Pilot actions

Description

Casale Monferrato is a town in the province of Alessandria in the south-east of Piedmont, Italy. It has over 36,000 residents. For many years the City of Casale has been associated with the factory of the multinational company “Eternit”. This company produced asbestos-cement products. In order to undertake eco-friendly development policies and also to reassure the people, the area around Casale seems to be particularly suitable for the production of electricity from renewable sources.

The pilot action originates from the attempt to create a new and positive image of a sustainable and liveable environment for the Municipality of Casale Monferrato. Moreover, it should express the will and the need to bring new support to the citizens affected directly or indirectly by the exposure to asbestos. Furthermore, the project also responds to the regional, national and European guidelines in terms of environmental sustainability and energy efficiency.

A public municipal company, COSMO plc., has been chosen to implement the project, because this company owns big areas, which are essential for the installation of PV plants. It owns a biogas plant and has been carrying out many measures of integrated waste disposal. COSMO was planning to build photovoltaic plants on exhausted dumps. During the post-operational phase of a landfill site, the area normally remains unused for 20-25 years. The advantages of such a project are:

• Production of a great amount of clean energy, avoiding the exploitation of non-renewable resources
• Transformation of damaged sites by increasing their value from an environmental point of view
• Productive sites would not be occupied

The activities which Lamoro has already carried out include:

• Environmental and territorial analysis of the areas
• Inspection of the areas
• Preliminary analysis of energy needs
• Evaluation of the different technologies to be used for the implementation of the plants
• Preliminary cost-benefit analysis
• Socio-economic impact study
• Preliminary investigations of possible forms of financing

After geological surveys and loading tests carried out in the selected soils, the dimensioning of photovoltaic plants has been started. The next steps which the LAMORO agency will take for the project will be the elaboration of a model partner for the PPP who is able to realise and manage the project and shows a specific role, competence and responsibility.

Objectives

The main objectives for the pilot action within ACT4PPP are:

• To find an appropriate and practicable form of partnership with the private sector to be able to finance and realise the project
• Develop a repeatable type of project for the whole region
• To give a better visibility to the new positive image of the region of Casale

Also other Municipalities of Casale Monferrato basin are well interested in the project implementation, seeing the chance to reduce energy costs, to cut air pollution and CO2 emissions and to make the former asbestos area cleaner.

Actions

The main challenge of the project is primarily to give a new positive image
to the town of Casale Monferrato, which had linked its name unfortunately
for years inextricably to the establishment of the multinational “Eternit”
specialised in the production of asbestos cement for construction.

On the basis of the geological survey, further steps are:

• The technical planning and the estimation of the size of the plant
• Determination of the most suitable type of management for COSMO
• SWOT analysis in order to develop the PPP model
• Research and analysis of various funding opportunities
• Development and implementation of a communication strategy
• Implementation of the best solution

Results

After a previous feasibility study, the analysis has been expanded by a geological survey and this has allowed understanding of specific soil characteristics. As a result of soil analysis, the baseline analysis was completed. The estimated soil support capability was lower than anticipated on both sites leading to a reduction of the power plants in size; 50 and 250kW. For the partnership a contractual model between COSMO as the public body and a private company has been foreseen. The contract will include a lease agreement that will allow the private to build and maintain the power production plant on an area of someone else’s ownership. The private partner will be also responsible for the operation of the plant. The private entity will receive a payment for the feed-in of energy. Back in 2007 the Italian Ministry for Industry passed a law for a new FiT for PV installations that guarantees a feed-in tariff for installations larger than 1kW. This gives the owner the current PV rate.

According to the new Conto Energia III, Italy will begin reducing its funding for solar electricity in three phases starting from 2011. The cuts come in line with the current market conditions, which are forcing countries all over Europe to follow suit. Under the new legislation, feed-in tariffs for solar electricity generated by open-space systems with a capacity up to 5MW are to be cut by 9.3% on average during the first four months of 2011, while incentives for solar projects with a capacity of 5MW and more will be decreased by 14.2%. All tariffs are then to be decreased every four months during 2011.

COSMO company would find a private investor that could be able to finance and realise the photovoltaic plant on exhausted dumps. The private body will pay a rent to COSMO for 20 years on a basis of feed-in-tariff and the payment is bi-monthly and on account. The owner will be the soil holder, while the building will be of private ownership (in fact, in this case, the surface and the buildings have 2 different owners). The concessionaire chooses suitable areas to build a plant, designs energy production projects coming from renewable energy and has the ownership of the photovoltaic plant. On the other hand, the franchiser allows the building of the photovoltaic plant through a building lease concession, offering its facilities.

At the moment, the project has to face some restrictions due to the proper choice of the most suitable type of management model. The risks are mainly related to the uncertainties concerning choosing the right partner and finding the best way of financing, because PPPs involve huge initial investments up against future and uncertain cash flows. For this reason, the lack of real guarantees requires a more risky investment and generates problems in the presence of an imperfect capital market. The procurement model that COSMO is choosing is the open one, but currently COSMO has not prepared the procedure yet.

Description

This pilot action referrs to the former brewery of “Reininghaus” located in the western part of the City of Graz. Within 100 ha it represents the biggest area located to the city. Graz-Reininghaus is basically a large greenfield site with various old industrial buildings. Most of the area is accounted for as commercial area but currently being used for agricultural purpose. 55 ha of the area are privately owned. South of this area, there is a former military site called “Hummel Kaserne”, which should be included in the restructuring process.

Objectives

The general objective is to find a convenient PPP model to develop this site to a prospering city district of high quality with urban diversity use just like residential, work, education, cultural and entertainment together with private investors and the City of Graz by keeping public interests. Besides cooperation with other departments of the City of Graz and with the Technical University for Architecture (institute for urban planning) the accompanying of scientific studies and research work for the planning area are also very important objectives.

Activities

Activities which have been done including implementation:

• urban planning framework Graz-Reininghaus – definition and development of an urban framework concerning integrated development and spatial structure of the planning area;
• overall traffic concept for the area including surroundings as integral part of the Urban planning framework Graz-Reininghaus development and linking up the area to public transport, bicycle and footpaths;
• concept for the green space in Graz-Reininghaus, experiencable green routes and green connections by linking up existing and planned green and free space in the surrounding of the urban space;
• citizens participations for ensuring public interests.

Results

Due to the financial and economic crisis since 2008, the former owner of the area, the ASSET ONE AG, was not able to develop the area anymore. The City itself thought about buying the land from the investor, but that plan was rejected later on. Financing possibilities for the infrastructure are investigated by the EIB. At the moment the market interest for this area is very low, because the demand for housing is moderate. A high amount of up-front costs would be necessary to set-up basic infrastructure for the area.

The area of Vejprty is the pilot region where due to fast depopulation after the 2nd World War a lot of historical public buildings, of which maintenance and related costs remained without meaningful use, burden the municipal budget excessively.

First it was necessary to open a tender for the services supplier which was held in April 2012 and in June of the same year a contract was signed with the selected entity. Based on the negotiations with experts and local regional representatives Vejprty as a pilot region was selected in October 2012 where buildings suitable for the Pilot Action purposes were located.

As a result of several negotiations between the services supplier and the local representatives, three buildings were identified built roughly in the same historical period, i.e. in 20th and 30th of the last century and none of them being listed. Each of the buildings has a different regime of usage. Performing energy audits including cards issuing, a study layout and time schedule for the activity implementation belong to the most important steps of the “Governance Model”.

In the first case the building, which had been originally used as an administrative building, was dealt with. It is currently partially used as a health centre, partially as a residential house. In March 2013 an energy audit was performed and the energy card for the building issued. Then a study layout was prepared relying on the effort of the Vejprty city management to centralize health care for wider Vejprty environment. The second energy audit together with the energy card assignment was prepared by the services supplier in August 2013. It is a building originally used as a recreation centre and totally idle at the moment. The prepared study layout with the agreement of the city representatives counts with the building being used as an administrative building for the business centre.

Finally the third audit and related documents were handed over for the House for Disabled People in Vejprty in September and October 2013. Current way of use should be, according to the study, preserved. It results from all the energy audits that it is necessary to invest to improve current conditions but these investment costs are not a part of the pilot action.

A document called “Proposal for Improvement of the Current Building Conditions” was issued by the services supplier generalizing results of the energy audits and serving as a guide for further decision-making to optimize energy costs and operation in the buildings of amenities.

In November 2013 before the final evaluation of the whole the Pilot Action from the ADAPT2DC project perspective a time schedule was proposed for the implementation of activities recommended based on the prepared studies of the buildings.

All activities within the sub-sections of the Pilot Action were discussed through the services supplier at the regular meetings with experts and representatives of the Vejprty city management. Now it is up to the local administration which way they align with the proposed measures and manage to evaluate the results of the Pilot Action towards improvement with respect to the on-going demographic changes.

Finally the project interest is for the final Governance model to be useful and transferable in the other Central Europe regions where similar problems as a consequence of demographic changes have been solved and are expected.

The specific measures were thus not pre-defined from the beginning, but instead the goal was to encourage a “bottom-up” process. The demography coaches in both regions offer their time and their expertise to manage and support the process of implementation of small-scale measures.

Saale-Orla-Kreis in Thuringia
After the consultation with relevant stakeholders, the demography coach identified three measures that can be reasonably implemented within the given timeframe: Firstly, the combination of passenger transport and goods transport is tested (“KombiBus”). Seeing that the public busses are only fully occupied during peak hours, the excess capacities can be used to transport packages and goods. This option would generate extra income for the bus company and thus ensure the long-term viability of the bus service. It would also allow local producers to transport their goods within the region at reasonable prices, without having to maintain their own logistics network. The regional bus company was willing to test the new concept. Before the start of the first bus line, two questions needed to be answered: whether legal obstacles exist, and if enough potential users exist to make the concept economically viable. For this purpose, two studies were initiated with the help of external experts. Both studies came to positive conclusions. Therefore the first testing round has currently started. The bus company also acquired the necessary transport boxes and hired a logistical disposition expert. Within the next months, the experiences from this initial phase shall be evaluated.

Secondly, a vacancy cadaster was developed with the help of GIS mapping software. This approach was tested in Remptendorf. The goal is to support the administration in marketing the vacancies in a targeted manner: For instance, potential buyers or investors can specifically be directed towards the vacancies in the town centre, avoiding the need for designating new development areas in the suburbs. Also other planning decisions can be made on a sound knowledge base. With the cadaster, it is now easier for the administration to evaluate whether a certain infrastructure will still attract sufficient users in the future, or whether downsizing has to be attempted.

Oberfranken-Ost in Bavaria
In Oberfranken, three specific measures were implemented with the support of the demography coach. In Arzberg, a model flat was equipped with “Ambient Assisted Living” Systems. These systems range from the central control of heating and lighting to the measurement of the resident’s blood pressure and pulse. The flat will be open for the public in regular intervals. The goal is to show how any flat can be easily equipped with affordable systems that enable elderly people to stay in their own homes for a longer time. The ultimate goal of these “AAL” systems is to delay the point when a person has to move to a care home. Thereby, the quality of life shall be improved but also costs in the care system shall be saved.

In Bad Berneck a vacancy cadaster was developed with the help of students in a geography course. The goal of the vacancy cadaster is to enable the targeted marketing of vacancies. Ultimately, the quality of life in the town shall be enhanced (by avoiding decaying buildings as much as possible).

In Hof, “integration guides” were trained in order to support those new residents who are not acquainted with bureaucratic requirements of the town. Volunteers signed up for the training course. The course was managed by the local “Volkshochschule” and touched upon issues like registration requirements, the German school system, or social activities for newcomers. The goal is to relieve both the administration and the new residents.

In Bad Berneck a vacancy cadaster is developed with the help of students in a geography course. The goal of the vacancy cadaster is to enable the targeted marketing of vacancies. Ultimately, the quality of life in the town shall be enhanced (by avoiding decaying buildings as much as possible).
In Hof, “integration guides” are trained in order to support those new residents who are not acquainted with bureaucratic requirements of the town. Volunteers can sign up for the training course. Already a number of volunteers have shown interest. The goal is to relieve both the administration and the new residents.

The steps of implementing the pilot action started with a background analysis in the topic. After the determination of the pilot area, a pilot area analysis was performed. The analysis covered the investigation of the main characteristics of the pilot area relevant in this topic and a background SWOT analysis was also elaborated. The next step was the selection of the expert responsible for the professional pilot action tasks. We placed a call for tenders by sending invitation to 4 organisations of which we received 3 valid tenders. Due to the tender with the lowest price we contracted the University of Debrecen Department of Sociology and Social Politics.

