• Budafok részvétele a Find Your Greatness akciótervezési hálózatban

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    24/11/2022

    Ez a cikksorozat a városok Find Your Greatness hálózatban való részvételével foglalkozik, kiemelten tárgyalva az egyes városok stratégiai fejlesztési kihívásait, stratégiai márkapozícionálásukat, az integrált akcióterv célkitűzéseit, az integrált akciótervhez kapcsolódó főbb intézkedéseket, az ULG-k szerepét és tevékenységét az integrált akcióterv közös létrehozásában, valamint a FYG akciótervezési hálózatban történő részvétel előnyeit.

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    Minden cikk egy „pillanatkép” a Find Your Greatness projekt keretében végzett tevékenységekről és az eredményekről. A cikkek szerkezete viszonylag merev és csak a 3 perc alatt elolvasható lényeget tartalmazza.

     

    1. A város legfontosabb stratégiai fejlesztési kihívásai

    Budafok célja, hogy a jövőben "Budapest (és Európa) borvidéke" legyen. Minden márkaépítési és marketingtevékenységet úgy tervezünk, hogy ezt a jövőképet szolgálják, hogy a helyi polgárokat és minden látogatót vonzzanak nemzeti és nemzetközi szinten.

    Kulcsfontosságú kihívásként Budafok a következőket azonosította:

    • fenntartható termékek fejlesztése a bor, a borkultúra, a pezsgő és a rendezvények alapján
    • az infrastruktúra és a elérhetőség javítása Budapesten belül
    • a kulturális és ipari örökség, különösen a borospincék és üres épületek revitalizációjának támogatása
    • a vállalkozói kedv és a munkahelyteremtés ösztönzése (a fiatalok oktatásán és képzésén keresztül is)
    • a közterületek használatának növelése és a közösségi szellem erősítése

     

    2. Stratégiai márkapozícionálás

    A Budafok márka az elmúlt évek során számos változáson és fejlesztésen ment keresztül. Az újonnan tervezett logóval együtt számos vizuális és kommunikációs elemet hoztak létre, hogy egyértelmű identitást és üzenetet alakítsanak ki a borral kapcsolatos és egyéb, a kerületben zajló programok számára. Ennek eredményeként Budafokon egy felismerhető ernyőmárka kezdett megjelenni a helyi tevékenységek számára. További lépéseket kell azonban tenni annak érdekében, hogy a szélesebb nyilvánosság számára is kiterjedt, látható és egyedi városmárka jöjjön létre, hatékony marketing- és kommunikációs eszközök és stratégiák alkalmazásával.

     

    3. Az integrált akcióterv céljai

    1. célkitűzés: A helyi turisztikai termékek és szolgáltatások jobb bekapcsolása és fejlesztése

    2. célkitűzés: A közterületek és programok vonzóvá tétele

    3. célkitűzés: Budafok rendelkezzen egyedi, könnyen felismerhető üzenettel és karakterrel.

     

    4. Az integrált akcióterv fő tevékenységei

    1-2. tevékenység: A borhoz kapcsolódó turisztikai termékek és szolgáltatások fejlesztése és erőteljesebb bevonása

    3. tevékenység: A "Magdolna udvar" mint kiemelt kezdeményezés hasznosítása és fejlesztése.

    4. tevékenység: A Budafoki Borvidék ikonikus marketingkampányának megtervezése és elindítása.

     

    5. Az ULG szerepe és tevékenységei az IAP társalkotásában

    Az ULG tagjai Budafokon helyi szinten a FYG projekt szerves részévé váltak. A transznacionális tapasztalatcsere során szerzett tanulságokat az ULG-csapat is átvette, ami integráltabb megközelítést adott az IAP koncepciójának kidolgozásához. Az IAP kidolgozása az alaphelyzet értékelésén alapult, amelyhez az ULG különböző szervezetek hozzájárulását adta. Az intézkedéseket a tagokkal közösen tervezték meg és finomították, és a projekt időtartama után a megvalósítás során közösen követik majd nyomon.

     

    6. Az FYG akciótervezési hálózatban való részvétel előnyei

    Budafoknak az APN-ben való részvétele integrált megközelítésben támogatta az IAP kidolgozását. Az APN-en belüli transznacionális csere és tanulás fő eredménye elsősorban a hatékony márkaépítési stratégiák és kommunikációs eszközök létrehozásával és alkalmazásával kapcsolatos know-how-hoz kapcsolódott. Ez hozzájárult a releváns intézkedések fenntartható fejlesztéséhez innovatív, intelligens megoldások alkalmazásával.

    Feltöltötte: Liviu Stanciu

    Eredeti cikk angol nyelven: https://urbact.eu/lights-budafoks-participation-find-your-greatness-apn

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  • INTERACTIVE CITIES

    Lead Partner : Genoa - Italy
    • Alba Iulia - Romania
    • Lisbon - Portugal
    • Debrecen - Hungary
    • Ghent - Belgium
    • Murcia - Spain
    • Palermo - Italy
    • Paris - France
    • Tartu - Estonia
    • Varna - Bulgaria

    City of Genoa - Via di Francia, 1 - XI floor. 16149 Genova

    CONTACT US

    Summary

    Timeline

    • Phase 2 kick-off meeting in September (Alba Iulia)
    • Transnational meetings in February (Lisbon), June (Tartu) and October (Ghent).
    • Transnational meeting in January (Murcia). Final event in April (Genoa).

