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Listening Practices and Politics

Can listening change the future of a place?
Souto, Bioucas and Carvalhal · Abrantes · Portugal · October 2026
Listening Practices and Politics project
Photo: Santiago Sepúlveda

About the project

As part of the conversation series And After the Future?, organised by Além Mundus in Souto, A Lateral will facilitate a series of listening encounters with local communities.

The project will explore how people imagine and relate to the future of their territories, creating spaces where experiences, expectations and concerns can be shared and collectively reflected upon.

Through these encounters, listening becomes both a method of inquiry and a practice for strengthening community dialogue.

What we will do

We will create listening experiences in three territories, asking how people feel when they think about the future of the places where they live.

We will facilitate conversations that help participants recognise different perspectives and shared concerns.

We will train people in listening as a fundamental practice for transformative dialogue.

Selected moments

What we hope to learn

Listening does not create agreement. It creates the conditions for people to remain in conversation despite their differences.

When people are invited to speak about the future of their territories, they rarely begin by talking about the future. They begin by talking about what they value, what they fear losing and what they hope can continue.

Listening is not simply a technique. It is a practice that allows communities to recognise themselves as participants in the future they are imagining together.