During the pilot project we have organised workshops related to the topic of the pilot action. There was a pilot action opening workshop in Jászkisér on 26.10.2012 where the local stakeholders and professionals were invited and informed about ADAPT2DC project and its local pilot action. A roundtable discussion was organised in Debrecen on 14.12.2012 for a wider group of guests concerned in the topic of the pilot action. Besides, as the external experts’ team from the University of Debrecen elaborated the feasibility study within the pilot action of the ADAPT2DC project, we also organised a workshop, called a pilot action closing workshop, in Jászárokszállás on 22.04.2013.


Pilot action closing workshop (Jászárokszállás, 22.04.2013)

All the experiences and opinions by invited local stakeholders were taken into account when forming the feasibility study and the political recommendations. Besides, the external expert team made a basic exploration, data collection by elaborating methodology documents, by on-site data collection (including personal and focus-group interviews) and performed a data analysis. The completed feasibility study includes 12 chapters on the evaluation of the situation, on the legal background (national rules on daycare nurseries), draws up daycare nursery models, contains a SWOT and risk analysis, a cost analysis and a marketing strategy also. The policy recommendations are based on the experiences earned from the feasibility study and cover either micro-level recommendations for local decision makers or macro-level recommendations for national politicians.

As supplementary actions we performed some further steps of the pilot action implementation. We involved an expert in the SET (Strategic Experts’ Team), who is working as a strategic planner at the Észak-Alföld Regional Development Agency. Our SET expert is elaborating regional and local strategic documents, development concepts and programmes in the Észak-Alföld region, with a special focus on economic development, on the development of the SME sector and on local and regional co-operations. Due to his tasks and responsibilities, knowledge and experiences, the results of the ADAPT2DC pilot action are appearing in the regional strategic plans for the period 2014-2020.

Besides, ÉARDA is cooperating with ONEP (Office for National Economic Planning) in the national strategic planning for the period 2014-2020. An important step towards involving pilot action results into national planning was a meeting held in Budapest on 10.12.2013 with the active participation of ÉARDA and ONEP staff concerned in the issue.

We were also informing local politicians and stakeholders of opportunities of using the results of the pilot study by holding several meetings. On 20.01.2014 a discussion with mayors took place in Jászapáti to inform local mayors about tendering opportunities in the period of 2014-2020. On 31.03.2014 the representatives of ÉARDA travelled to Jászberény to meet local stakeholders and discuss about the planned regulation on child daycare nurseries and the related financial supporting possibilities.

In particular the centre is organized as a meeting point joining together different services dedicated to residents and visitors. It will also offer the possibility to buy regional products, and offer complementary information and tools, working also as a communication and meeting point for people from different generations.

The centre is set to include the following services:
• A premise for local associations
• A library, an indispensable need for a growing young population. The library will be the premise also for the rising Widespread Library on Alpine Culture
• The presentation and sale of local agri-food products and the general promotion of the valley
• The coordination of a “widespread hotel”, connecting the main B&Bs of the area
• An internet point
• The coordination of a car sharing service in collaboration with the other upper Po municipalities and environmental associations in order to promote a sustainable accessibility to the mountain area
• The information point of the “Alpine Convention”



Besides these first already implemented services, other ones are being prepared:
• The sale of counter medications, that from 2006 in Italy can be sold in shops with a simplified regulation than Pharmacies, the so-called Para-Pharmacies;
• The family doctor will receive weekly in the centre and the same centre can coordinate the requests and collect the medical recipes
• A pick-up service for drugs and medications, in particular for elderly people
• A small kindergarten meeting room/playroom could be dedicated to this service, which is missing today



The following steps were part of the pilot action: designation of an appropriate building, finding a responsible manager for the centre, renovation of the building, agreement with local agricultural producers for providing fresh fruit and vegetables, opening of the centre, communication campaign and promotion of the new services. All of this was done in close cooperation with the local municipality (for the renovation works, external funding was available).

The centre is seen as a pilot because none of the other municipalities of the area have a similar centre that merges different public and private functions. In the first months of experience, users were not only the local inhabitants but also many tourists that came to Ostana for vacation.

The aim of the action was to provide a tele-medical service (tele-ECG) to examine the beneficiaries’ health condition, improve their life quality, and prevent further deterioration of health. The patients received tele-medical equipment to measure ECG at home, and were provided medical assistance, consultation, and diagnosis both on a remote basis and in person. The action consisted of tele-ECK service provided to a group of 100 patients over 55 years of age. Tele-ECG kits were lent to the patients free of charge, for a period of 1 month. Every patient was instructed on how to operate the kit at home, office etc. In addition, the patients completed a life-quality survey. Subsequently, they were asked to perform at least 3 registrations a day and advised to record as many ECG events as needed. Moreover, patients were offered consultations by a dietician at the beginning and at the end of the examination period. After the examination period each patient received diagnosis, conclusions and recommendations made by the assigned physician in charge and dietician.

The goals were:
•  Better access to health care in depopulating areas
•  Decreasing costs of high quality health care
     /by using the advantages of the new technologies (direct costs)
     /by early diagnosis and preventing further deterioration of health (alternative costs)
•  High quality medical service for elderly patients
•  Reaching patients at risk of exclusion
Given the fact that almost all (97) participants completed the examination, it may be stated that there were no serious difficulties that could prevent or put off some people from participation.
Overall, the Małopolska pilot action has succeeded as a pioneering effort to bring technology closer to the aging society and overcome difficulties related to increasing health care costs in areas facing demographic changes.

Aim is to strengthen synergy, comprehension, sustainability of the cost reduction on short and long time span, and also to encourage significant economic, cultural, social, environmental and other impacts.

The pilot action began with geographical mapping and analysis of publicly owned infrastructure (public housing, roads) in Maribor in order to identify potentials for reduction of the maintenance costs. In the next step, the quantitative estimation of the possible savings for the selected individual buildings was carried out. Intensification and possible changes of the use of the public houses are employed as main instruments for reduction of the maintenance costs per square meter. In the case of roads the introduction of by-street parking and reducing street lighting costs are examined. The methodology includes also preparation of general savings measures in management, maintenance and operations of public infrastructure.

The tool is innovative (using up to date GIS tools), simple (using spreadsheet analysis), and comprehensive as well to be transferable to other Central Europe regions.
More specifically, three user friendly tools for calculations of savings were developed and tested for the analysis of the pilot area of Maribor:
• development of the attic of buildings with the aim to reduce the building maintenance costs per m2,
• introduction of by-street parking with aim to reduce the roads maintenance costs per m2,
• implementation of the street lighting saving project with aim to reduce the street lighting costs (replacing lamps with LEDs).

Background

In Slovenia such bike sharing systems did not exist until 2011. At that time the first small scale modular system was implemented in the capital city Ljubljana. As for Velenje, that is a much smaller city, all the studies were taken from existing schemes in EU area by implementing the best case examples existing in EU and even broader (e.g., Italy, Austria, also Barcelona, Paris, Chicago student bike rental scheme…). This sharing system provides innovative technology solutions for rental services and a detailed concept of solutions for tracking and control.

Implementation

This bike sharing system provides safe and convenient access to bicycles for short trips within the city of Velenje. The international community experienced nearly 40 years with different bike sharing programmes. Until recently, bike sharing programmes worldwide have experienced low to moderate success. In the last 5 years, innovations in technology have given rise to a new (third) generation of technology-driven bike sharing programmes. These prorammes can dramatically increase the visibility of cycling and lower barriers to use by requiring only that the user have a desire to bike and a credit card or phone.

Existing and proposed bike sharing programmes employ a wide variety of technologies, and “lessons learned” are being continually applied to new systems. To be successfully implemented, it is important that the correct technology and package of services involved be mated to the unique challenges that each program faces.

For this reason it is strongly recommended that we consider starting the implementation with an independent assessment of Velenje needs, economics, technologies, logistical issues, service area, and other challenges faced by a final system.

Activities

The project foreseen placement of 5 bike sharing point in the city of Velenje where on each would be 5 public bikes on for rental. Furthermore, it would provide innovative technology solutions for rental services and also detailed concept of tracking and control solutions.

This bike sharing system in Velenje allows leaving a bike on other points and by that serve as a useful city tool for many opportunities. The system will be upgraded accordingly to the findings and needs in the future. The investment in Velenje will consist in the Implementation of small scale bike rental scheme (5 rental stations, 25 bikes), based on a modular design of station that allows future adaptation, easy maintenance and possibility of movement in case of changes in the network.

Each station will be connected to central control station. Each rental point will be equipped with RFID reader and numeric keyboard. The local inhabitants are the target group of this new service. All needed activities and basis for placement (in duly time, namely in September 2012) of the planned bike sharing system have been done.

On following map you can see the eight location points of “BIKE SHARING SYSTEM”:

In the first line the system will be used by local inhabitants, including students, elderly inhabitants, families, individuals, sportsmen... generally citizens of Velenje and neighbouring areas-general public.

Results

• Equipment and Systems Bike Fleet

Fleet bikes are designed for easy city use and be clearly branded to increase general visibility. Bikes typically come with full fenders, chain guards and, in some cases, bike locks. Most bikes are equipped with a Global Position System (GPS) unit, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag, or other type of tracking mechanism. This function is typically used in fleet management and location of lost or stolen bikes.

• Parking and Locking Mechanisms

Two major types of locking technology, both fully automated, are available:

• Station Design, User Interface and Check-in/Check-out protocols

All bike sharing programmes require a user interface to col¬lect and retrieve bicycles, through a check-in/check-out system. The interface should be simple and easy to understand. Stations should provide clear directions on how to access and return a bicycle. Other recommended elements and design guidelines include:

Costs & Funding

Station maintenance may include repairing lock mechanisms, replacing damaged interfaces, and installing new power sources. Bikes and stations not kept in good repair can create safety and liability issues.

Costs associated with a this system are diveded into four categories:

Funding for public bicycle systems commonly comes through a combination of advertisements, user fees, and public government funds and operates as a public-private partnership.

Objective

Contribute to the integration of a multimodal transport system through actions for development of cycling (bike rental, bike path) connected to the utilization of the train.

Activities

The pilot project of Ravenna consists in the realization of two major investments:

- The setting up of a free bike rental station close to the railway station of Cervia: In order to realize this activity following was purchased: bicycles, anti theft devices, repairing kits, helmets for kids, devices to carry kids and luggage. A non-slip platform with steel railings was built in order to facilitate the access of bicycles in the free rental. Some promotional panels and placards were installed on the external walls in order to indicate the free bike rental.

- The completion of the signposting along the bike path connecting the cities of Cervia and Ravenna: The road signs were designed, purchased and installed along the cycle path from Cervia's Station to Ravenna's Station.

Investments

The sum of expenditure incurred / committed for the pilot project is EUR 89.730,95 (policy definition; purchase bicycles and several equipment.

• Promotion of the pilot project
• Management service park bicycles
• Design
• Purchase and installation of road signs for the natural cycle paths

Investment: EUR 28.934,73
Promotion costs: EUR 19.148,40
External expertise: EUR 41.647,82

Description

The Regional Development of Vorarlberg has set with the selection of one floor in the Lifecycle Tower the goal, to force environmental oriented, ecological and CO2 reduced building into the awareness of public decision-makers but also in general in public.

Activities

The unique wood-hybrid-construction-system-conception represents a realized model of how buildings can be built energy efficient and with a lowest level of CO2 emissions for the future. In 2012, the building was set up and on 19th November 2012 presented to the public for the first time. Visitors from politics and business were able to persuade of the peculiarity on this opening day.

Results

The project partner located in Voralberg, Austria is visualising innovative approaches to energy-efficient construction in a Nearly Zero Energy Building. The exhibition shows visitors the importance of energy-efficient construction and illustrates the various construction examples in the CEC5 project and demonstrates the application of the planning and advisory tool used by the project and called CESBA for sustainable construction.

The building is a demonstration building (Lifecycle Tower ONE) for the urban wood construction and consists of 8 floor modules. The design concept allows a height of up to 100 feet (25 floors) The LCT-ONE is an energy plus building and is characterized by a high environmental standard. The Life Cycle Tower is a concept which will set up international standards because its basic material, is a renewable material that grows again quickly: wood. The Lifecycle Tower is a sustainable and CO₂ neutral concept for multilevel buildings in urban areas, built by wood. The Pilot building has a volume of 7,500 m³, the active surface on 8 storey is 2,274m², the Lifecycle Tower is built out of 8 floor modules.

Technologies and measures are installed which aim at reaching energy savings and lowering energy demands of the future building:

• insulation folder around the building, which is composed of warming system on the basis of mineral insulation and of windows with triple insulation glass,
• the floor is equipped with a three-layer thermal insulation and heat line heating of the building is ensured by means of two air-water heat pumps, that enable regulated ventilation with heat recuperation roofing of the building.

