Day one began with the transnational partners collecting at the City Hall of Dąbrowa Górnicza to officially begin the meeting of the partnership. Lead Expert José Costero provided some opening words, and we heard from Kinga on some logistics. The first main session of the day saw the network's fourth transfer workshop occur. This saw contributions by way of intriguing best practices in Aviles (ES), Famalicao (PT) and Solingen (DE). In the case of Aviles, this involved presenting their work on public-private cooperation models for innovation in industrial transition. A driver of this innovation saw multi-level collaboration (quadruple helix), delivering for stakeholder needs. Famalicao discussed their local strategic planning process, again involving public and private stakeholders in co-creation, ensuring to involve good levels of citizen participation as part of this. Solingen discussed their sustainability strategy, with an emphasis on an ecological, economic and socially balanced community. Again, their practice heralded the involvement of multiple types of stakeholders.
Following this session, the wider group broke into two thematic working groups. One group followed José Costero to a session on Climate Neutrality and Energy Transition, and another group followed Ad hoc Expert Mar Santamaria Varas to a session focused on Digitalization and Industrial Innovation. Jose presented a number of good practices from the URBACT database with local energy communities explored, with different examples given from various sized municipalities. Viladecans, located in the Barcelona Metropolitan Area, was one of these cities mentioned. Viladecans is renowned for its innovative approach to community engagement in the areas of energy transition and education. It has involved citizens a diverse group of stakeholders through a range of projects in energy and education.
Following lunch, the group took a bus to the Special Economic Zone of the city and visited NGK Ceramics. A timeline of the company's development in Dąbrowa Górnicza was presented before a tour was provided of the facility, demonstrating the innovative technology on display. After dinner the group engaged in some games of bowling to cap an exciting day one.
Day two began with a meeting at the Factory Full of Life. Since 2016, the project has been in a stage of implementation, while integrating spatial, construction, infrastructural and social processes. We heard from the venue’s Director of the interesting history behind the site as well as the plans for the future. The next session also at the Factory Full of Life saw an Integrated Action Plan (IAP) production process speed dating. The IAP is the primary output of each of the Action Planning Networks, and it was intriguing to see each of the cities tell one another of the specific challenges they are facing, with their peers then offering ways in which they tackled these obstacles in the past, for example, activating political interest at the local level, increasing the participation of local stakeholders, accessing funding. Following lunch at the Shuma Hotel on the lake of Pogoria One.
An IAP action inspiring session next occurred where each partner presented one action in PechaKucha style. While the In4Green network like all URBACT transnational networks tackle together the wider objective, each city must adapt learnings and actions for their own circumstances at the local level. This very efficient session provided a window into the most localised actions of each city, inspiring others and giving a flavour of the project's strong and impactful influence on the ground.
Following an administrative session to wrap up the two-day event focused on communication, management and next steps, the ten partners and Lead Expert engaged in a social moment, enjoying some food and taking a brief trip onto the Pogoria Lake. Lots of songs and hymns were sung from the different partners, ranging from the Wild Rover to the Macarena and anything in between.
A big thank you and well done to Dąbrowa Górnicza colleagues Kinga, Paweł and Sara for their warmth and for being exceptional and well organised hosts. Everyone felt very well taken care of due to their fine Polish hospitality. A big well done to José Costero for a brilliantly designed transnational meeting with lots of exciting learnings around synergies, peer support, and networking. Well done to all participants and thank you for welcoming me into your group. I discovered a lot more about your exciting project and the great work done to date!