For whom
International residents
International residents who care deeply about Lisbon, what’s happening to it right now and who wish to explore how to develop a new sense of belonging and contribution to its evolution.
An initiative by Lúcida ·  In partnership with Michelle Holliday
Sensing Lisbon
A gathering for those who have made Lisbon their home, by choice or by need, for now or for life.
Together, we will sense the city through new eyes, seeing its unfolding story, and through a new relationship, that of co-stewards of this place.
Lisbon is calling for a new conversation.
Come sense. Come root. Come tend.
THE MOMENT WE ARE IN
Lisbon is at a threshold.
The city may have never looked more beautiful, and yet something essential is being lost.
People, sounds and rhythms are reshaping neighbourhoods, sometimes dramatically. The connection to the ecological body that brings together the river, the green corridors, the individual trees, plants and parks and all the biodiversity they sustain is thinning. The spirit of the old city grows dim.
And still, across residents of diverse backgrounds, we can hear a great longing to belong, to participate, to be good to this place called Lisbon. This longing is the raw material of something larger calling us all to listen.
It is an invitation to participate in a new kind of conversation with the city. One where we - as residents and co-stewards - make our presence matter to Lisbon’s vitality and well-being, and through that make Lisbon matter to the world in a new way.
WHAT THIS IS
A first sensing gathering
We are starting the conversation with international residents who have chosen Lisbon as their home and who are aware that, paradoxically, they are collectively challenging Lisbon's identity while also being its most passionate admirers.
This first gathering is an open exploration of this tension, asking: How can we evolve from putting pressure on the city to nurturing what is unique to Lisbon, replenishing it with fresh ideas, skills and care?
In other words : What does it mean, and what will it take, to be fully at home in Lisbon?
How we will work
Dialogue circles to weave together the many stories of arrival and connection to this place. Practicing processes for discerning collective wisdom. Grounded on principles of living systems.
What we aim to generate
A new perspective of Lisbon. Expanded awareness of how to be in a generative relationship with the city and each other. An emerging sense of collective will to care for our places.
What we hope to cultivate
Creating conditions for seeding a community of place and careholders that can gradually host the mixing of all the voices of Lisbon and the living place itself.
THE FIRST GATHERING ·  AT A GLANCE
A generative space for connection, discovery and meaning.
WHEN
Evening of 24 June
Full day of 25 June 2026
Full day of 25 June 2026
WHERE
Impact Hub - Penha de França
PARTICIPANTS
20-30
PRICE
Contribution-based participation
LANGUAGE
English, PT support
Program Outline
The gathering will weave dialogue and story-sharing; exploration of the city’s essence and living layers; inspiration from principles of living systems and practices of stewardship; and processes of discerning collective wisdom.
JUNE 24 · COMING TOGETHER (18H00-21H00)
Opening circle: Arrival, stories of what brought us to Lisbon and what keeps us here.
Sharing food: Communing around the table, recognising the need for this conversation at this moment in time, grounding in shared intention.
JUNE 25 · SENSING AND TENDING (9H30 - 18H00)
Meeting Lisbon as a living story: Perceiving the streets, the human ecology, the estuary edge and other less visible elements through our senses. Beginning to sense the larger story unfolding.
Understanding stewardship: Exploring ways of thinking about our role in relationship with place.
Collective tending: What are we stewarding here? Mapping the story and potential of Lisbon as we experience it.
Practicing stewardship: What calls out to us for care and participation? Where might we start to connect, listen, learn and respond? Where are we already practicing stewardship?
Seeding: Evolving from participants to careholders. What change do we notice in ourselves? What do we feel called to cultivate together? What do others need to know about what we have discerned and discovered?
WHO WE ARE
The hands holding Sensing Lisbon
This invitation comes from a place that is both deeply personal and in service of Lisbon. Constança and Sandra - co-founders of Lúcida - are inhabitants of Lisbon and have been vividly experiencing its transition over the past years. They reached out to a fellow practitioner - Michelle Holliday - to imagine what a new conversation with the city could look like. One that would bring clarity, warmth and deep relational wisdom to the complex transformation process Lisbon is undergoing.
Michelle supports organisations and communities around the world in cultivating "thrivability" - the capacity of living systems to flourish together. Together, we patiently conjured this first sensing gathering, which we hope will spark many more.
Sandra Marques
Co-Founder, Lúcida Cooperative
As a regenerative development practitioner, Sandra works with places and stakeholders to uncover deeper potential and support coherent long-term decisions. As co-founder of LÚCIDA and co-convener of Sensing Lisbon, she brings both professional practice and lived relationship with Lisbon into hosting a new conversation about the city’s evolution.
Constança Belchior
Co-Founder, Lúcida Cooperative
As an entrepreneur, facilitator, and educator with a living systems worldview, Constança designs learning and development processes that are life-centric. As co-founder of LÚCIDA and co-convener of Sensing Lisbon, she brings over a decade of experience in environmental sustainability and impact entrepreneurship to co-create transformative spaces that shift our relationship with the city.
Michelle Holliday
Founder, Thrivable World
As a thought leader, educator and consultant in living systems thinking and regenerative practice, Michelle supports organisations and communities in cultivating thrivability for people, projects and place. As the author of The Age of Thrivability, as well as over 100 articles on themes of regeneration, she brings global experience in transformation, community engagement and life-aligned approaches to Sensing Lisbon.
REGISTRATION
We invite you to join us in exploring how we can all contribute to what Lisbon wants to become, what the world needs it to become, and how we might participate in that unfolding story.
Join us