It is designed as a hydroinsulating photovoltaic foil which generates electric power from solar energy. This innovative solution makes it possible to integrate thin-sized photovoltaic modules into the roof covering and thus to provide reliable protection from weather impacts in combination with achieving highly effective production of electric power from renewable source, while minimising performance losses. Such a technology can be used in a wide range of building types, including those that are not fit for installation of conventional solar panels. Works continue.

PAST NEWS

The building is situated in the location of the Institute for Social Care in Lidmaň. It replaced a previously existing building, which did not comply with the present construction, operational, sanitary, fire and esthetical demands anymore. The new building is a passive house built out of traditional brick materials with insulated folder. The heating is assured by means of a heat pump. The building serves for accommodation of the clients of the Institute for Social Care, Lidmaň. All following construction criteria are included:

- Minimization of energy release through the siding of the building

- Optimal use of the inner space

- Intensification of usage of locally available and renewable energy sources

- Emphasis on a high rate of comfort for building users

- The used technology will be on the top level (Best Available Technique).

The building will be open each  day during the working hours. There will be also installed 4 telemeters which make automatically measuring and showing the results on internet. All components of the investment (design, construction facilities, commissioning, etc.) will be part of one public procurement. The building should contain a heat pump for central heating system, solar collectors, photovoltaic modules, heat recovery unit for recuperation, insulated folder around the building.

In the future all learning and care opportunities for primary school students will be combined in different buildings. Some buildings will be renovated in a sustainable way and others like the “Gartenstraße 14” will be constructed new.

The city council has already been taken the general decision to develop the primary school area including all different buildings.

The construction works of the demonstration building started in August 2013.

The conception of the future primary school area in the inner city of Ludwigsburg the demonstration building „Gartenstraße 14“ with all its functions is very important.
The building will include a cafeteria and a gymnasium. It will be used, on the one hand,  by pupils of 2 primary schools and on the other hand, by local sport clubs. The design planning phase of the building and the technical equipment was finalized between October 2012 and April 2013. In April 2013 the tendering started. In the tendering different aspects were implemented to increase the sustainability of the building and to fulfill the requirements of CESBA. Moreover, a detailed planning of the exhibition concept is in progress. In addition the process of building a network in the field of sustainable energy assessment for public buildings is going on. For example there is a network and discussion with municipal energy managers, architects and institutes.

The Mechanical School Complex was chosen for the intervention in Bydgoszcz. The City is the owner of the school territory and will be the owner of the future building to be constructed, whereas the Headmaster of the Mechanical School Complex functions as the manager of the school. The school have already started enrolment procedures for a new RES specialization school course.

Progress of Bydgoszcz activities:

1.10.2012 The designer submitted the zoning plan for this new area.

15.10.2012 The Investment Department applied for decision on environmental conditions of approval of undertaking.

19.10.2012 The Investment Department applied for new technical conditions of establishing grid connections.

27.12.2012 The Investment Department acquired  a building permit No. 1410/2012

December 2012 Technical documentation obtained as well as cost estimate

January-March 2013 Modification of the design documentation in order to reduce the costs

March-April 2013 Completion of the modification of the design documentation

May 2013: the tender for the construction of Demonstration Centre was announced.

July 2013: the start of construction works

April 2014: the end of construction works

May 2014: the acceptance of works

24 June 2014: official opening of the RES Demonstration Centre and handing it over to the Mechanical School Complex no. 2 Director, Ryszard lewandowski by the City Mayor, Rafał Bruski

For photos of the RES Demonstration Centre, go here:

Regarding the education, SOS Senica has been successfully participating in the ENERSOL competition for several years – this is competition for secondary schools students in the field of RES innovative approaches.

The timeplan is as follows:

6/2013: the public procurement („over-limit order) launched;

7/2013: offers submitted;

8/2013: the public procurement evaluated and a winning competitor identified;

10/2013: the Slovak FLC concludes the tender documentation control;

11/2013: a contract signature and start of the DB refurbishment

4/2014: DB refurbishment completed.

Between 12/2013 – 8/2014: organised study visits and individual guided tours through the project partner (the DB will be accessible after the CEC5 project completion as well).

Within April 2012 – February 2013 several meetings took place in the Senica school with participation of PP14, Director and Financial Manager of the Senica school as well as with representatives of potential service providers. So far the last meeting took place on 6.2.2013 where Project Coordinator and Investment Manager of PP14 participated with Director of the Senica school and representatives of supplier for elaboration of documentation specifying technical standards for RES facilities to be installed at this school. Such documentation will be a basis for preparation of tender documentation for public procurement for supplier of the overall reconstruction of the Senica school pilot investment. PP14 intends to launch such public procurement in the mid of 2013 with aim to complete the demonstration building reconstruction in the end of 2013.

Referring to the CEC5 project, SOS Senica currently using natural gas for heat and warm water preparation, aims to install RES for this purpose: solar collector, biomass station using pellets and heat pump “air – water system”. The external walls as well as roof are going to be insulated and small demonstration room showing actual state of energy generation and consumption will be set up. This refurbishment was realised within the I. half of 2013.

Among others, through this demonstration activity as well as the overall CEC5 project, TTSK aims to draw attention to EE/RES issues on regional/local level and brings “Success story” to other schools, social facilities, etc. On broader social perspective, TTSK also intends to emphasize the fact that we must pay attention to energy efficiency in our lifes, including buildings, otherwise energy / environmental debt we may shift forward to future generations might become unprecedented.

Implementation

Within the first implementation phase, comments and proposals from the citizens were gathered. The second phase mainly focused on the research and evaluation proposed location and the public tendering of bicycle racks. The third phase represented the installation which ran from October to Decembre 2012 had been installed 300 bicycle racks.

Activities

• Meeting with schools/stakeholders

This activity involves the prepration of pilot investments in city of Žilina. The activity consisted of: Meetings with stakeholders, development of online questionnaire and an internal meeting within municipality. We have contacted the staskeholders and institution which could be potentially interested in installation of bicycle racks. For this reason we have organised meetings with representatives of primary and elementary schools. In this meeting we introduce the project and presented the possibility for installation the bicycle racks for the schools. The schools received the questionnairies where there stated their insterest in bicycle racks and also the requierement number of bicycle rack.

• Developement of the online questionnaire

In order to ensure the good and suitable location for installation of bicycle racks, we have developed the online questionnaire where the inhabitants had the chance to comment and propose new locations of bicycle racks and shelters in their city.

• Internal meeting with municipality representatives

In Novermber 2012 the municipality organised the internal meeting where the particular departments of the municipality which could discuss on the best possible installation of bicycle racks. The following deprtments participated:
Department of EU projects, Department of construction, Department of Investments and NGO MULICA.

Output

Due to the online questionnaire, more than 120 proposals for bicycle racks were proposed by the citizens. Meeting with the municipality was necessary because of successfully planning the installation of racks. The municipality has an analytical web tool which is used for comparison, downloading  and monitoring of data provided by the bicycle counters. This information is used for further strategic steps. It will have an impact on new bicycle infrastructure build in future. This is the most important argument for the city implementing better condition for cyclists.

• The installation took place from October to Decembre 2012 whereas almost 300 bicycle racks were installed. The locations with number of racks is shown in the picture below, the new bicycle racks from the Central Meetbike project are marked with green colour. Old bicycle racks are shown in blue. Until today, following locations were newly equipped with the bicycle racks:

• • Elementary, high schools
  • Theatres, sport locations
  • Public places as squares
  • Shops
  • Swimming pool
  • Post offices
  • Railway station
  • Courts
  • Regional government office
  • Hospital, Heath centres
  • etc.

• Installation of automatic bicycle counters

This is the first bicycle counter within all of Slovak republic. The main reason for installing these was to have „hard“ data which can be used in the process of evaluation and monitoring of cyclists in urban environment. The location of counters have been chosen with respect to the existing cycling infrastructure. Based on that the municipality choose two location. First is on the separated cycle track situated along the commercial zone. The second is situated in the shared track for cyclists and pedestrian.

To get more information on the Central MeetBike project, please click HERE to see the project website.

Duration of Pilot Action in Tczew: September 2011 to June 2012

Main activities in this area:

• Consultations with stakeholders,
• Gathering materials,
• Market recognition,
• Preparation of tender.

The preparatory work took place mainly through emails, phone calls and direct meetings. Preparatory work focused on:

1. Installation of the cycle counter (+reasoning where it should be installed in order to achieve the best results)
2. Building of a different type of cycle parking facilities
   1. Bicycle stands (how should it look like, where it should be installed?)
   2. Indoor cycle parking installation (how should it look like, where it should be installed?)
3. After conducting market research and inquiries, it was decided to choose the best offer in terms of price. The supplier was the company AMR ECO from Krakow. An induction loop has been installed on the bike path on the Pomeranian street. Close to the railway station and transport hub.
4. The next step was a meeting with representatives of the cyclists, schools and authorities to detail what kind of cycle parking facilities we need and where we need to provide it. It was decided that we need to provide bicycle stands mostly near schools and the secure cycle parking facilities in or close to the public building, cultural or civic life building.

Tender for the supply and installation 20 secure anti-theft indoor cycle parking facilities and supply and installation of 80 bicycle racks throughout the Municipality was settled in July 2012. The tender has been won by Bart Service Bojarscy. During the preparatory work numerous internal discussions and meetings was conducted as well as consultations with representatives of cyclists and residents.

Implementation

• Installation of the cycle counter with the zelt loop and eco-vision tool:

At the beginning of the second quarter of 2012 Tczew started project activities related to investments. The first step was the purchase of an induction loop and display module. After conducting market research and inquiries, it was decided to choose the best offer in terms of price. The supplier was the company AMR ECO from Krakow. An induction loop has been installed on the bike path on the Pomeranian street. Close to the railway station and transport hub. The contract for the supply the loop was signed on 16.05.2012 and it has been installed and accepted on 26.06.2012.
Cost : EUR 4.923,75

• An induction loop has the task of counting the passing cyclists on the road bike.

This information is available to anyone who visits the site http://tczew.visio-tools.com/, thanks to a special module that allows to display data from the measurement. Tczew is the first city in Poland which offers access to online information, which you can find out how many people have benefited from the path at Pomeranian street. The contract for the supply the module was signed on 10.08.2012 and it has been provided on 20.08.2012.
Cost : 4 923,75 Euro

• Cycling parking

Tczew started to prepare the materials needed to carry out the tender for cycle parking facilities, which was a key task in the project in 2012. Tender for the supply and installation 20 secure anti-theft indoor cycle parking facilities and supply and installation of 80 bicycle racks throughout the Municipality was settled in July 2012. The contract was signed on 23.07.2012 and the task has been made and confirmed with the delivery reception on 11.10.2012. Locations of all the stands were discussed during meetings with representatives of the cyclist. Because Tczew has a lack of simple cycle parking stands mostly near schools, office buildings and near the main public transport hub it was decided that most of the racks should find themselves in above mentioned places. The specific locations are 20 secure indoor cycle parking facilities and additional 5 spaces at the Town Hall of Tczew.
Cost : approx. EUR 24.000,00

Description

This new website for tourists shall encourage European citizens of CENTROPE region to visit their neighbouring areas. This project runs by Slovenský dom CENTROPE and was established in cooperation with regional tourism organisations from 8 federal states, regions and counties in Austria, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, including Slovak capital Bratislava and the municipality of Bratislava.

There are about six and a half million people living in the CENTROPE Central European region. This region is tailor-made for family outings, whether on bikes or other common means of transport. It offers innumerable sights testifying to the common history shared for centuries as well as the best museums, galleries, attractive events and festivals. Thanks to its beautiful nature and opportunities for sport and recreation, the CENTROPE region is an ideal place for weekend family outings or an active holiday just several kilometres away from home.

Implementation & Results

You will find descriptions for 40 cycling paths including their length, difficulty level, and surface composition at www.tourcentrope.eu , more than 60 attractive cultural and leisure events, almost 160 sights and interesting places and even those on the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage list. There will also be top museums and galleries, valuable temples and churches, unique parks and other singularities that make the CENTROPE region so unique and varied.

Nevertheless, it used to be rather difficult finding information about interesting places and programmes on a single website. The new site will do away with this deficiency soon. It will also contain clear maps, including regular street maps, road and aerial ones. Information will be also provided in English and in the languages of all the participating regions. An application for most smartphones was introduced in 2012. 

Description

Ever since the beginning of intensified cross-border co-operation under the CENTROPE initiative, infrastructure and transport issues have played a key role. The notion of CENTROPE as a common, polycentric Euro region cannot stand without fast and capable transport links that allow for a high degree of economic integration as well as labour market mobility and workplace commuting. It is therefore all the more significant that the pilot action “Infrastructure Needs Assessment Tool” (INAT) was implemented within the project CENTROPE CAPACITY.

