The city of Heraklion (EL) has developed a strategic plan that includes three pillars: Smart City, Resilient City and Cultural-Touristic City. The first, “Heraklion: Smart City”, encompasses a good practice developed by the Municipality of Heraklion in cooperation with the city's major stakeholders. Its purpose is to apply internationally recognised smart city practices to fully realise the potential of the city's assets while strengthening areas in which the city has traditionally been lacking. The exceptional element is that these smart city practices are being implemented on an interdisciplinary level. Major stakeholders are working together like never before to realise these goals, spanning interdepartmental gaps between institutions and services. Through this collaboration, effective and sustainable smart city initiatives have taken root bringing positive results and new opportunities - from extensive broadband networks to e-government services and support for volunteers and entrepreneurs.

Any changes within a city affect the individuals, organisations, communities and businesses that make up that city. It only makes sense, then, that all of these stakeholders be involved in the governance of the city. The solution that this smart city strategy has provided for Heraklion is a Smart City Committee formed in 2011, a first for Greece, which is chaired by the Municipality of Heraklion and has representation from many of the city’s major stakeholders. This committee has provided a framework within which stakeholders of all types (businesses, transportation organisations, citizen groups, public services and individual citizens) can formulate a common vision for the city and can also be involved in the decision-making processes. Projects of each individual stakeholder can then be aligned with this common vision, and can even overlap and be compatible with those of other stakeholders, increasing their value. Joint ventures between stakeholders will allow for larger and more ambitious endeavours that can benefit the city further. In a period of economic turmoil and financial austerity, such a strategy has proven to be all the more needed and its benefits are even more profoundly felt. Specific solutions that have resulted include information and communications technology infrastructure to promote citizen connectivity, volunteer and social inclusion initiatives, public forums that promote entrepreneurship and ambitious interdisciplinary and inter-stakeholder projects that promise to vastly improve the city.

Heraklion’s Smart City Strategy has built on the sustainable and integrated approach by providing the tools and the context for the integration that is necessary to sustainably deal with urban challenges. As a result of its strategy, according to a study by the European Parliament’s Directorate General for Internal Policies, “Mapping Smart Cities in the EU,” Heraklion has been deemed strong in the following three smart city axes: governance, economy and citizen participation. Within these three axes the integrated and sustainable approach that Heraklion has adopted allows it to flourish in this way.

Practical examples include Heraklion’s participation in the Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy and the city’s Sustainable Urban Development Plan. The latter has been approved by the city council and has been ratified by the Regional Government of Crete as well. This is a project that has been granted over 14 million euros of European funding to provide for long-term sustainable urban design and development.

Additionally, the enabling of participatory government has allowed challenges to be solved in an integrated fashion. Solutions have not been tailored only to the needs of a specific group of people, or only to maximise economic benefits or only to provide for a single social need. This holistic approach has allowed for solutions to positively affect all parties involved, from individual citizens, to businesses, to communities and to the city as a whole.

The adoption of a smart city strategy and a common vision required the participation of all related stakeholders. This first materialised in 2009 with the leadership role of Heraklion in the Icarus Network, a network of cooperation between municipalities of Crete and of the islands of the Aegean which developed the “Charter of Obligations of Municipal Authorities to Citizens in the Knowledge Society”. In 2011, the first Heraklion: Smart City Committee was formed and chaired by the Municipality of Heraklion with the representation of stakeholders including higher education and research institutes, transportation and business sector organisations. In 2015, the second Heraklion: Smart City Committee was convened with the backing of the City Council. This long-term committee has representation from the Foundation for Research and Technology (FORTH), the University of Crete, the Technological Educational Institute (TEI) of Crete, the Heraklion Chamber of Commerce, the Heraklion Urban Buses (KTEL) organisation, individual experts and delegates from all political groups represented in the City Council. The purpose of the committee is to facilitate the collective management of the city's strategic objectives as opposed to allowing the independent development and management of individual objectives of each institution. In this way, the committee is able to aid in capitalising on the benefits of a participatory approach to the development of smart city projects and initiatives.