    This Action Planning network explored how digital, social media and user generated content can improve today’s urban management in European cities, whatever size. This challenge has been tackled in two ways: as an opportunity to redefine and deepen the concept of citizenship and civic engagement today, providing a path to spark cohesion, commonalities and shared value as well as increasing sense of place. As well as a way to improve the quality of public services, in terms of efficiency and transparency, and even widen the current service chart provided by local authorities.

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    Digital, social media and user-generated content improving urban governance
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  • Tourism Friendly Cities

    Summary

    Lead Partner : Genoa - Italy
    • Braga - Portugal
    • Cáceres - Spain
    • Druskininkai - Lithuania
    • Dubrovnik - Croatia
    • Dún Laoghaire Rathdown - Ireland
    • Krakow - Poland
    • Rovaniemi - Finland
    • Venice - Italy

    Municipality of Genoa - International Affairs Department

    CONTACT US

    Watch all the Tourism Friendly videos here.

    Timeline

    • Kick-Off Meeting - Genoa - Phase I
    • TNS Meeting - Braga - Phase I
    • Online Kick-Off Meeting - Phase II
    • e-Dubrovnik meeting - Phase II
    • Online Meeting - Phase II
    • e-Druskininkai meeting - Phase II
    • TNS Meeting - Dun Laoghaire - Phase II
    • TNS Metting - Rovaniemi - Phase II
    • TNS Meeting - Krakow - Phase II
    • Final Meeting - Venice - Phase II

    Integrated Action Plans

    Dun Laoghaire Integrated Action Plan

    Read more here !

    Dun Laoghaire - Ireland
    Druskininkai Integrated Action Plan

    Read more here

    Druskininkai - Lithuania
    Integrated Action Plan for Sustainable Tourism – Cáceres

    Read more here

    Cáceres - Spain
    Braga Integrated Action Plan

    Read more here !

    Braga - Portugal
    Krakow Integrated Action Plan

    Read more here !

    Krakow - Poland
    Integrated Action Plan for Dubrovnik as a Sustainable Tourism Destination

    Read more here !

    Dubrovnik - Croatia
    Enhancing sustainable tourism in Venice

    Read more here !

    Venice - Italy
    LOCAL COMMUNITY AND TOURISTS TOGETHER FOR URBAN SUSTAINABILITY

    Read more here !

    Rovaniemi - Finland
    Integrated Action Plan for Sustainable Tourism

    Read more here !

    Genoa - Italy

    TOURISM-FRIENDLY CITIES is an Action Planning Network aimed at exploring how tourism can be made sustainable in medium-sized cities, reducing the negative impact on neighbourhoods and areas interested by different types of tourism and its related aspects through integrated and inclusive strategies keeping a balance between the needs of the local community, in terms of quality of life and of services available, and the promotion of sustainable urban development at environmental, social and economic level.

    Local community & tourists together for urban sustainability
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  • Find your Greatness

    Summary

    Lead Partner : Alba Iulia - Romania
    • Bragança - Portugal
    • Candelaria - Spain
    • Limerick - Ireland
    • 22nd district of Budapest (Budafok-Tétény) - Hungary
    • Perugia - Italy
    • Võru County - Estonia
    • Wroclaw - Poland

    Alba Iulia Municipality, Calea Motilor 5A, 510134, Romania

    CONTACT US

    Timeline

    Kick-Off Meeting

    2nd Transnational Meeting

    3rd Transnational Meeting in Alba Iulia

    4th Transnational Meeting in Wroclaw

    5th Transnational Meeting in Voru

    6th Transnational Meeting in Braganca

    7th Transnational Meeting in Alba Iulia

    8th Transational Meeting in Budafok

    9th Final Project Conference in Perugia

    Find your Greatness is a concept that reflects the most challenges addressed by AIM together with other EU local communities. Why Find your Greatness? Because the challenge is to build on the cities' potential. In the case of the partners of the project the need identified locally and which was built as a sustainable mechanism generating urban development, the need to explore and enhance the potential of the city, combining strategic marketing approach with innovative smart city tools.

    Europe's first strategic brand building program for smart cities
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  • How to make urban tourism more sustainable in post-Covid Europe

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    15/11/2022

    URBACT cities are contributing to a soon-to-be-released EU study into better regulation of short-term holiday rentals.

     

    Articles

    As tourism opens up again, a group of URBACT cities is supporting efforts to improve short-term holiday rental regulation in the EU. Their experience will feed into a sustainable tourism study for the EU Urban Agenda Partnership on Culture and Cultural Heritage, due for release in November 2021. Laura Colini, URBACT Programme Expert, and Ugo Rossi, from the Grand Sasso Science Institute (IT), share their insights…

     

    Urban tourism is one of those phenomena that, before the outbreak of the pandemic, gave rise to heated debates regarding its sustainability. The post-pandemic transition now represents a unique opportunity for an in-depth reform of the existing pattern of economic development, especially of its most controversial manifestations.