Strategy

As a first step, it produced a comprehensive overview on the state of transport infrastructure development in the quadrangle and a thorough analysis of shortcomings and future demands (INAT Mapping Report). Based on a common methodology, a transnational project team from all four countries accessed relevant documents and conducted a comprehensive mapping of existing regional development strategies, functional specificities as well as the infrastructure status quo. The “Strategic Framework for Transport and Infrastructure Development in centrope”, elaborated as a second step within this pilot action, represents the common answer of the partner regions and cities to the needs thus identified. Key analytical findings of the infrastructure assessment and on the content of the Strategic Framework for Transport and Infrastructure Development in centrope shall be described in the next paragraph.

Results

1. Main challenges:

• The dynamic integration of centrope will lead to a further increase of cross-border interactions, with a strong expected growth of car traffic unless the railway network is substantially upgraded andpublic transport services are improved
• Centrope as a transnational and European trafficand transport node will challenge infrastructurenetwork capacities as well as node facilities
• Serious bottlenecks and service deficiencies ofthe main infrastructure network are to be expected in the future
• Weak public transport supply is a threat for sustainable traffic and transport performance
• The responsibility for decision-making and budgets primarily lies with the national and European levels and calls for joint lobbying.

2. Findings of stakeholder assessment:

• Mobility improvement
• Business location development
• Spatial integration constituted major concerns for the comprehensive mapping of the infrastructure status quo that went along with a transnational stakeholder consultation process

Together, the findings of the assessment spell out major development potentials and challenges and lay bare the urgent need for a joint strategy.

3. Strategic Framework for future development

• A long-term “Vision 2030” for the main rail and road networks in centrope. It also contains a position on the revision of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T), with an appeal to include important connections in the future Trans- European Core Network.
• Another main topic is the implementation and upgrading
  of various regional cross-border connections.
• The strategic development of the Danube as an important transport axis with several multimodal freight terminals and promising perspectives for passenger traffic is addressed as well, as is the further capacity enhancement of the centrope airport system.
• The gradual development of integrated crossborder public transport services will improve the mutual accessibility of the partner regions and cities by public transport.
• The implementation of a multimodal and multilingual traffic information system should create a user-friendly online service, with positive effects for an optimal utilisation of the existing infrastructure.
• The development of joint cross-border planning instruments is promoted, like a centrope traffic model, periodical surveys on cross-border traffic, a market analysis of cross-border public transport demand and periodical mobility surveys.

4. Results of Infrastructure Needs Assessment

• The dynamic integration of centrope leads to a growth in cross-border interactions
• Centrope as a transnational and European traffic and transport crossroads & node
• The main transport infrastructure requires upgrading to meet the requirements of the future
• The Danube offers untapped transport capacities
• An efficient airport system is crucial for the competitiveness of centrope
• Weak public transport supply threatens sustainable traffic and transport performance
• A growing region needs a join development strategy

Please, visit the CENTROPE website to download all detailed reports & statistical analysis of this pilot action.

In addition to tourism and agriculture, mechanical engineering, automotive components and packaging industries thrive. To meet the demands of the future and to establish the region as a leader in optimal energy use, a common energy concept was devised.

Within the concept, developed under the name “Energy Future Allgäu” (Energiezukunft Allgäu), the present status of supply was analysed and a path towards a future energy system was developed. The first step was to start a campaign for energy efficiency in industry and enterprises across the whole region.

Solar energy has highest potential

Several areas of high conservation values, two important national parks and three world heritage sites contribute to the environmental quality of the region, which attracts many tourists. Automotive supplies, several factories, transportation and farming play significant roles in the local economy. Energy efficiency and RES developments are playing an increasingly important role in ensuring the region’s future.

Renewable energy sources, both biomass residues (from arable land, forestry and animal husbandry) and geothermal energy, have good potential for development. The Tisza, Sajó and Hernád rivers, as well as other streams, provide sites for production of hydro power. Also the potential for geothermal energy is significant in southern and central areas of the region. Possible sites for wind energy exist, as well. The region has good potential for the production of primary RES. The related drilling, construction and renovation can lead to substantial investments.

According to the future plans, the structure of renewable energy sources is changing. Due to the shutdown of the main RES power plants in BAZ County, the dominant role of biomass has gradually decreased, creating space for other, more modern technologies utilizing sun, wind and geothermal energy. National and local Energy Action Plans will give preferential support to progressive and environmental friendly heat production based on local renewable energy sources. In order to meet the demands of the future and to establish the region as forerunner in the energy change, a regional energy concept has been developed within the CEP-REC project, which can serve as a positive example for other regions.

Contact: WWF World Wide Fund For Nature Hungary Foundation
www.wwf.hu

Ministry of National Development
zoldgazdasag@nfm.gov.hu

It occupies 35 579 km2 of central-east Poland (11.4 % of Poland's surface area) and has a population of 5.29 million (13.1 % of the population of Poland), of whom 64 % live in cities.

The Mazovia Region is one of the most dynamic in Poland and in Central-Eastern Europe. It is a crossroad of communication and trade, and a financial centre connecting the East and West of Europe. Warsaw, Poland's capital and largest city, is located in Mazovia. Its population is around 1.8 Mio., and with adjacent towns totals 2.5 Mio. inhabitants. It is a hub for both road and rail traffic across Europe, and also a centre for telecommunications, finance and insurance. Around Warsaw are the four main regional towns Plock, Ostro??ka, Siedlce and Radom, which are interconnected by road and train.
Mazovia has by far the highest GDP in Poland. GDP per capita in Warsaw (2011) was three times higher than the national average.

Necessity for reducing gas emissions and carbon share in the energy sector

The economic structure of the province is very diverse, ranging from manufacturing (automotive, engineering and aerospace) to service industries, with the majority of employees. Tourism increased dramatically following the 2006 Olympic Games and the trend has continued since then.

The main measures developed by the Province of Turin to meet the 2020 targets, in the framework of a Sustainable Energy Action Plan, were: the implementation of the Energy Observatory, which publishes data related to the energy demand and supply of the region; the support given to municipalities as local coordinator of the “Covenant of Mayors” program; the promotion of energy-efficient renovation of public buildings through the use of innovative Energy Performance Contracts.

Solar, biomass and wood have highest potentials

The capital is Trieste and the territory comprises mountains (42.5 %), hills (19.3 %) and plains (38.2 %). The region’s economy is diverse and includes agriculture, manufacturing and building industries, commerce, tourism and others.

The Region has a high energy dependence, importing solid and liquid fuels, as well as natural gas that in 2003 amounted to 94.8 % compared to the national level of 91.3 %. However the growth of renewables has lowered energy imports at regional level, although they still remain rather high compared to other EU countries.

RES play a relevant role at regional level: hydro power is the first renewable energy source, followed by biomass and solar PV. RES at regional level increased remarkably in the last years, in particular solar PV supply and bioenergy consumption. The overall RES-E installed capacity amounts to 1 078 MW, 31 % of the total electricity capacity. The breakdown of total final energy consumption at regional level shows that energy demand in 2008 was primarily driven by the industrial sector (44 %), followed by transport (21 %), household (18 %) and finally commerce and public sectors (17 %). Regarding energy carriers, natural gas (methane) was the main one in 2008, followed by electricity, liquid fuels (oil), solid fuels and renewables. Natural gas is used in the industrial sector, in thermo-electrical installations and distributed into regional grids.

Hydro power will retain a dominant position

In recent years natural parks with ecotourism have become increasingly important. The most significant industry sector is the production of machines and appliances. With its lignite mine and nearby thermal power plant, the region is a key supplier for the Slovenian energy sector.

Solar energy has highest potential

Although electricity is the most usually discussed energy carrier, it accounts for only 16 % of the total final energy demand. There is considerable room for improvement in electricity production, as renewables provide only 10 %, based on data from 2013. Solar energy has the highest potential, followed by hydro energy and bioenergy.
Wood is the main renewable energy source to cover heating demand. Of renewables, wood also has the greatest potential, followed by solar thermal energy and geothermal energy, which is the least exploited. However, the energy efficiency of buildings remains the main potential factor.

Contact: 
ApE d.o.o.
www.ape.si

There is a large range of plants and capacities for electricity production. The most important energy sources in the region include the V2 Bohunice nuclear power plant, the Gab?íkovo hydro power plant and imported gas. Regional power plants utilize the hydro power potential of Vah and Danube rivers, which provide an inexhaustible energy resource. The next most important renewable resources are solar power, wind power, geothermal energy, biogas and biomass.

Contact: 
Trnava Self-Governing Region
www.trnava-vuc.sk

No other area in the Czech Republic offers such a range of mountains, garden architecture, spas, wine valleys, remains of the Great Moravian empire, religious monuments and historically valuable buildings, as well as unique examples of modern Bata’s functional architecture.

The activities took place from mid-2013 to mid-2014 and covered all main steps within the process of repair and re-use: procurement (through special collection on actions on waste collections sites and housing estates) - preparation for re-use (cleaning, minor repairs,...) - retail (in re-use shops of WISE). In one year of pilot phase in total 43 re-use collections have been carried out - either on waste collection sites or at housing estates (City of Innsbruck). With these actions 104.000 inhabitants have been reached and more than 36.000 kg collected. From collected goods more than 29.500 kg have been brought to shops and could be re-used by citizens again. Pilot actions in Tyrol showed the great potential to reduce waste and create green jobs in the field of re-use.

Through several promotional activities people can become motivated to get their own Re-Use Box for free. Filled-in boxes can be returned to one of the several collection points in the City of Graz. The employees of the social enterprise BAN are sorting, repairing and selling all the collected reusable goods in their own re-use shop. With the use of the Re-Use Box as a practical collection system for small reusable items, the protection of resources and as well as the creation of green jobs, are guaranteed.

Their activity is pioneer in Hungary covering the complete chain from taking over the WEEE to the supply of refurbished products. 2014 is a test period for their operation. In this initial phase they intend to fulfil the local demand on reusable items. Products are being sold after repairing, cleaning and safety checking. Products are available in their shop having option to book on-line on their web catalogue. 3-day or half year replacement warranty is given with their sold products depending on the selling price. Number of the sales indicates increasing trends, positive public feedbacks, to which the proper marketing activity greatly contributes. The long-term goals of the pilot are to become industrial-wide dimension, to meet the needs at national level and to operate as an economical, growing business to achieve the goal of environmental sustainability.

It is about the small and medium objects that because of their mixed material composition, would end up in the mixed good collection but which could become a resource if they were re-used. The pilot activity set to implement virtuous and replicable activities for the diffusion and promotion of the of re-use culture and their integration in the management system of used material flows.

The main objectives of Rimini Riutilizza! are: to higher the quantity of re-used products within the Province of Rimini; to lower the number of disposed products; to offer more re-used products to the market of people in need; to offer a new service to the citizens of the territory.

Many of the goods collected are used for art or design and both organizations deal with handicapped people in their activities. We produced 1000 re-use boxes which are distributed by our partner organizations. It is still too early to say if the are utilized as we initially anticipated, but as we have already seen some boxes returned which indicates some preliminary levels of success. As for now – all 1000 boxes are in distribution (either already given away or in the seats of our NGO partners). The second collection event took place in September 2014, during the Social Economy Forum. It was preceded by similar promotional action as the one in June 2014. The promotional and information campaign which preceded the two collections was successful proven by that we receive regular phone calls from people who would like to donate diff erent things that are not in use in their
households anymore.

After promotion through information leaflets and through advertisement in local newspapers, we collected approx. 2,36 tons of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) and 0,84 tons of non-WEEE (EEE). Collective Schemes ENVIDOM performed sorting of collected WEEE to directly reusable goods, non-reusable WEEE or for reusable goods after repair.

Results and numbers: after revision of 50 pcs of good condition EEE were suitable for direct donation 5 pcs, for donation after repair 6 pcs (costs for repair amounted to 150 Eur) and 39 pcs were not suitable for donation. In total
10% of collected goods were donated to charity.

Zdrojovna is not just any old junk shop; apart from discarded things we provide our customers with space, tools, paints and the advice of experienced teachers,
who help clients repair and redecorate old things themselves and breathe a new spirit in them.

This project contributes to the prevention of waste creation and leads people to the ideas of sustainable development and 3R principles. Zdrojovna also focuses on the integration of marginalized people, since the project gives them a chance
to feel useful and accepted again. We actively cooperate with other Prague initiatives and companies that deal with recycling, sharing and public space activities.

Description

In many regions, especially in Eastern Europe, road traffic has reached its capacity limits. Further deficits are a barrier to the development of the chemical clusters: Capacities and the expansion of transport infrastructure are not sufficiently oriented towards the needs.

The use of roads and railways together with the development of pipeline systems for the connection of raw material locations and production locations all play an important role in this context. As a result of historic decisions the important chemical locations in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Novara (IT) and East Germany are sites with no direct access to sea ports.