The smart city strategy has made a noticeable difference. Some examples are:

1. Broadband infrastructure has reached 100% coverage. Private telcos have been given right-of-way to create their own fibre optic networks. The Municipal fibre optic network connects over 60 schools and many public services serving over 18,000 students and 5,500 public servants. Heraklion also boasts the nation’s largest municipal Wi-Fi network, which has been in continuous operation since 2008,
2. e-Government – Heraklion provides citizens with over 160 e-services via the municipality’s portal. It is ranked third among municipal portals in Greece according to alexa.com and second during the summer tourist season. There is a plethora of additional sites with which visitors can interact with the city including ruralheraklion.gr, heraklionculturalcity.gr and heraklionsculptures.gr, as well as a Heraklion City App,
3. The support of multiple volunteer groups has also been a result of the smart city initiative. The City Council has set up specific committees to support the participation of volunteers. These volunteer groups organise community outreach events that help the city especially in this time of financial austerity,
4. The Dimoskopio is a multidisciplinary organisation whose vision is to promote and support entrepreneurship and innovation to improve the economic climate of the city.

Heraklion is a medium-sized municipal area with an urban population of around 150,000 and a rural population of around 25,000 located geographically at the edge of the European Union. As a city, it is a vibrant tourist destination and boasts over 4,000 years of history and culture. It also has a strong specialised economy with its unique agricultural products.

There are many cities in Europe that share a similar profile with that of Heraklion. This is why we believe that the Heraklion: Smart City Initiative would be very interesting for other European cities.

Heraklion’s successes in this endeavour, especially in the strong points mentioned above, can become an example and a point of reference for similar cities. The experience that Heraklion has obtained through this endeavour has created a set of case studies and good practices that can be used by other cities to create or supplement their own Smart City Strategy.

The appeal of participating in URBACT comes from the exchange of information and best practices that will mutually benefit all parties involved. Heraklion has weak points that require attention and a lot of work, and participation in URBACT will also give Heraklion the opportunity to benefit from the best practices of other cities. It is this very exchange of experiences between cities that make the presentation of these best practices interesting for all parties involved.

The Municipality of Genoa (IT) adopted the City Tax Management System in 2012, based on an official agreement between City Hall and the Chamber of Commerce on behalf of the tourism sector. Under the Genoa City Tax Management System, the City Tax is considered as a way to improve the marketing, communication and branding strategies and the hospitality services of the city. It is perceived as an opportunity and not as an obligation. 

The agreement’s operational instrument is the City Tax Working Group (CTWG), which defines and implements strategies to promote the city using these tax resources. Coordinated by the Deputy Mayor for Tourism and Culture, the CTWG is composed of representatives of the Chamber of Commerce, associations of hotel owners and tourism stakeholders. 
Each year, the Chamber of Commerce submits the Marketing and Communication Plan guidelines to the City Council. It is elaborated and shared among the members of CTWG, approved by the City Council, and implemented by the City Marketing, Tourism, International Relations Department of the City Hall, in collaboration with CTWG members. Results are regularly monitored during the year.

This good practice offers an effective solution to the potential conflicts between public and private sectors. It creates confidence among partners, empowering each member and avoiding useless discussions, focusing on results. It guarantees a specific budget to promote the city, and it proves, through the close and strategic cooperation between all the partners, that tourism is a strategic asset for the economic development of a city. Some of the effective solutions offered by the good practice are:

• Coordination of marketing, communication and media relations plans of all the tourism stakeholders in the city;
• Coordination of the different Departments of the Municipality in charge of road services, public transport, mobility, protection and maintenance of the urban heritage, parks and gardens, according to tourism priorities;
• Support for the implementation of new services and tourist products by independent local operators, with economic benefits and growth of employment;
• Sharing strategies, tasks and commitments between the city administration and stakeholders, in order to offer citizens a unique and incisive programme of city promotion; and
• Strong involvement of local press and media.

One of the most important challenges for a city is to face complex problems with an integrated approach. This approach is a pillar of the URBACT method. Our method includes the involvement of stakeholders and citizens, as well as the work of several municipal departments, like City Marketing, Culture, Economic Development, Public Works and Transport. The CTWG is a real public-private partnership (PPP), which shares common goals. Different opinions and professional backgrounds become a benefit.

