LiderA Destinations

Sustainability and Destinations

How is sustainable construction defined?

The most widely accepted international definition was presented by Charles Kibert in 1994, defining Sustainable Construction as “the creation of a healthy built environment, considering ecological principles and the efficient use of resources.” Manuel Duarte Pinheiro’s interpretation already extends to rehabilitation, management, and the consideration of socio-economic aspects, proposing the following interpretation of the concept of sustainable construction: “The responsible creation, rehabilitation, and management of a healthy built environment, based on resource efficiency and ecological principles, contributing to social and economic balance.”

The difficult operationalization and the importance of recognizing positioning led to the emergence of voluntary systems!

To address the need for operationalizing the concept, several systems for assessing sustainable construction have been developed and implemented internationally (United Kingdom, United States of America, Australia, Canada, France, Japan, among others) with the aim of recognizing sustainability. At the national level, within the research project carried out at the Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture of Instituto Superior Técnico, a support and assessment system for sustainable construction was developed (Pinheiro et al., 2002; Pinheiro, 2004; Pinheiro and Correia, 2005; Pinheiro, 2006), named LiderA.

Sustainable Tourist Destination

The LiderA system has been developing specifications for evaluating, developing, promoting, and managing sustainable tourist destinations in Portugal since 2013 as part of integrative projects.

A sustainable tourist destination is an area that strives for strong environmental, social, and economic performance, particularly in aspects that are relevant to and support tourism activities. It attracts tourists while ensuring balanced development that respects the environment, the municipality, and the region.

Municipalities, tourism or environmental entities, as well as accommodations, restaurants, and various tourism services that have adopted or wish to adopt sustainable practices, can join the sustainable tourist destination initiative.

To participate, interested parties must express their commitment to integrating sustainable practices, which will then be evaluated by LiderA. The system also recommends activities to be implemented. Membership grants the right to use the sustainable tourist destination logo and be featured on a dedicated website.

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