     

     

    This article presents an ongoing study implementing Action 1 on sustainable tourism for the EU Urban Agenda Partnership on Culture and Cultural Heritage. The aim of this study is to discuss with city officials an innovative approach to the regulation of the short-term rental sector, tentatively based on a three Ps strategy: Prepare, Preserve, Platformise. Prepare means working side-by-side with local communities to prevent the existential risk of hyper-tourism. Preserve means implementing regulations aimed at preserving urban areas and their communities particularly exposed to the risk of hyper-tourism. Platformise means experimenting with community-led short-term rental platforms.

     

    The study is being carried out in collaboration with diverse URBACT cities, in particular those involved in the TOURISM-FRIENDLY CITIES and KAIRÓS networks. Nine cities located in different parts of Europe have been consulted: five small-sized towns, Cáceres (ES), Druskininkai (LT), Dubrovnik (HR), Dún Laoghaire (IE), and Rovaniemi (FI); three medium-sized cities, Braga (PT), Florence (IT), and Kraków (PL); and one large capital city, Berlin (DE). URBACT will present the final results at an open-to-all, peer-learning webinar on 4 November 2021, with speakers from cities, research institutes and the European Commission.  

     

     

    The risk of hyper-tourism

     


    Over the past ten years, an unregulated hospitality industry has turned urban tourism into a potentially existential threat for a growing number of cities and urban areas. Previously, the risk of hyper-tourism regarded a limited number of small and medium-sized cities, such as those with Unesco-designated old towns (like Venice, Dubrovnik, Rhodes, Plovdiv, Granada in Southern Europe) but, with the advent of platform-mediated Short-Term Rentals (STR), this risk has become generalised, involving all types of cities.

     

    In recent years, local authorities have resorted to active regulation, stringent or mild, of short-term holiday rentals when excessive tourism demand has put pressure on local residents and the urban social fabric. Regulations have been adopted in a reactive manner once cities and other popular tourism destinations have reached their peak, and in some cases already exceeded their tourism’s environmental carrying capacity. For different reasons, regulatory initiatives have been limited in their results. Moreover, existing regulatory initiatives appear to be place-specific: they are locally fragmented and do not always have the support of the central government.

     

     

    Pandemic as a game changer

     

    Restrictions imposed during the pandemic dramatically impacted cities, and particularly their service-oriented economies, starting with the cultural and entertainment sectors. Museums, theatres, restaurants, and bars suffered heavily from the shutdowns and are now struggling to recover after the re-opening. Moreover, the spread of telework has dealt an almost fatal blow to several business districts, and the retail sector in general, causing the closure of many independent shops, while favouring the expansion of delivery services offered by online commerce giants and multinational retail chains.

     

    In the Northern hemisphere, the summer of 2021 saw some urban tourism getting back to ‘normality’. But the sudden restart of tourism, and the entertainment economy in general, increases the risk of congestion in urban areas that are richly endowed with natural amenities such as access to the seaside, lakes, or mountains. On the other hand, persistent uncertainties about the evolution of the pandemic are still aggravating the crisis in cities whose economies developed around now-quiet office-centric areas and entertainment districts.

     

    Challenges and opportunities in the post-pandemic transition

     


    Despite all the ambivalence of the current moment, the post-pandemic path offers a unique opportunity to experiment with sustainability transition in the tourism sector. For this reason, it is important – and urgent – to think about an innovative approach to the regulation of short-term rentals for tourists and other temporary visitors.

     

    There are important developments in this direction. The European Commission has recently launched a Tourist services – short-term rental initiative involving and consulting with cities and citizens in order to develop a “responsible, fair and trusted growth in short-term rentals, as part of a well-balanced tourist ecosystem”.

     

    The local level is crucial to the successful regulation of urban tourism. In this sense, we believe that an innovative regulation strategy – relying on a mixed, prescriptive and proactive, approach to public policy – has to involve a wide range of co-design techniques and participatory methods, just as URBACT implements across its city networks. The URBACT methodology is adopted here in order to achieve a higher responsibilisation of local communities on urban tourism management.

     

     

    EU UA study to test community-led rental platforms

     


    The study, launched under the EU Urban Agenda (UA) on Action 1, draws on URBACT’s approach,  observing local practices and experiences in managing tourism flows and their impacts locally. With a survey distributed to cities in the TOURISM-FRIENDLY CITIES and KAIRÓS networks, and the cities in the EU UA partnership, the study will assess and test strategies for place-based, community-led management of the short-term accommodation sector. The selected cities represent different types of urban tourism: while some have not reached their tipping point in urban tourism, others are willing to invest more in containing risks related to an unbridled short-term holiday rental market.

     

    For example, the city of Braga (PT) is experiencing a surge of tourists and is considering strategies to connect local residents better with the temporary presence of tourists. The city of Cáceres (ES) has a selective approach to Short Term Rental, or ‘STR’, because regional legislation allows it to control the rental of touristic apartments. Working alongside Braga and Cáceres in the TOURISM-FRIENDLY CITIES network, the city of Kraków (PL) strives to preserve its community of long-term residents in the historic city centre.