Therefore, these locations have competitive disadvantages, especially in relation to the higher costs compared to chemical locations in Western Europe that have excellent access to sea ports and connected waterways. The existing cost disadvantages resulting from the traditional location and missing West‐East connections are an important development barrier for the Chemical Industry in CEE. These competitive disadvantages are further enhanced by the disproportionate high usage of road transport, whereas railway and inland waterway transport still have unexhausted capacities.

Objectives

• Strengthen territorial cohesion in Central Europe by developing a Central and Eastern European Chemical Logistics Network as a platform for the joint discussion and cooperation for chemistry related transport issues
• Promote the internal integration by improving chemical logistics in Central Europe
• Strengthen the competitiveness of the chemical cluster in better connecting raw material and production locations and better accessing the growth markets in CE Europe
• Strengthening rail and waterway transport for chemical goods in comparison to road in order to improve safety and environmental protection, to reduce costs and increase speed and flexibility of chemical logistics
• Support the development of logistic centres for intermodal transport and their integration in infrastructure planning
• Facilitate the connection of pipelines for an effective Central and Eastern European Chemical Logistics Network
• Initiate transnational know‐how and technology transfer for the development of transport and guidance systems focused in the West‐East direction
• Supporting the realisation of Trans‐European Traffic routs and harmonisation of regulations and coordinated planning of infrastructure and the use of Structural Funds

Activity: Feasibility Study

Generally, the ChemLog feasibility studies focus on transnational infrastructure projects in the area of railway transport, intermodal transport, waterway and pipeline transport. It should be used to assess the feasibility of selected infrastructure projects with high potential for the Chemical Industry and contain detailed conclusions for the realisation of this infrastructure in view of investment preparation.

The Logistikum.research put the focus of the feasibility study on strengthening the Danube waterway for the chemical industry. The first two chapters deal with information about the project ChemLog, the feasibility study in general as well as about the chemical industry in Austria. Further on facts on the Danube corridor VII are presented and topics about the European transport policy are analysed. The Austrian part of the Danube corridor is the main topic.

The feasibility study highlights the infrastructural bottlenecks of the inland waterway itself and of important Danube ports and terminals. These topics as well as possibilities to evaluate logistic nodes regarding their appropriateness for the chemical goods transport were discussed within the 3. ChemLog Expert Dialogue. The factors of the evaluation scheme to assess the logistic nodes were identified within expert workshops and interviews.

Please click HERE (1,53 MB) to download the feasibility study for Austria.

Results

This pilot action promotes the internal integration in Central Europe by improving chemical logistics. The countries of Central Europe are especially disadvantaged due to existing barriers and missing connections alongside the former border between Eastern and Western Europe. The project works on the further development of the Transeuropean Transport Networks with specific focus on the transnational projects in the partner countries. It strengthens the competitiveness of the Chemical Industry within Central Europe, which is a major economic industry with strong impact on innovation and employment in the partner countries. Furthermore the Chemical Industry has a strong influence on many other industries alongside the value‐chain. A better connection between the chemical locations is a precondition for the sustainable development of the industry in the long‐run, especially taking into account the increased competition from Asia and the Far East. The know‐how and technology transfer increases the innovation capacity of the partner regions in the area of chemical logistics.

Region Voitsberg
The pilot region Voitsberg is located about 30 km west from the City of Graz. It includes the municipalities of Voitsberg, Baernbach, Maria Lankowitz, Koeflach and Rosental. The region holds around 29.000 inhabitants.

Regional Challenges
The demographic change will have an impact in the region Voitsberg. The amount of inhabitants will be more or less constant with 28.400 inhabitants to 2050. But the age structure will change significantly. In comparison to 2010 the region will have in 2050 less teenager (17%), less employed people (17%) and the percentage of elderly will rise up (64%). Between 2003 and 2010 the amount on building areas rose about 10% and streets for car traffic about 4% - but in the same time the number of inhabitants was reduced by 3%. Results are: sealing of areas and more traffic - less inhabitants have to finance more infrastructures!

Sustainable Future
To achieve sustainability, the region Voitsberg will support:
- Innovations from the region
- Reuses of brownfields
- Renewable Energy
- Safety of natural landscapes

Activities

The formation of the land management agency is a result of the workshop “Future Land Use in the Region Voitsberg” held in 2011. Various actors from the region have participated in the workshop. The workshop consist of six modules: 1 Land consumption, 2 CircUse Principle 3 Land potentials and scenarios, 4 Stakeholders, 5 Instruments and 6 Action plans.

Founding of an Agency
Municipalities work together and have founded in November 2012 the first land management agency of Austria. Members of the land management agency are the municipalities Baernbach, Koeflach, Maria Lankowitz, Rosental and Voitsberg. It is planned that the agency starts with operational work in beginning of 2013.

Objectives of the Agency
Main objective is the support of the five municipalities in activities to reuse brownfields – former industrial/commercial and mining areas – in a sustainable and environmental friendly way. The principle of circular flow land use management is the central strategy to manage the land potentials.

Pilot project scope

The aim of the pilot investment was to conduct a transparent process of regeneration coordinated by a brownfield manager. It was planned to clean up the soil and develop the site for the recreational use.

About the site

Bydgoszcz City is the 8th most populated city in Poland that covers the area of 175,98 km². The city is located in northern Poland on the Brda River and Bydgoszcz Canal which define the face of the city. Thanks to the convenient location, the city has become an economic, cultural and water sports hub. Admittedly, the industry spins the economy but it also leaves traces. In the COBRAMAN project the City of Bydgoszcz put the focus on contamination of soil that poses a deterrent in the process of brownfield regeneration.
The area selected to be developed within the COBRAMAN project is owned by the City of Bydgoszcz and it was an unused brownfield at the time of selection. The site covers the area of 1 130 sq metres and yet, as small as it may seem, it is vividly noticeable to the passersby who stumble upon a scary-looking wall remnants and ruins in the very heart of the city along the picturesque riverbank. To make matters worse, it also turns out that the soil quality remains an issue due to the 150-year-long industrial use associated with the processes of gas treatment and production of tar board. The investigations revealed the existence of PAHs, BTEXs, phenols and oils.

Activities during the project

The works on the pilot site comprised ground and groundwater investigations, demolition of the previous infrastructure remains and the remediation works. The soil was cleaned up through the process of excavation of contaminated soil and bioremediation. On the newly purified ground, a leisure area was developed for citizens who can find now a breathing space by the Brda River in the busy hub of the city.

What have we learned?

The unquestionable advantage of the project for the local community is the removal of the ground contamination and hence the improvement of local environment. For the institutions, the integrated brownfield management concept will result in an effective approach towards post-industrial areas in the city. What is not a brownfield today, might become a brownfield tomorrow.

Before the project:

After the project:

Pilot project scope

In the past 20 years liberal government policies and the booming property development sector, shifted most development into the hands of the private sector. Brownfield regeneration in Central Europe was all about transforming degraded areas mostly into shopping malls or private housing.

About the site

Kranj is the capital city of the Gorenjska region. It has almost fifty five thousand inhabitants (June 2011) and is the third largest city in Slovenia. At the end of the 19th century it became the most important industrial city in the Gorenjska region, with the production plants mainly situated near the Sava River. Cheaper production and labour force costs in other countries affected the city and triggered the issue of degraded areas. The area of nine hectares of land around the main Railway station was chosen as the pilot site, due to the mixed public and private ownership and location close to the city centre and Sava River.

Activities during the project

In 2008 the Municipality adopted its sustainable development strategy where brownfields regeneration became one of the main objectives of future development. In 2009 the Municipality prepared a vision to transform the railway station area into a passenger and business centre. Main efforts were focused on attracting public and private investors with adequate development plans. Redevelopment of the railway station area was also integrated in the Municipal Strategic spatial plan. The planning process included change of land use and identification of potential programmes for the area. The planning process continued with the preparation of expert guidelines for the Detailed Municipal spatial plan. Additionally, an innovative informal spatial planning document was prepared as a tool for easier negotiation between the City and potential investors during the regeneration process. An important step forward was the placement of the Information point inside the pilot area. The information point will promote brownfield redevelopment of the area to potential investors and the general public. It is also a start-up project, which shows the municipality’s interest in brownfield regeneration. Its design was obtained through a students’ competition at the Faculty of architecture of Ljubljana.

What have we learned?

The Site review proved to be a useful document/tool in the process of urban regeneration. It was used to collect information from different databases, personal input from various municipal departments, expert studies and other important sources. The main advantage was that it represented the state-of-the-art of the pilot area. The information from the Site review was an interesting source of information for the Mayor, Municipal departments, city council members, potential investors and different media. Using the Site review as a tool in the regeneration process was also be helpful as a management tool, but also as a communication and marketing tool. The municipality decided to use this tool in other urban regeneration processes in the future as well.

To change this CrossCulTour established collaboration with overseas markets, specifically Pacific-Asian markets through the members of PATA (Pacific Asiatic Travel Association). The aim of this activity was to address agencies and tour Operators acting in the Chinese and US markets with targeted offers and promotional material in order to establish specific partnerships with the Central European travel industry.

Workshop with regional suppliers

In the project partner`s regions, regional suppliers of accommodation, restaurants, museums, sites, food producers etc. – were contacted and interviewed about their own experiences with both markets and also for their ideas and wishes within a set of workshop sessions.

The workshops defined tourism products to be targeted at these American and Chinese tourists, especially. The project CrossCulTour submitted the concept of this activity to the “China Outbound Tourism Research Institute” which awards promising activities related to the Chinese tourism market annually. Indeed, in April 2011, the Chinese Tourists Welcoming Award awarded a bronze medal in the category of “Product Innovation” to CrossCulTour’s concept to attract Chinese tourists.

Social Media Campaign 

CrossCulTour started an initiative to raise the awareness of cultural heritage among Chinese residents in Central Europe by launching an online photo contest on www.arco.at/transromanica, where Chinese people living in Central Europe could upload their pictures of European cultural sites. The online vote picked 25 winners, who were awarded with eventful day-trips to further heritage site in the CrossCulTour partner regions. The photos and the accompanying web 2.0-campaign fostered the further promotion of European tourist destinations in China.

Addressing Businesses

Considering the results from the interviews, workshops and further established contacts, sales manuals for both markets were developed. This promotional material for outbound tour operators in USA and China not only contained existing products from the partner regions but also supplementary suggestions for connecting the CrossCulTour regions as a tourist route. At the same time, CrossCulTour improved regional accessibility by implementing common and recognisable multi-lingual signposting at monuments and sites and by producing audio guides for cultural sites for international visitors.

Finally, a sales tour to both markets - Educational Travel Conference in Orlando (USA) and the Chinese International Travel Mart in Kunming (China) - was conducted and promoted the network directly. Tour operators in the targeted markets were addressed personally and received saleable offers from Central European regions and their suppliers. 

The partner regions of Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia (Germany) has recorded audio tracks for its major sites enabling tourists to learn more about the era of Romanesque art, individual monuments,their myths and legends.

In order to address various source markets in international tourism as well as different target groups, the project has produced recordings in English, German, Italian, French and Dutch. Special versions for children communicate information on buildings and historic aspects in an entertaining way. Vessra Monastery, for example, can be discovered with the help of “Mechthild the Hen”.

For promotion purposes, CrossCulTour used the opportunities of online communication. To make the audio tracks available for free, the project has set up a multilingual download portal for the recorded tracks at www.transromanica.com. Tourists from all over the world can now listen to the files, prepare their journey and download the tracks for free in advance of their visits to the site itself.

Working together with tourist operators and local stakeholders the project developed a Castle Route including the castles Verucchio, Montebello, San Leo and Montefiore. The integrated tourism concept gave the tourism actors the possibility to exploit synergies of a wider brand for marketing and promotion.

After having created a “vision” which included among others the aim of the hinterland autonomy for tourism and including specific targeted tourism product, the guiding theme of “fantasy based on a medieval world ” was found as a connection of all four castles along the route.   

The efforts were kicked off during an event integrating all four castles, but at the same time giving each castle its own theme and activities according to its stories, legends and particular interest. In Verucchio a creative writing workshop as well as a comic school course took place, in Montebello nightly readings of stories were offered, while in San Leo people had the opportunity in alchemic cooking classes and in Montefiore theatre animations were shown.

For the future the brand “Fantastic Castles” should be further elaborated, a website was already built (www.fantasticicastelli.com)  as tourism portal of the four castles and the surrounding inlands. Additionally a single integrated ticket at a special price for the four castles will be issued and offered.  