EU institutions often stress the importance of creating PPPs to reach shared goals in urban governance. The quick and sustainable growth of Genoa as a tourist destination since the institution of the City Tax in 2012 (a 25% increase in bed nights in four years), proves that the model is the most effective way to create, in a few years, a new perspective for the city.

Participation and awareness of citizens ensures the sustainability of tourist growth, avoiding the risks of an invasive tourism that may damage the environment, authenticity, local culture and quality of life. Furthermore, tourism is an incentive for the improvement of local services, and a chance to change the look and the atmosphere of the city. The new identity of the city results in a new sentiment of belonging and pride in citizens. In short: the use of an integrated approach to promote tourism can provide permanent benefits for the urban community and the whole territory.

The City Tax Agreement sets rules and ways of partners’ involvement. The CTWG involves stakeholders at every step of the decision-making and operational processes: addressing their priorities through the “Guidelines document”, approving the “Marketing and Communication Plan”, implementing and updating it with municipal departments and monitoring the results through previously accepted criteria.

The involvement of restaurant and bar owners has been crucial to improve the level and the quality of all aspects of hospitality. Encouraging a habit of working together between institutions and stakeholders, the City Tax Management System has created the conditions for a widespread enhancement of ancient commercial and local gastronomic traditions and the creation of the historical shops’ register. Smaller thematic working groups have been created for organising big events, conferences, communication campaigns, social media, marketing and promotional actions.

The Genoa Social Media Team (strongly connected to the URBACT III Action Planning Network Interactive Cities, led by Genoa) has been created to involve citizens in the social media strategies and to coordinate and co-promote web communication actions. A working group has been created to enable citizens to propose to the city administration specific projects of public works that can be implemented using City Tax resources, i.e. restoration of monuments, maintenance of historical buildings, public gardens and parks.

The City Tax Management System has positively affected relations and cooperation between the administration, stakeholders and citizens. Furthermore, it has helped to re-establish confidence between the parties. These results confirm the importance of the integrated approach to the development of tourism implemented by Genoa. Tourism has become an important part of city governance.

From the economic point of view, the results of this good practice are strong and evident, in terms of the number of bed nights (2,000,000 in 2016, up 7.34%), the level of internationalisation of tourism in the city (51.48% on the 49.40% of Italy), the number of tourists visiting the Tourist Information Centres (358,000 in 2016, up 28.72% from 2015), time spent in Genoa (2.3 days in 2016, in 2012 it was 1.98), economic impact on the city (€491,360,000 in 2016), level of employment (approximately 1,500 new jobs in five years).

There are evident results also in terms of brand visibility, positioning and reputation of the city on the tourism market. This can be demonstrated by several indicators: press release numbers, the results of the digital campaigns, visitors to the official website www.visitgenoa.it, results achieved on social media (quality of the contents, statistics about user numbers and engagement rate) and destination reputation analysis: the City commissioned a consultancy to analyse Genoa’s reputation on the web; from 2014 to 2016 its Reputation Index grew from 35 to 74/100.

Many cities are facing the problem of relations between the city government and stakeholders as they seek to promote the city and attract tourism, talent and investments. Tourism can create an important leverage effect by boosting investments. networks and associations, like European Cities Marketing, unite a lot of cities to work together in this field and lobby the EU institutions. The importance of tourism in economic and urban development is clear, also considering the growing attention EU institutions pay to tourism by putting it as a priority in Territorial Cooperation Funding Programmes.

In several European projects, including City Logo and Interactive Cities, we have met and discussed with other cities about the right way to include tourism in their strategic planning of economic development. The economic crisis is forcing cities in this direction. Many cities are already asking us to share with them our experience, explain our City Tax Management System and help them to adopt a similar method to promote their cities as tourist destinations.

Many cities in Europe have already established a City Tax, but are dealing with the problem of managing it without the consent of hotel owners, stakeholders and citizens. Despite the economic crisis, many cities are investing resources in tourism development. This good practice, through cooperation, participation and commitment, helps achieve good results with limited funding.