     

    The EU Urban Agenda study is testing the interest and availability of the selected cities to experiment with locally managed, community-led rental platforms. The following three principles are at the heart of this experimentation:

     

    • Anticipatory planning: in tourism policy, an anticipatory approach seeks to prevent the reproduction of a systemic risk like hyper-tourism in the aftermath of a disruptive event, such as the coronavirus pandemic;
    • Community engagement: cultivating a sense of belonging to the local community means embracing an approach to tourism that places community needs at the centre of local policy strategies committed to economic diversification and sustainable urban metabolism;
    • Municipal empowerment: community-centred tourism requires a novel institutional strategy centred on municipal power. The local scale is crucial not only from the point of view of societal impact and policy implementation, but also in terms of institutional empowerment of local communities.
       

    Final remarks

     

    The abrupt halt to tourism imposed during the pandemic has allowed the public to develop a critical distance from the economic development pattern that we now tend to associate with so-called ‘normality’, including urban tourism – and particularly the platform-mediated hospitality sector.

     

    While assessing the diversity of local realities and points of view on urban tourism, the challenge of the EU Urban Agenda Action is to seize the opportunity, as the tourist sector recovers from the coronavirus crisis, to restart the municipal management of STR under a new light. The aim is to give voice to URBACT and EU UA cities in the shaping of better future regulations for the short-term rentals sector in the EU.

     

    Further reading:

     

     

    Authors: Laura Colini, URBACT Programme Expert, and Ugo Rossi, Grand Sasso Science Institute (IT)

    Cover photo by Eugene Kuznetsov on Unsplash

     

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  • BeePathNet Reloaded

    LEAD PARTNER : Ljubljana - Slovenia
    • Bergamo - Italy
    • Osijek - Croatia
    • Sosnowiec - Poland
    • Bansko - Bulgaria

     

    City of Ljubljana - Mestni trg 1 - 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

    CONTACT US

    Timeline

    • Kick-off meeting
    • Boot Camp in Ljubljana (SI)
    • Thematic Transfer meeting in Osijek (HR)

       
    • Thematic Transfer meeting in Bansko (BG)
    • Thematic Transfer meeting in Bergamo (IT)
    • Thematic Transfer meeting in Sosnowiec (PL)
    • Final Conference in Ljubljana (SI)

    Newsletter

    • Check the newsletter library here.

    BEE PATH good practice logic is very simple - bees are the best indicator of healthy environment! BeePathNet-Expanded project will widen the network of “bee-friendly cities” based on BeePathNet project transfer success. It will address urban environmental, biodiversity and food self-sufficiency challenges linked to urban beekeeping through integrated and participative approaches, build key stakeholders’ capacities to influence relevant policies, develop and implement efficient solutions.

    Enriching the Urban Jungle with Bees
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  • Igualada: putting URBACT-style methods to the test during a crisis

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    15/11/2022

    When Covid-19 hit the small Catalan city of Igualada, could its experiences in URBACT help it to respond?

    Articles

    To find out, we spoke to the city’s mayor and the Councillor of Sports and City Promotion.

     

    The city of Igualada, 65 km north-west of Barcelona, was among Catalonia’s first to be struck hard by the coronavirus pandemic. At midnight on 12 March 2020, after Igualada’s struggling local hospital was identified as a hotspot in the outbreak that was spreading across Spain, the city was cordoned off by the Catalan government, along with three neighbouring towns. Police checkpoints only let essential workers and goods in and out.

     

    “We were in a really difficult position when the Catalan government ordered the city to be completely closed,” remembers Patrícia Illa, Third Deputy Mayor and Councillor of Sports and City Promotion. “This initial situation was really complex and had an enormous effect on the city.”

     

    The city of Igualada was completely closed and police checkpoints only let essential workers and goods in and out.

     

    Isolated from the rest of the country for 24 days, then under lockdown until 21 June, Igualada faced not only a health crisis, but a social and economic crisis as well, with hundreds of people in the city’s renowned textile and leatherwork sector sent home and many businesses closing across the community. The city had to act fast to help its 40 000 residents.

     

    “The situation in Igualada was unexpected and very complicated. However, we kept working on strategic and integrated planning and boosting innovation to deal with the crisis,”
    Marc Castells, Mayor of Igualada
     

    A history of URBACT participation

     

    In its reaction to the crisis, Igualada had an opportunity to draw on its experience with the URBACT methodology and principles that it had adopted over the course of two URBACT networks.

     

    Igualada first participated in Europe’s URBACT programme for sustainable urban development back in 2013 when it became Lead Partner of the URBACT 4Dcities network. With seven partner cities from seven EU countries, Igualada explored how smaller towns could thrive by promoting innovation in the health sector. Following URBACT’s methodology and with expert advice, Igualada pulled together a diverse group of stakeholders to build a so-called ‘Local Action Plan’. This included fitting out a simulation hospital for medical trainees, which opened in July 2015.