DESCRIPTION

The Fryderyk Chopin Route in the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Region is based upon 21 towns and villages. The main centres of the route include the Chopin’s Centre in Szafarnia and Kujawsko-Dobrzyński Open Air Park in Kłóbka. Szafarnia is located seven kilometres away from the city of Golub-Dobrzyń, where an early medieval Teutonic castles had been erected. Both centres are units of the self-government of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Province. The Fryderyk Chopin Route in the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Province also introduces the works of regional traditions to us. Courses conducted in both centres of the route present characteristics and origins of the regional population, elements of regional history and its most famous representatives, elements of history of regional culture, regional tradition, customs and music.

ACTIVITIES

1.) Kujawsko-Dobrzyński Open Air Park

This is a place, where you can see old wooden village houses, traditional objects and tools connected with life and work of inhabitants of our region from the end of the 19th century to the 30s of the 20th century.

Visitors will have the chance to visit the exhibition Open Air Park as well as listen to Chopin's work.

2.) Chopin’s Centre in Szafarnia

The Chopin’s Centre in Szafarnia is a cultural institution, which was established to show life of the young Fryderyk Chopin. The centre gradually extended its activities to become a place, in which all fields of art meet presently.

The Chopin’s Centre mainly deals with lively concert activities. Famous artists from Poland and abroad perform on the stage of the Chopin’s Centre and one may hear not only Chopin’s works there. The repertoire of includes classical music, jazz interpretations or cabaret music. The Centre is a place of cultural and tourist activities and includes gym rooms, library, a conference room for 40 people, museum rooms and a concert hall. Furthermore, it offers high standard guestrooms (14 in total). There is also a café in historical cellar.

3.) Research and analysis of pilot area

The evaluation included such activities as an analysis of qualities or existing infrastructure. It aimed to find attractive resources, evaluate the potential for tourism development as well as selection of such qualities and resources, which are likely to attract customers and tourists. An important step was the diagnosis of archaeological heritage in Kaldus and the development of an exploitation plan.

RESULTS

A socio–demographic analysis has been made to exploit historical sites into the cultural-tourist product, starting from the ethnographic park showing regional farms from the 18th and 19th century in Klobka and Chopin’s Centre in Szafarnia. 21 towns and villages are participating in this pilot action, whereas the main route was diveded into 5 parts. The general offer was based upon school tourism, which belongs to one of the most dynamically developing tourism sectors. Those offers have been included in the website: www.chopin2010.visitkujawsko-pomorskie.pl.

Furthermore, a Chopin online game has been developed to have the chance to learn more about him, his surrounding and the past traditions.

Location & lake characteristics

Lake Charzykowskie is located in the macro region of South Pomeranian Lake District, within the western part of Tuchola Forest and within the area of Zaborski Landscape Park; it touches the western limit of Tuchola Forest National Park. Since June 2010 it belongs to a buffer zone of Tuchola Forest Biosphere Reserve (MAB-UNESCO). It represents an abiotic type 3a and has been classified as a European whitefish type.

Description of Activities

The objective of the pilot action performed is to assess the anthropogenic impact on the Charzykowskie Lake. It was concluded that the influence is irregular and depends on the type and degree of the impact on the littoral zone, shape of the basin and water quality of tributaries. Measurements will be carried out in 3 deepest waters and 10 transects in littoral zone that represent different lake areas and various degree of impacts on the littoral zone. Transects will undergo monitoring for biotic elements (benthos, macrophytes) and abiotic elements (bottom material, water). Particular attention will be devoted to bottom sediments that form as  a result of local biological production, and the inflow of allochthonous substance from the atmosphere and basin. We have observed sedimentation, accumulation and liberation processes of substances from sediments.

Deposited sediments consist of elements that are conductive to eutrophication i.e. nitrogen, phosphorus as well as harmful substances, pesticides and its metabolities as well as heavy metals. Sediments that line the basin have an important role in water exchange between the lake and groundwaters. Therefore, it is important to determine the insulating properties of the sediment. The study of bottom sediments will consist of an analysis of sediments composition with particular focus on heavy metals and pesticides. The permeability degree of sediments will be assessed. During the first stage of work we focused on selecting transects. In order to do so we made a DTM of the basin that visualised the shape of the bottom. It was made on the basis of an archival 60 year old material.

Results

The pilot action obtained data on distribution and characteristics of the Charzykowskie Lake sediments from that period. The digitized dimensional images will serve as a background for interpreting the analysis results carried out within the project. In addition, we started work on identifying stressors impacting the Charzykowskie Lake. We have gathered archival materials on land development, water and wastewater management of the municipality of Chojnice and characteristics of major tributaries of the Charzykowskie Lake.

The results of measuring the anthropogenic impact on the Charzykowskie Lake refer to:

- Catchment land use

- Direct catchment management

- Sewage management

- Breeding farms

- Water quality of the Charzykowskie Lake tributaries

- Biogenic compounds balance

Click HERE (PDF 5,5 MB) to download the full study.

The aim of Integral Pumping Tests application in the Pilot Area in Arcade is to identify the source of groundwater pollution (PCE), previously detected in local groundwater in a single well named AR3. The potential source was identified on the basis of the IPT tool application, consisting in some pumping cycles in No. 4 wells, 3 of whom are new executed. All the hydrogeological system is also monitored by a specific monitoring network, set up with suitable piezometers, some of whom drilled during the Foks Project.

Pilot area is located in Arcade and the survey has been focused on a limited area in the southern part of the municipality territory, with the aim to identify the PCE contamination pattern in the area immediately upgradient of the AR3 well. At the moment the narrow monitoring network is made up by MW1, MW2, MW3, MW4, AR3, AR16, AR17.

What has been realized:

The investment action of the Province of Treviso was characterised by 3 main phases:
- First phase: acquisition of knowledge about the hydro-geological situation of the pilot area and of the spread of the contamination in the groundwater; in this phase, the following activities were carried out: video-inspection in the AR3 well, drilling of the MW1 and MW2 piezometers and part of the chemical analysis in the groundwater
- Second phase (characterized by the main activity in the pilot area): first pumping cycle with IPT in the AR3 well and, on the basis of the results of the chemical analysis, it was possible to define the location of the wells for the IPT (P1, P2 and P3); drilling of 3 wells and same number of pumping cycles with additional water analysis;
- Third phase: the information acquired during previous activities were used to better identify the source of contamination; for this reason, the MW5 piezometer was drilled and chemical analysis with passive sampling and low-flow methods were performed; the aim was to determine the spread of the concentration (in depth) and suppose the “distance” and the
characteristics of the source.
Total count: n° 155 chemical analysis of which 100 only of chlorinated solvents and 55 complete analysis; n° 32 chemical analysis with passive sampling and n° 32 chemical analysis with active lowflow sampling.

The study area is located in Veneto alluvial plain and is characterized by sandy gravel alluvium deposits with high values of hydraulic conductivity (10-1- 10-3 cm/sec) where an unconfined aquifer exists (groundwater depth = 20-30 m below ground level).

Locally there are some aquitards composed by silty – clay layers or cemented gravel.

The stratigraphic and hydrogeological model has been improved in the macroscale field since it was not clear or exhaustive enough and for this reason all the borehole information on the area has been acquired.

During the monitoring campaign a submersible pump (Grundfos MP1) with an inverter device for pumping rate regulation has been used in all the wells and all sampling has been performed at low-flow, in order to minimize aquifer disturbance and to avoid resuspension of settled solids. Every time sampling followed a purging step in order to collect a representative sample of the aquifer physical and chemical characteristics. Samples have been stored in bottles of appropriate material, labelled, in refrigerated container and then delivered to the laboratory.

The analysis plan defined by the laboratory concerned these parameters:

• 1,1,1-trichloroethane
• trichloroethylene
• tetrachloroethylene (PCE)
• chloroform
• carbon tetrachloride
• dibromochloromethane
• 1,2-dibromoethane
• bromoform
• 1,2-dibromo-3-chloropropane
• chlorinated solvents

The chemical status of the aquifer is summirized by the following table, indicating PCE concentrations determined by well sampling in the period May – September 2010. Concentration above the groundwater regulatory threshold value (1,1 μg/L), stated by the annex 5 to the fourth part of the Legislative Decree n. 152/2006, are marked.

Data evaluation leads to some conclusions:

• AR3, MW1 e MW2 show the excess of the regulatory limit;
• even the other wells of the narrow monitoring network show presence of PCE although below the limit;
• all the other parameters are below the regulatory applicable limit and sometimes even below the detection limit;
• the vertical PCE concentration pattern, resulting from the 08/07/2010 GW sampling in MW3 and MW4, did not show any differentiation in relation to the depth: the average concentrations, showed in table 1, are, respectively, 0.35 μg/L and 0.12 μg/L;

A preliminary IPT test has been performed in the existing AR3 well in the period from 08.09.10 to 13.09.10. The planned 3 new IPT wells (P1, P2, P3) are currently going to be drilled, the IPT tests are scheduled to start on December 2010.

IPT planning

The first Integral Pumping Test was conducted in a single well (AR3) for 83 hours of continuous pumping (Q = 0.02 m3/s) with 15 time steps of sampling.

During the planning of IPT it was made an estimation of maximum capture area of the pumping well and calculation of time steps for groundwater sampling, on the basis of previous hydrogeological information derived from the WP3 activities conducted in the first periods of the Foks Project .

The results of IPT from the well AR3 were evaluated for PCE concentration by using the analytical software developed in the frame of the Project MAGIC (INTERREG IIIB CADSES) – the MAGIC Software tool.

The hydrogeological context was sufficiently well-known and the parameters used as inputs for the interpretation tool MAGIC are the following:

• k (hydraulic conductivity) = 2.2 e-3 m/s
• ne (effective porosity) = 0.2
• i (hydraulic gradient) = 0.0017
• b (saturated aquifer thickness) = 20 m

With a pumping rate of 20 l/s the width of the capture zone at the end of the test is estimated to be around 42.7 meters.

Based on these data, the MAGIC tool analytical model calculate the width of the capture zone and the increase of width at each sampling interval. The final sampling intervals have been chosen in order to achieve an equal increase of width for each step. This results has been obtained foreseeing 15 samples with increasing time gap (the first one after 0.4 hours from the beginning of pumping, the second after 1.6 hours, the third after 3.6 hours and so on).

The result of this estimation has been compared with a numerical solution (Modflow 2000), to confirm the extension of the capture area and the validity of the hydrogeological parameters. This way the analytical model included in MAGIC has been calibrated with a finite difference model, gaining more accuracy and reliability.

IPT implementation

The IPT test in AR3 well has been performed with a submergible pump placed in the well after the removal of the equipment used by the owner for garden irrigation. Pumping rate has been hold constant and equal to 20 L/s for 83 hours during which the samples have been collected.

The groundwater withdrawn from the well has been discharged in an artificial irrigation ditch through a provisional tube.

IPT test followed a calibration step of the pumping regulation system, pumping rate has been measured with a Woltmann volumetric flowmeter. A sampling cock has been installed directly on the tube in order to collect GW samples causing the least disturbance. Before the beginning of the IPT test groundwater depth has been measured in AR3 and also in MW1, MW2, MW3, MW4 and AR16 wells with data logger for continuing GW level
measurement and registration.

Results

Times of taking sample during IPT in AR3 are stated in the following table, with PCE values detected:

The chemical results have been processed with the Circle Method interpretation included in MAGIC software tool; it was assumed left or center plume passage, obtaining the following values of measured and calculated PCE concentration in relation to the distance from the pumping well:

The graphical representation of the “time vs. concentration” data series is shown in the next two pictures:

Both left and center plume passage interpretations indicate a decreasing trend of PCE concentration, reaching at the end of the test a value included in the range of 1.4 – 2.8 μg/L, equivalent to the 5-8 % of the initial concentration.

So, according to the IPT interpretation theory, we can consider that in the beginning of the test we detected the center of the PCE plume and later, increasing the radius of the capture area, we came close to the lateral bounds of the plume.

Data interpretation is not unambiguous because a single IPT test does not allow to locate the plume on the left or on the right of the well. Anyway the IPT test helps to identify the spatial distribution of contamination inside the investigated area and the probable position of the plume IPT performing in 3 new wells upgradient AR3 named P1, P2 and P3, currently under execution, will give a better definition of the contamination plume.

Besides chemical results, also GW level data, recorded in MW1 MW1, MW2, MW3, MW4 e AR16 during IPT test, have been elaborated.

The following graphic shows the trends of data from September the 5th to 13th. The maximum equilibrium drawdown recorded in AR3 was about 1.6 m.

Monitoring wells did not show any influence of the pumping test. In fact the general decrease of the water level, as shown in the graphic, is the same regardless the pumping action in AR3.

As a consequence the actual position of monitoring wells did not allow to collect useful data for the hydrogeologic characterization of the aquifer during IPT because the nearest well, MW1, is out of the capture zone of AR3.

The recovery curve shows an almost instantaneous recovery of the groundwater level right after the switch off of pumping, thus confirming a grat capacity of recharge of the aquifer.

