About us

In 2017, the Universidade Católica Portuguesa publicly presented the CESOP-Local, a research unit, whose mission is to conduct studies in administrative territories, using the 17 Goals and 169 Targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as a reference framework.

The Sustainable Territories project of the CESOP-Local research unit is a joint research opportunity, where municipal staff and researchers from academia work with the main objective of developing quantitative measurement tools covering the multiple dimensions of the activity of municipalities focusing on the sustainability of territories.

The final objective of the CESOP-Local Network for Sustainable Territories is to become a local authority observatory in order to monitor the level of sustainability of the territory, the dynamics of stakeholder involvement and the level of organisational performance of each municipality.

Mission, Vision, Values

 Mission

The CESOP-Local's mission is to carry out applied studies in administrative territories, using the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and 169 targets contained in Agenda 2030 as a reference framework, through knowledge generation, and involvement and participation of citizens in transition measures for local sustainability.

 Vision

The CESOP-Local aspires to deepen and develop studies that increase and diversify the gathering of information to support strategic decision-making and thus contribute to the improvement of Local Governments' performance.

 Values

The CESOP-Local bases its research and its practice on the values of citizenship, active participation and shared responsibility, as supports for the implementation of transition measures towards sustainability in administrative territories.