     

    The city went on to lead the URBACT RetaiLink network of 10 medium-sized cities between 2016 and 2018. Again, this involved gathering relevant stakeholders in an URBACT Local Group (ULG) to test solutions and co-create a strategy to revitalise the city’s retail sector.

     

    These experiences shifted mindsets in the municipality, and sparked new ways of working. According to Patrícia Illa: “In an URBACT project, you need to implement a participatory integrated approach across sectors inside the city, and with other local and higher governments. So although URBACT is no longer contributing directly, what URBACT has done is to embed a lasting philosophy of cooperation in the city.”

     

    Igualada's participation in two URBACT networks has embedded a lasting philosophy of cooperation in the city.

     

    Putting the URBACT legacy to the test

     

    Municipal officials say that the experiences and ways of working developed with URBACT improved inter-departmental cooperation within the municipality, as well as cooperation with nearby local authorities, regional and national bodies, and community stakeholders.

     

    In the context of the Covid-19 crisis, these ways of working have been helping the city to look for new solutions in an array of areas, including healthcare, business support, social services and citizen advice – and both in terms of short-term ‘emergency’ responses and with a longer term in mind.

     

    Already in March 2020, employees from various municipal departments joined forces to answer two advice lines: one for companies and workers and one for citizens in general. Together, city hall staff took calls on all Covid-related topics apart from health, ranging from rules for exporting goods to tips on requesting medical leave.

     

    The municipality also cooperated closely with the Catalan government and neighbouring municipalities, as well as the local citizen’s advice bureau, to process 710 applications for regional grants and loans of 1000-1500 EUR per business.

     

    Participatory approaches were also maintained. “Before the COVID crisis, we set up local groups similar to URBACT Local Groups around strategic priorities for planning other public policies,” says Illa. One such group was the Igualada Innovation Board, set up in November 2019 with the support of Barcelona’s Provincial Council and the Catalan government. The group involved associations of local designers, the University of Lleida, vocational training and technology centres, SMEs and other public bodies.

     

    When Covid-19 struck, a group of Innovation Board members soon turned their attention to developing solutions. Together, they launched a platform calling on designers, engineers, computer scientists, and volunteers to “collaborate with the health system in the fight against Covid-19” by producing visors, door openers, respirators and mask strips. Using 3D printers, ‘Malla’ reported delivering over 300 elements of protection and collecting 6000 EUR in their first week of operation.

     

    The Igualada Innovation Board started collaborating with the health system to develop solutions in the fight against Covid-19.

     

    A solid basis for planning beyond the crisis

     

    Igualada has even been able to fast-track longer-term plans during the crisis, building on its URBACT experiences in integrated and sustainable urban development planning.

     

    For example, the local authority had already drafted an integrated strategy to become a university town for higher medical studies – cooperating with the Catalan government and local agents. This included a new healthcare campus, already under construction, and a proposal to turn the local hospital into a university hospital where healthcare professionals would train. This proposal was approved by the Catalan government on 20 September 2020.

     

    We give the final word to councillor Illa: “URBACT, in the end, what it does is to capacitate local authorities to adopt better strategic planning, often based on many of the URBACT methods. And that way of doing things has helped us react now that we face a pandemic crisis and an international crisis.”

     

    “Even though we were badly hit, the city itself is more resilient now than it was some months ago. I think we’re better prepared now to face future crises.”

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  • City branding: making the invisible visible

    Romania
    Alba Iulia

    A branding initative for sustainable cultural tourism

    Nicolaie Moldovan
    City Manager
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    Summary

    The Alba Iulia (RO) practice gives voice to a challenge faced by many small or medium-sized cities from Europe: how to gain visibility in a changing economic context while promoting its cultural heritage? Strong with a rich history and a complex inheritance (a citadel, historic sites and medieval library) that were left to ruins, Alba Iulia built an integrated branding approach, directly linked with the city’s strategic planning process. By strategic positioning and valorization of its assets and strengthening its local identity, the city (73 000 inhabitants) managed to position itself as a reference for investors, tourists and citizens alike. It thus managed to attract important funding for the renovation of the citadel (60 million €), increases its population by 10 000 inhabitants in five years, due to working opportunities, and the number of tourists by 65% during the same period.   

    The solutions offered by the good practice

    Building the identity goes back to seven years ago, when a local strategic planner to one of the largest advertising companies in the world created pro bono the visual expression of the city’s identity and slogan. Next was the launch of a branding manual with a set of rules for using the city brand, aiming to maintain a strategic brand consistency and addressed to the local economic actors beyond the touristic purpose of a branding manual. Alba Iulia became the first Romanian city to have a professional city branding&brand manual and a pro-made marketing strategy. Alba Iulia is also the first city in Romania to launch a complete touristic tool: a touristic guide, a mobile app, an official blog, an Instagram and Twitter page, targeting different types of audiences. After gaining visibility at national level we decided not to remain Romania`s best kept secret destination and we went across borders, being awarded the title of European Destination of Excellence. The city has managed to stay in the middle of events and be different, which explains our brand positioning: The Other Capital. Alba Iulia tells a story about city branding, the story of an old city, having a multicultural past, becoming the symbol of unification, the fall into disgrace, irrelevance and decay, and the city’s impressive return right after the country joined the EU, building on European support and solidarity to build a new future, starting with the city's cultural heritage. Alba Iulia is now one of Eastern Europe's most impressive success stories.