The town of Jaworzno lies in the southern part of Poland, in the eastern part of the Province of Silesia (the most industrialised area in Poland), at the place where the regions of Upper Silesia and Lesser Poland meet; at the crossing of some major national and international lines of road, railway and air communication. In respect of area Jaworzno is among the largest towns in Poland – its area is 152,59 km2 with more than 96 000 inhabitants. The town of Jaworzno is a member of the Metropolitan Association of Upper Silesia – the largest urban centre in this part of Europe.

Map: Jaworzno against background of Poland

Jaworzno’s economy is based on power engineering connected with the extractive industry. Centuries of activities of the extractive industry (coal, dolomite and sand), power engineering, cement and chemical industry have affected far-reaching transformations of components of the environment. The most significant transformations affected surface water, including the composition of ecosystems, changes in the river network and its nature (infiltration/drainage), mining drainageand the appearing of post-mining settlers, adverse changes in water chemistry. Equally profound, but much more harmful are consequences of the anthropogenic impact on the state of resources and quality of groundwater as a potable water reservoir.

Environmental problem of Jaworzno

Jaworzno’s biggest problem is the impact of pollutants from the chemical industry in the valley of brook Wawolnica. The brook of Wawolnica is located in the south-western part of Jaworzno. Wawolnica passes through the territory of the Chemical Plant “ORGANIKA AZOT” SA, which was founded in 1917. Since this time there have been produced a lot of chemical substances and effectuated some synthesis. As from 1928 to eighties of the twentieth century, the valley of brook Wawolnica was the site of hazardous waste collection from production, e.g. plant protection products and preparations for hygiene. Irregularities in the way of waste collection has led to significant environmental pollution of soil and groundwater.

Map: pilot area against background of Jaworzno

Direct contact between pollutants and surface water cause cross-border pollution, which classify the Chemical Plant as an European hot-spot (one of seven especially severe sources of industrial pollution for the Baltic Sea), placed on the list of the Baltic Sea Joint Comprehensive Environmental Action Programme in the framework of the Helsinki Commission.

Map: The Chemical Plant in Jaworzno against background of Polish HOT-SPOTs [2009]

Within the valley of brook Wawolnica have being found out compounds that pose high risks to ecosystems and human health. There have been inventoried more than  195 000 tons of hazardous waste so far (including HCH, DDT/DDE/DDD, dieldrine, endrine, etoxychlorine, benzene) – however, this figure does not reflect the actual quantity of pollutants in the pilot site, which area has been initially estimated to be 0,5 km2.  Up to now, some investigations have been done in this area didn’t show the whole picture of environmental impact of pollutants accumulated in the valley.

FOKS activities

In the framework of FOKS project, at the Polish pilot area are being implemented, among the others, field investigation on contaminated sites, including drillings, geophysical works,  geological interpretation, pumping tests, soil and water sampling as well as passive sampling technology. In addition to traditional methods, it is also being planned to implement fingerprinting and backtracking – technical tool which allows to follow the back tracking paths of pollutants through pumping tests. Pilot remediation in Jaworzno includes the application of Permeable Reactive Barrier, Phytoremediation and Copper Mediated Destruction technology invented by Czech Partner.

These activities should help with comprehensive identification of environmental risk in Jaworzno’s pilot area and with selection of the most suitable technology to prevent problematical pollution – optimal in costs and outcomes. Implementation of innovative tools proposed in the FOKS project, in comparison to traditional methods, should significantly reduce the costs of identifying and evaluating risks of groundwater pollution.

Department of Hydrological Forecasts and Warnings is responsible for hydrological part of work on INCA – CE project in structure of PP2 (Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute – SHMI). This department is a part of Centre of Forecasts and Warnings.Department of Hydrological Forecasts and Warnings is producing numeric forecasts for 3 main Slovak rivers (Danube Morava (March) and Bodrog River). We are also producing inflows into the large dams localized on many rivers.

All informations are based on datas from watergauge stations. In this time more than 260 stations (accurate number is changing from day to day) is situated on the area of Slovakia. On every station waterstage, water and air temperature is measured. Some of them are able to measure precipitation amounts too. All datas from these stations are online and available all the time.

Second aim is creation and dissemination of hydrological warnings. For common population are hydrological warnings publishing on internet (www.shmu.sk). For special users (Civil Protection, Slovak Water Management Company, local authorities responsible for flood protection and ministry of environment) special form of warnings are send by email. Since july new system of hydrological warnings based on counties will be in operation. (see pic. 1. before).

Characteristics of the pilot area

Not only one single pilot area have been chosen., but 5 independent areas with different natural conditions in various parts of Slovakia. In every pilot basin flash flood has occured in previous 20 years. In every pilot basin raingauge  and watergauge station must be localized.

Myjava river basin is localized in western part of Slovakia. Myjava is a tributary of Morava (March) river. Many flash floods has occured there. In 2009 2 people died after flooding on small Myjava rivers tributary. In this pilot area many studies has been done before. In this watershed 6 watergauge stations is localized so we can work as well with main river (Myjava) as with tributaries (Svacenicky jarok, Brezovsky potok, Brestovecky potok, Teplica).

Area of Myjava river basin is 27 km² and its tributary Teplica 86km² . Both watersheds are created by flysch stone which should be very auspicious for flash flood creation. In this area big deforrestations has been done in last century. That is the reason, why the outflow creation time is only about 6 hours. As a flash flood protection many small dams and polders has been builded in this river basin to protect main habitations. That is the reason why the worst floods aren´t occuring on main river, but on small tributaries.

Second pilot area is Handlovka river basin. In this watershed very important flash flood has occured in 2010. Return period of this flood was identified as more than 1 000 years. This flash flood caused damages in  big parts of Handlová and Prievidza cities. In this watershed flash floods have occured very often. In 1990 – 2010 time period 16 flood waves produced by torrential rain has been recorded.

This river basin is situated in central part of Slovakia in Nitra river basin. In this river basin 1 raingauge station and 2 watergauge station are situated. Its area is 133 km². Its geology is a little bit complicated but important part of river basin is created by paleogenic flysch. Higher parts of watershed are builded by various vulcanic rocks and sediments. In this case concentration time of flood wave is very short. In many waves time from the beginning of flood wave till peak point was shorter than 1 hour. Average concentration time is longer – 4 hours.

There are two pilot areas in the Northern part of Slovakia in Orava river basin. Both of these rivers are tributaries of Orava river. Jelešňa and Polhoranka rivers basin was chosen because of serie of flash flood which have occured there in 2009 and 2010. In both river basins are one watergauge and one raingauge station situated. Jelešňa river basins area is 48 km² . Polhoranka river basins area is 59 km² . Natural conditions in both areas are very similar. Both are created by flysch stones and major watersheds landcover is forrest. Both watersheds average elevation is almost 1 000 m a.s.l. Although Jelešňa river basin is smaller, concentration time is longer – more than 5 hours. In Polhoranka river basin the concentration time is 3 hours.

Fifth pilot river basin is situated in the eastern part of Slovakia. Mala Svinka is part of Hornad river basin. In Mala Svinka river basin isn´t waterstage station so we must to work with datas from waterstage from the Svinka river basin. Its watersheds area is 320 km². Svinka river basin is created mainly by paleogenic flysch. Concentration time is 4 and half hour. In Mala Svinka river basin devastated flah flood has occured in 1998 with more than 50 victims. That was the main reason, with this watershed was chosen as pilot area.

Users/stakeholders in the pilot region

Hydrologic outputs of INCA – CE project are dedicated to protect the population against the possibility of flood caused by rain with very short duration. SHMI (PP2) isn´t able to make real flood protection. Our main aim is to inform responsible institution about the possibility of flood. In this way, these responsible institutions become our stakeholders.Here is the list of main stakeholders:

1. Civil protection

2. Slovak Water Management Company

3. ministry of environment

4. local administration

Civil protection is responsible for protect life, health and prophety of public against disasters including floods. Second responsible institution is Slovak Water Management Company, which is responsible for taking care of water stream and for protecting public in the case of flood. Third institution responsible for flood protection is local administration which should take care in the case of very local events. Ministry of environment is receiver of our hydrological warning and should coordinate actions of its subordinated organizations.

All these institution are informed about possibility of flood in the form of hydrological warning, which are sending to them by email and is publishing on the web site of institute too. After receiving of hydrological warning they are responsible for providing decision which should protect public against the flood danger. In present this warning is not working on nowcasting products, but is based on outputs from meteorological models or on consideration of actual meteorological situation.

With exception of local administration there was no need of special contacting and informing about INCA – CE project. CP in Slovakia is independent partner of INCA – CE project. We need to contact only the local administration in the pilot areas. The cooperation is in the form of direct warning of local administration in pilot areas in the case of predicted flood. The aim of local administration is validation of model results in the case of flash flood on water streams without watergauge stations.

The main activities carried out within this pilot actionincludes:

-        conducting systematic hydrological measurements and observations,

-        collection, storage and processing hydrological data,

-        providing hydrological products and services to public sector and commercial organizations,

-        development of hydrological mathematical models.

The Cracow branch of the IMWM hydrology department covers the area of Małopolskie, Podkarpackie, partly Świętokrzyskie and Śląskie Voivodships. The network of water level stations consists of 203 stations of which 185 are automated. The network of meteorological stations amounts to 269. 241 of them are automatic.

Characteristics of the pilot area

Raba River is the Carpathian tributary of the Vistula River. Location of the Raba River catchment is shown in the Fig. 1. Generally, the river flows in a north – west direction. Its total catchment occupies an area of 1537.1 km² and its length amounts to about 132 km. There is a water reservoir Dobczyce located in the river,  above which water level station Stróża is located. Stróża is the closing profile of our studies and it defines the catchment which amounts to 644.09 km².

15 km downstream from the source area several small mountain tributaries flow into the Raba river, the largest of which is Żeleźnica. Below Rokiciny town river looses the character of a mountain stream, it flows slowly in a riverbed of a width from  5 – 8 meters.  In the vicinity of Rabka town Raba River takes two streams flowing from the Gorce Mountains: Poniczanka (catchment area:  32.48 km²) and Słonka (catchment area: 8.83 km²). These streams are draining water from the western part of the Gorce Moutains. They also transport significant amounts of debris, which result in large amounts of gravel below their mouths.

The most significant tributaries above the Dobczyce reservoir are:

-          Mszanka River (catchment area  174.13 km²),

-          Kasinianka River (catchment area 48.82 km²),

-          Lubieńka River (catchment area 48.16 km²),

-          Krzczonówka River (catchment area 93.01 km2).

The map below shows the whole catchment of the Raba River with its most significant tributaries and water level stations.

The Raba River begins its course in the flysch area at the height of 780 meters above the sea level near the pass on the boarder of the Gorce Mountains and Beskid Żywiecki Mountains. The western slopes of the Gorce Mountains are drained by the system of concentrated small streams. The upper part of the Raba River catchment is built by flysch sediments. Only in the part of the catchment, between the mouth of the Rabka River and the Mszanka River, shales and sandstones of the Cretaceous are covered by sandstones of the Tertiary and shales.

The upper part of the Raba River catchment  is situated in the mountainous climatic region. Source area (about 8 km of the upper Raba River) is under the influence of  a temperate cool climate The rest of the catchment remains under the influence of temperate warm climate. The average annual sum of precipitation amounts up to about 900 mm. Average rainfall during summer amounts from 500 – 550 mm.

The pilot area with the main river, its catchment, most significant tributaries and water level stations are shown in the map below.

Users/stakeholders in the pilot region

The main user in the pilot region is the Hydrological Forecasting Office in Krakow (part organizational unit of Institute of Meteorology and Water Management National Institute Research – IMWM NIR). The office disseminates data, forecasts and warnings to  governmental, provincial decision-making bodies and other users. The following users  in the pilot area are recipients of above mentioned actions:

• Małopolska province civil protection agency / Wojewódzkie Centrum Zarządzania Kryzysowego w Krakowie
• Małopolska province melioration and water devices administration / Małopolski Zarząd Melioracji i Urządzeń Wodnych w Krakowie
• Bochnia county civil protection agency / Powiatowe Centrum Zarządzania Kryzysowego w Bochni
• Sucha Beskidzka county civil protection agency / Powiatowe Centrum Zarządzania Kryzysowego w Suchej Beskidzkiej
• Bochnia community civil protection agency / Powiatowe Centrum Zarządzania Kryzysowego w Bochnia
• Kraków county civil protection agency / Powiatowe Centrum Zarządzania Kryzysowego w Krakowie
• Kraków city civil protection agency / Miejskie Centrum Zarządzania Kryzysowego w  Krakowie
• Kłaj community civil protection agency / Gminne Centrum Zarządzania Kryzysowego w Kłaju

Implementation of pilot actions

At present time, IMWM, uses the System of Hydrology (SH) application used as a database, for generating reports and also used for forecasting (it contains the Modelling Platform that includes several hydrological models that create forecast for some reservoirs in the Upper Vistula catchment). On the IMWM website there are all valid hydrological warnings (with the warning level, validity, type of warning etc.), meteorological forecasts (like COSMO/LM7 short-term forecast, GFS long-term forecast or Aladin short-term forecast), current meteorological radar images and satellite images.

