it is possible to weave synergies between the different local actors in favor of of a common objective, based on the technical and financial capacity of the Municipality of Lagoa, leader of the consortium».
The diversity of actions and technologies to be implemented in favor of the citizen “is such that it will require, not only at the beginning, but also in the coming years, specific training for all those involved, as well as a permanent neighborhood manager, in order to enhance, monitor and evaluate the evolution of the Neighborhood on a daily basis».
The next step, said Luís Alberto, «is publicizing it to traders», even to involve them in the process. Then, “it is about launching competitions and procedures, for the acquisition of equipment and ».
Of the 65 applications that obtained funding, in this first phase, there are three more from the Algarve, in Olhão, Vila Real de Santo António and Loulé (Quarteira).
Comments