    Building on the sustainable and integrated approach

    Positioning the city as a place for investors, tourists and citizens reflects an integrated approach between these target groups. A place for investments is attractive for investors, creating jobs and reducing poverty; a place for tourists and citizens includes green spaces, the protection of environment, an attractive place to visit and to live in, efficient public services. An efficient communication on the tourism potential of the city, both on the historical and the contemporary side, reveals the potential that the city has for development. The branding strategy of Alba Iulia is integrated in the national context, as the spiritual capital of Romania, and into the regional context, with a bottom-up approach at city level. To some extent, Europe validated Alba Iulia’s efforts when it won the title of European Destination of Excellence and was awarded by Europa Nostra mention of the jury. Alba Iulia started to strengthen its local, national and international pride. In this equation, several stakeholders were involved, from the executive public servants, elected representatives and local artists, as well as civil society and the community who had the chance to vote themselves on the local identity. Given the above-mentioned points, the approach is in line with the URBACT principles. From the very beginning of designing the brand strategy to the implementation phase, all the relevant stakeholders were and continue to be involved, ensuring integration at the local, regional, national and international level.

    Based on a participatory approach

    The logo was launched shortly after the citizens of the city became the “owners’’ of the citadel, a forbidden place which was in the custody of the army and closed to the public until then. The logo in the shape of the citadel represented, for the citizens, a first door to understanding and feeling the largest fortress in Romania. The participation of locals in city branding is reflected by two interesting successful initiatives. In 2009, The Big Hug from Alba Iulia gathered 100,000 people to set the world record for the biggest human hug around the citadel. “The Great Appearance” is an innovative type of marketing event, which was planned by a local photographer and Alba Iulia Municipality. It consisted of the largest photo-image ever realised for the promotion of a city in Romania formed by 1,000 photo-portraits of the inhabitants of Alba Iulia. The giant poster was and is still used in the campaigns organised by the local administration. An important number of citizens living in Alba Iulia Municipality had the chance to take part in the creation of the logo of the city. Other participatory examples came from local economic actors who decided to link their traditional products with the logo of the city. Both The Citadel Wine as well as The Starshaped Bread of the Citadel are using the branding identity regulated by the branding manual. Alba Iulia transforms dreams into plans, plans into actions, actions into results, together with stakeholders.

    What difference has it made?

    The city where the future was born is engaging its visitors in this process of the redefinition of the city, changing them from passive tourists into key stakeholders of the reconstruction. Visitors become living witnesses of this change, a dynamic process to which they belong. They don’t receive something "ready-made", but they become part of the transformation, having the feeling of explorers in a new space that redefines itself from its internal resources brought to the surface, as well as from its otherness, mirroring in the eyes of Europe. Arriving in Alba Iulia, tourists have a list of actions and events they can attend and where they can be involved, depending on their profile. Moreover, in recent years Alba Iulia has experienced an unprecedented increase in the number of tourists. The growth was organic and constant. The investments in the last few years in tourism and professional marketing strategy had a real impact on the social, cultural and economic level. A set of indicators reflects the change: • Visitors at the museum: 91,608 in 2013, 128,958 in 2014, 154,700 in 2015, 167,200 in 2016; • Overnights: 59,210 in 2011, 78,336 in 2014, 114,446 in 2015; • Accommodation capacity: 612 in 2009, 941 in 2014, 1,186 in 2009. Another indicator is the increased number of residents: 63,536 in 2011 and 73,937 in 2015. The events organised each year are attracting more and more audience, making Alba Iulia one of the top five Romanian cities for cultural vitality.

    Why should other European cities use it?

    Public sector representatives have a narrow view of branding (perceived as logo planning) or do not understand the purpose and process of branding at all. It is difficult to make all relevant stakeholders understand that they do have a role in the development of the city brand. This has led to conceptual ambiguity and varying understandings of the objectives and the potential means to achieve them. In this regard, the results achieved by Alba Iulia as well as the tools developed could be transferred to other cities around Europe. The example is easy to transfer to other small and mid-sized cities in Europe. It is now time for Alba Iulia, “The Capital of Unification", to say “Thank you Europe” for providing the chance to restore the largest citadel in Romania and to transform it into our brand new city identity. Now is the time to give Europe something back: a symbol of togetherness. We will tell Europe the story of “The Citadel of Unification”, saved and reborn through European unity, made visible through an integrated approach, in an URBACT style. It is easy to adapt and to transfer. If Alba Iulia Municipality’s strength was its cultural heritage and historic value, for other cities the branding element could be focused on youth, on investors, on technology. The principles to follow are the same.

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  • How participative metropolitan planning can really work

    France
    Grand Paris Métropolis

    "Let's reinvent the Grand Paris Metropolis" call for projects brings together local stakeholders to design their metropolitan area.

