Founded in June 2021, Estação Cooperativa is a cultural and service cooperative based in the village of Casa Branca, Portugal.

Estação Cooperativa brings together a network of individuals and organisations committed to reflecting on the role of culture, sustainability and innovation in the revitalisation of ageing and depopulated rural territories. It seeks to create the foundations for collective action that is participatory, collaborative and community-driven.

ts collective members include: Oficinas do Convento, Alma d'Arame, Cooperativa Integral Minga, FEM - Feministas em Movimento, Fundação Professor Francisco Pulido Valente, Marca - Associação de Desenvolvimento Local, Pé de Xumbo and Projecto Ruínas, alongside approximately 65 individual members.

Since 2023, Estação Cooperativa has held a sub-concession for a 13,000-square-metre site located within the public railway domain. The area comprises 17 buildings, access routes, outdoor spaces and community gardens, forming part of the former Railway Workers’ Neighbourhood of Casa Branca. The cooperative also promotes sociocultural programmes within the former primary school building, owned by the Institute for Financial Management of Social Security, whose educational activities ended in the late 1990s.

Working closely with its members and partners, Estação Cooperativa develops projects in the fields of community-led construction, urban and landscape interventions, creative and artistic place-making, documentation, sociocultural mediation and the strengthening of neighbourhood relationships. Through these initiatives, it seeks to foster new forms of collective stewardship, social cohesion and sustainable local development.

mission

To contribute to the integrated regeneration of the village of Casa Branca by engaging its community and recognising abandoned public heritage as a common good that should be rehabilitated, reactivated and repurposed. Through collective stewardship, these spaces are returned to community use and management, responding both to local needs and to the emerging social and environmental challenges facing our planet.

objectives

︎︎︎ To repurpose and reactivate the village’s industrial heritage through the establishment of a creative and multidisciplinary community.

︎︎︎ To develop programmes of artistic creation, cultural mediation and public engagement, fostering the social and cultural dynamism of the region, attracting visitors, and contributing to the revitalisation of Casa Branca and the wider Alentejo territory.

︎︎︎ ︎︎To create an experimental, laboratory-based and innovative hub that encourages collaborative work and explores new community-led models of heritage management, promotes participatory processes involving both residents and non-residents, and generates knowledge around emerging paradigms of territorial resilience.

background

30 june 2018︎︎︎
2018 marks the beginning of this journey. The cultural association Oficinas do Convento contacts IP Património to request temporary authorisation for the use of several abandoned buildings associated with the Casa Branca railway station, in order to host an extension of its annual festival “Cidade Pré0cupada”. Video record︎︎︎

18 to 21 july 2019︎︎︎
Officinas do Convento organises the second extension of Cidade Pré0cupada in Casa Branca, this time over four days. As part of the event, the exhibition “Não há casos em branco” (There are no blank spaces) is inaugurated and moments of collective reflection on the village are held, in partnership with Cooperativa Integral Minga.

29 february 2020︎︎︎
The last in-person gathering in the village takes place just before the onset of the epidemiological context. Around a shared meal, participants identify procedures for formalising the emerging network of citizens and organisations, which had been gradually consolidating, all interested in contributing to the future of Casa Branca, as well as in developing a long-term commitment proposal for the rehabilitation and reuse of the abandoned railway buildings and surrounding areas. From this moment onwards, a working group is established to organise and facilitate meetings, which subsequently move to an online format.

31 august 2020︎︎︎
The working group submits a formal request to IP Património for the use, rehabilitation and conversion of most of the unused buildings previously associated with the Casa Branca railway station.

29 january 2021︎︎︎
IP Património issues a commercial proposal for the sub-concession of 17 buildings. After review by all parties involved, the proposal is accepted and regarded as a sign of trust and recognition of the project’s potential.

23 june 2021︎︎︎

_{Estação Cooperativa CRL is formally established, based in the village of Casa Branca.}

27 july 2021︎︎︎
Assembleia geral de eleição dos titulares dos órgãos sociais para o período do primeiro mandato, de 2021 a 2024.

20 november 2021︎︎︎
The first Open Day takes place, a public event celebrating the emergence and launch of the cooperative, presenting the project and co-designing its next steps. It marks the official start of its activity programme.