    Séverine ROMME
    Delegate for Cooperation and Innovation
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    6 999 097

    Summary

    In 2016, the Grand Paris Metropolis (FR), in partnership with the government and the public body responsible for building the new automatic Metro, launched the “Let's reinvent the Grand Paris Metropolis” challenge for its municipalities and for the private sector (companies, designers, promoters, investors). 
    The challenge included two phases. First, mayors proposed public land and sites in need of transformation. Following visits to these sites and consultations with locals, private sector companies submitted innovative projects for the sites’ economic, social and environmental transformation. 
    In March 2017, 164 projects out of 420 were successful, focusing on 57 sites, 27 of which are around future Metro stations. These projects are made up of more than 326 innovative startups, associations and SMEs. In total, 6.4 billion euros will be injected by the companies acquiring the sites in the coming years.

    The solutions offered by the good practice

    The implemented solutions have brought together elected representatives and professionals. The sites were proposed by the relevant mayor or territorial president, who presented them to the President of the Grand Paris Metropolis. Where appropriate, the site developer was included in a letter of intent addressed to the Grand Paris president. An advisory elected representative–technician pair has been appointed and a fact sheet has been drawn up with: • Information on the site location; • Its surface area; • Guidelines on the provisional programme and the developer; • Whether they have already been selected; • The type of innovation expected (intermodality, energy efficiency, urban services, digital technology, construction, culture, etc.); • The town planning restrictions. The devised solutions also aimed to cater to new city dweller habits, with shared services proposed in half of the successful projects (co-living, co-working, etc.). The decision to launch a call for projects has revamped the city's production methods by creating public/private partnerships, as the projects are led by professionals who assume the risks in return for land development potential. Given the scale of the experiment, the territorial impact can be measured, as it is led at metropolitan level. Finally, as all metropolitan territories were free to participate in the call for projects, the small towns with limited resources were able to optimise land in the same way as the larger towns.

    Building on the sustainable and integrated approach

    The Let's reinvent the Grand Paris Metropolis call for projects illustrates both the process and the purposes – reinventing the city differently – of the integrated sustainable urban development drive. And while the organisers have given the team substantial freedom in terms of the programming, the economic and social model for their project and the urban or architectural styles, they have nonetheless set out a number of URBACT principles, including: • Involving the projects in the search for an innovative, sustainable, united and intelligent metropolis with a view to sustainable urban development; • Devising projects within an integrated strategy in order to: - boost economic vitality and job opportunities in the metropolis; - respond to residents’ housing and service needs; - set an example in terms of energy and the environment; - contribute to the artistic, cultural and social reach of the metropolis; - suggest new concepts, new locations, new uses and new services with a focus on functional diversity and reversibility; - suggest models to ensure efficiency in the projects and the residents' association. To ensure the integrated approach of the projects, they must be led by groups offering a range of skills, with designers, promoters, developers, investors, companies and even citizen communities or associations, in a bottom-up approach.

    Based on a participatory approach

    As France’s largest metropolis, with a population of seven million inhabitants and an entrepreneurial pull, the Grand Paris Metropolis wanted this call for projects to be an example of co-constructing the metropolitan project. To ensure extensive professional participation in the call for projects, the organisational committee – co-chaired by the Grand Paris Metropolis President and the Regional Prefect for Ile-de-France, responsible for the political management of the process – organised the call-up as early as possible in the process. In October 2016, an event was organised for all potential company candidates in order to present the 59 sites chosen by the organisational committee and invite them to respond to the consultation. Site visits were organised in October and November 2016 alongside national and international communications campaigns. The consulting website went online during the property show in December 2016, coinciding with the start of the official application submission process. A large-scale citizen debate took place in conjunction with the call for projects in order to bring residents together and make this good practice a founding act for the metropolis and a badge of its identity. The winners were chosen by a panel for each site chaired by the President, who had the option to delegate this responsibility to the mayor of the town or territory in question in order to ensure control of the site’s future.

    What difference has it made?

    In terms of impact on the Metropolis (the Grand Paris Metropolis was created in January 2016, see the video), the “Let's reinvent the Metropolis” call for projects has raised its profile and substantially increased its attractiveness among investors, thus enhancing the diversity and quality of projects. In terms of results, 164 company groups were selected from 420 candidates to acquire the 57 sites involved in the call for projects. The innovation goal was well reached as the groups of property and development professionals (architects, promoters and investors) place huge emphasis on urban innovation companies and a strong local presence, with more than 326 innovative start-ups, associations and SMEs. If we consider the method, the 420 applications received proposed exceptional innovative ideas with a view to transforming the Metropolis into a real “sustainable and smart city laboratory”. The “Let's reinvent the Grand Paris Metropolis” consultation has thus established itself as the urban innovation pioneer and Europe's largest smart city consultation process. In terms of governance, the call for projects method, bringing mayors and territorial presidents into contact with teams of professionals to work on the projects, has helped create synergies between towns and territories.

    Why should other European cities use it?

    This good practice may be of interest to other cities as they are all faced with the two-pronged challenge of finding solutions for land development and attracting investors. The success of phase one of “Let's reinvent the Grand Paris Metropolis” is fully in line with the very substance of this consultation: innovation, in all its guises. For the most part, the 420 applications that were received captured this quality, transforming this consultation into a call for projects targeting environmental excellence. Of the key topics, the issue of mobility to simplify metropolitan connections is also relevant to other European cities, with connected mobility, soft mobility and smart parking. A logistics review is another area for consideration, proposed at metropolitan level. The methods of dialogue with residents are also central to this good practice, which aims to integrate them from the very early project planning stages. Indeed, the relevance of the projects is reliant on continual input from the user. An experience exchange with other European counties would only boost the process. Furthermore, involving local elected representatives in the choice of sites and teams strengthens governance at various metropolitan and local levels. The Metropolis does not impose its projects on the communities. Instead, it instigates the process and promotes territories and know-how. The call for projects attracted young agencies, big names in architecture and start-ups.

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  • Shops with a history

    Portugal
    Lisbon

    A municipal programme highlighting shops whose historical and cultural heritage contribute to the city’s identity

    Sofia Pereira
    Project Manager/Programme Coordinator
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    545 245

    Summary

    Throughout history, trade has played a significant role in the birth and development of cities. The city of Lisbon (PT) developed the programme Loja com História, “Shops with a History”, to recognise trade as a distinctive element of the city. The Shops with a History label is awarded to places such as shops, restaurants and cafes that have helped foster the city's identity and play a role in preserving its historical and cultural heritage. The municipality's goal is also to promote local shops, mainly in the historic town centre, as part of Lisbon's rehabilitation strategy for revitalising the city's economic and social fabric. Thanks to a multi-disciplinary team following predefined selection criteria, a first selection of 63 shops, including restaurants and patisseries, were distinguished in July 2016. A further 19 were highlighted in March 2017. A municipal fund has also been created to support the selected stores.

    The solutions offered by the good practice

    The candidate stores are visited and inspected by a multi-disciplinary working group set up for that purpose. This group consists of a mixed team of the municipality and the Faculty of Fine Arts that recommends the shop (or restaurant) which meets most of the criteria to be awarded with the distinction. The distinction is awarded on the basis of the cumulative assessment of various factors such as commercial activity, as well as the existence and preservation of architectural heritage or cultural and historical materials. Afterwards, the working group proposes the distinction, which will be validated by an advisory board and finally confirmed by the mayor or the deputy mayor concerned. The distinguished stores will be listed in a database with the documentary and photographic record that testifies to its current repository as well as the authenticity of its history. Each distinguished store is awarded a plaque with the insignia (Loja com História) to be placed on the façade of its building. With the distinction awarded by the municipality, the stores benefit from greater public visibility, being a stimulus for updating their processes and methods to reach the market. This justifies the creation of a municipal fund as an integral part of the same program. This fund is intended to contribute to the costs carried out by stores in three areas: maintenance or restoration of façades or architectural and decorative elements, business dynamism or cultural initiatives.

    Building on the sustainable and integrated approach

    The Shops with a History programme aims to support and promote the traditional local trade as a symbol of Lisbon, as well as to safeguard the remaining retail stores with unique and differentiating characteristics of commercial activity, and whose history is intertwined with that of the city. The concern with the retail shops (and restaurants) is recognised by the municipality with the reduction or exemption of municipal urban taxes. The City Council is committed to protecting historic shops by combating property speculation and the unrestrained increase of retail rents.

    Based on a participatory approach

    Civic participation has been encouraged by the initial meetings. Starting in February 2015, the City Council began talks with shopkeepers and representative trade and restaurant associations to reverse the commercial crisis situation and maintain business and lifestyle in the city. From these meetings some basic ideas emerged, with the formal start to happen with the probation of the criteria in February 2016 and constitution of a working group to realise the project in May 2016. Furthermore, both the distinction and the fund were subject to their own regulations and submitted to a public consultation, before being ratified by the Municipal Assembly, the deliberative body of the city. All the distinctions were submitted for approval by the Advisory Board. This board is constituted by individual retailers and representative associations of trade and catering, as well as personalities with strong links to the history or the commercial life of the city.

    What difference has it made?

    The act of distinguishing a store is prestigious for commerce, but also for the city and for the owner of the store, which is not usually the shopkeeper. In some cases, having the Shop with a History/Loja com História distinction could help a store avoid eviction, displacement or forced compensation.

    Why should other European cities use it?

    At the national level, the programme has already had repercussions in the country’s second largest city, Porto. Porto has held meetings with Lisbon officials in order to launch a similar initiative, called Porto with Tradition/Porto com Tradição. Furthermore, our project manager is invited to a regional meeting to be held in Algarve, next April, organised by DG Cutura of Algarve/Ministry of Culture under the theme “Shops with a History/Encontro Lojas com História”. It will be an opportunity to present the Lisbon experience. This programme is easily transferable to other European cities, considering that the EU itself intends to improve trade and quality of life in cities, for example through funding under Horizon 2020. For instance, a well-known blogger from Antwerp has already shown interest in publicising these ideas in her city. A meeting was scheduled with the Vice President's office.

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