IMWM also uses applications like PROMET (used for generating meteorological reports, viewing and generating meteorological warnings, viewing radar and satellite images etc.).

Currently, in the Raba River catchment we want to implement the rainfall-runoff model MIKE 11 NAM.  The model is built in DHI Mike 11 software (NAM model).  The model is based on the meteorological and hydrological data (from the period: 01.11.2005 – 01.11.2010) concerning the pilot area. The values of potential evapotranspiration are obtained from the EUMETSAT’s SAF on Land Surface Analysis.

The Raba River to the closing profile Stróża consists of 6 subcatchments of total area of 644.09 km². Area of each subcatchment is shown in the table 1.

Tab. 1. Subcatchments in the pilot area.

River Water level station Catchment Area

Raba Rabka 2 91,84 km2

Raba Mszana Dolna 157,16 km2

Mszanka Mszana Dolna 166,43 km2

Raba Kasinka Mała 353,31 km2

Lubieńka Lubień 47,78 km2

Krzczonówka Krzczonów 89,67 km2

Raba Stróża (final profile) 644,09 km2

The NAM rainfall-runoff model results will be used for inflow forecasting of the Dobczyce reservoir. It is expected that implementing INCA-CE in operational hydrology will improve the quality of the forecasts.

Using the MIKE Flood Watch application, every hour of the day there will be an automated task generating water level graph (with sensor’s thresholds shown – fig. 1) and the Raba catchment current status map (examples shown below – fig. 2) with color-coded water level thresholds transgressions (each water level zone has its color code - there is the lower, medium and high water level zone plus the warning and alarm water level).

All the graphs and maps can be personalized for the Hydrological Forecasting Office in Krakow – there can be either the whole Raba catchment taken into consideration or just a small portion of it (or subcatchment).

For all the meteorological and hydrological stations there will be the INCA precipitation forecast available every hour (the timestep being either 10 minutes or 30 minutes).

In the future a webpage will be made with the mentioned above water level graphs, status maps (with INCA and the hydrodynamic model forecast results, similar to fig .2 but with different color codes) and slide shows with INCA and other forecasts. At the moment there is no model used regularly in operational hydrology.  The Hydrological Forecasting Office in Krakow uses synoptic forecasts and forecasts from mathematic models meteorological for large area with updating twice a day. System INCA will provide meteorological forecasts the operational hydrology for small area for 2-6 hours forward with updating every 30 minut. It is important product  to improve input data to creating of hydrological forecasts. Depending on the developing hydrological situation in the Raba catchment, there could be several action taken - like automatic e-mails or sms messages being sent to crucial users/stakeholders in the pilot region with information about the warning level, severity and validity.

Characteristics of the pilot area

The pilot areas are shown on followng figures.  The figure 1 depicts the area of the Morava and Odra river basin – the example of the precipitation input data for the hydrological model HYDROG used for discharge forecasts calculation is presented. On figure 2 the selected pilot catchments for the flash floods forecasting systems are shown. The selected catchments were hit by a flash flood in recent years.

Fig. 1 The example of precipitation input for the hydrological model HYDROG. This model is used for the calculation of the discharge forecast in the Morava and Odra river basin within the Czech Republic.

Fig. 2 The map of catchments for which the pilot implementation of the flash flood forecasting system will be done.

Users/stakeholders in the pilot region

Concearning the large-scale floods the discharge forecasts are published on the CHMI web site (hydro.chmi.cz).

Concearning flash flood system the situation is more complicated. Some of the end users (the members of local flood commisions) were already contacted (Dačice, Rožnov pod Radhoštěm). The flash flood prediction is very uncertain, that is why the training of the end users is one of the main parts of the whole flash flood forecasting system.

Implementation of pilot actions

The work of CHMI concearning the implementation of precipitation nowcasting techniques in operational hydrology is concentrated on two topics:

1. Improvement of large-scale floods prediction

CHMI calculates 48 hours discharge predictions for more than one hundred watergauges within the territory of the Czech Republic, forecasts for 89 watergauges are published on the website (hydro.chmi.cz). As standard input the precipitation and temperature forecast of numerical weather prediction model ALADIN is used.  Since 2007 for the first three hours of the predicted period the precipitation nowcast COTREC (Novák, 2007) is used for hydrological calculation for whole Morava and Odra river basins. Other nowcasting tools as INCA will be tested on case studies and will be integrated to the existing data processing scheme to be used for hydrological calculations operationally. The example of the potencial benefit of precipitation nowcasting used for the calculation of the large-scale flood forecasts is depicted on figure 3.

Fig. 3 The example of the benefit of the precipitation nowcasting (COTREC) used in the calculation of the discharge forecast in the Dyje catchment (the simulation of the extreme flood wave from June 2006). The discharge forecast based on COTREC (used for the first three hours of the predicted period) completed by the NWP model ALADIN precipitation forecast was much more accurate than discharge forecast based only on ALADIN precipitation forecast.

2. Creation of the flash flood prediction system.

Flash floods caused by heavy convective precipiation which hits small catchments are very dangerous kind of phenomena which are not easy to be predicted. The main problem is in the estimation of the causal precipitation, for which the combination of raingauges data with the radar quantitative precipitation estimates derived from radar measurement is used. The development of the actual precipitation field is then calculated from the extrapolation of the recent radar images.  With the use of these techniques some of the flash floods can be predicted several tens of minutes in advance. CHMI will establish the flash flood forecasting system based on the use of several precipitation nowcasting methods (the example of the output – see Fig. 4). The system will be tested on several case studies and within the testing operation on the selected pilot catchments.

Introduction

The organisation of civil protection and disaster management in Austria is shown in the following diagram:

At the federal government level, the Ministry of Interior coordinates disaster preparedness and response of the federal government. It provides support to provinces in disaster management and develops, together with all national stakeholders, long term strategies in disaster management. Provinces are responsible for the legal framework and large scale disasters, while district authorities form the main disaster management organisations.

Within the INCA-CE project, partners from all described levels are represented:

• Federal Government: BMI (PP10)
• Provinces: LSZ-B (PP8), NOEL-CP (PP9)
• District authorities: NOEL-CP (PP9)
• Municipality: NOEL-CP (PP9)

Cooperation between the Austrian national weather service ZAMG (LP) and Austrian civil protection partners LSZ-B (PP8), NOEL-CP (PP9) and BMI (PP10) have a long standing tradition. In the following, the current pilot actions are detailed and the planned improvements are summarised.

Characteristics of the pilot area

Lower Austria

In Lower Austria, the civil protection partner of ZAMG (LP) is the provincial government of Lower Austria, section for fire brigade and civil protection, NOEL-CP (PP9). Cooperation between both partners exists since many years. ZAMG provides weather warnings, forecasts and nowcasting information via specific information channels (SMS warnings, internet portals, 24h telephone hotline) to NOEL-CP. Responsibilities of NOEL-CP within Lower Austria include:

• Legal affairs of the Fire Service and disaster management.
• Organisation of the Disaster Management of Lower Austria.
• Administration and organisation of the governmental incident command.
• Administration of the Fire training Center of Lower Austria.
• Administration of the Civil defence.
• Civil protection in the field of radioactive threat.
• Administration and organisation of the warning alarm centre.

The area of intervention of NOEL-CP (shown in figure below) counts 1.5 Million inhabitants, an area of 19,177km² and is constituted of forest by 39%. Major threats that have to be handled by NOEL-CP are: storm, thunderstorm, flooding, snow in combination with wind, cold temperatures and ice hazards.

Burgenland

Similar to Lower Austria, there is also a close cooperation between ZAMG and the safety centre of Burgenland LSZ (PP8). Duties of LSZ comprise:

• Operating the integrated emergency control centre “LSZ Burgenland“.

1. Emergency services,
2. fire-brigade,
3. Civilian, national warning centre.

• Support of the countrywide warning and alarm system.
• Operating and supporting the bundle radio network.
• Operating and supporting the storm alarm system.
• Supporting the disaster management of Burgenland.
• Supporting the civil defence.
• Supporting the civil protection in the field of radioactive threat.

Users/stakeholders in the pilot region

Besides NOEL-CP (PP9) and LSZ-B (PP8) the following stakeholders in the respective region will be informed, and if possible, integrated in the pilot actions:

• Lower Austrian/Burgenland civil protection agency
• Lower Austrian/Burgenland Fire Association
• Austrian Red Cross
• Lower Austrian/Burgenland Samaritans
• Lower Austrian mountain rescue and water rescue
• Lower Austrian/Burgenland police command
• Lower Austrian/Burgenland military command
• Crisis intervention teams

1.  

Introduction

Civil protection in Slovak Republic is organized as a system, which provides the constitutional right of citizens, consisting from protection of life, health and property again the results of disasters. Legislation set up tasks and scope of government and its bodies, self government, and also rights and obligations for ensuring tasks of civil protection. The achievement of governmental administration in the field of civil protection is directed by Ministry of Interior of the Slovak republic. Besides other competencies, it manages and organizes on national level tasks of civil protection informational system. District office, District office in the seat of county and the municipality has similar scope on regional level – on its territory.

On the base of agreement between Ministry of Interior of the Slovak republic (“Ministry”) and the Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute (“Institute”) on cooperation during providing and using of information, are realised measures from the field of (some) tasks of the informational system. This agreement set up preconditions for building and organization of early warning and informing after appear of disasters on the territory of Slovak republic, or out of it.

Both actors of this agreement cooperate with private companies on the basis of software and hardware development, equipment and complex solution of systems for environment protection and monitoring systems.

Extension of products and information provided on agreement base

• Data from monitoring - Slovak Republic and neighbour countries (on-line intheformation from z meteorological stations with database of measured parameters, attitude wind and temperature),
• Degree of stability – vertical stability of atmosphere: inversion, isotherm, convection
• Weather forecasts (text forecast for particular 7 days, text forecast for month, forecast of medial daily rainfall for particular river-basins),
• Alert before occurrence or expected occurrence of dangerous atmospheric events: (intensive rainfalls, heavy wind, intensive snowfall, snow drifts and snow-banks,  glare ice, extremely low temperature, heat, fog),
• Hydrological information from monitoring, water level from gagin stations, in which is dedicated level of flood activity, alerts - warnings, achievement of 1. Level/grade of flood activity.
• Radioactivity of the air background (data from monitoring, on-line information from 23 monitoring stations in format of 10 minutes average of the gamma dose rate in air) .

Partners commit oneself   to provide (via their manage communication points – in following text only “Communication Point”) information and alert messages for the use of coordination centres of integrated rescue system, which are established on district offices in the seat of county.

Coordination centre as a key element on regional level is the frame of project a subordinated Communication Point (in the following text “Subordinated Point”) between tactical, operational and strategic level of management on its territory. Via the points runs the transfer of data flow, which is recorded in the space of informational-communicational technology.

This principle saves:

• actuality and complexity of information flow to all necessary places,

integrated informing/notice and warning of population.

Characteristics of pilot areas

In accordance with project´s objectives and with tasks resulting from realisation of conceptual governmental documents focusing on integration and finalization of the set-up early warning system and informing/notice, in medium term and short term future, activities focused on building of functional communication system between Institute and Ministry, with purpose for receiving of early warnings/alerts, and for immediately distribution to the regional level. 

The created integrated system will serve for support of decision making – of bodies which takes part on rescue works, or manages the rescue works during disasters. It is automatized system with data communication. Informational-communicational technology of support system for information managing and processing (which will be send by e-mail) is proposed as an integrating scene (envinroment).

• system of collection, distribution and presentation of meteorological and hydrological alerts and climatology data,
• system of radiation monitoring data collection and exchange.

Emphasis will be focused on integration of hydrological alerts into unitized system.

Definition of content and of proposed extension of systems

System of collection, distribution and presentation of meteorological and hydrological alerts and climatology data

Objective of those systems is to acquire meteorological and climatology data about the weather status, about status and evolution of climatology system for:

• providing meteorological and hydrological information, forecasts and alerts, climatology services and information for other fields,
• providing data for detection and monitoring of climate drift and  changing of climate, for the assessment and reduction of impact of climate changes,
• proposing qualified measures to reduce eventually negative consequences of climate changes, data providing for exploration and knowing of process in climate system, for climatology forecasts and modelling.

The progress and asset consist from improvement of warning and information service in the system of civil protection in Slovak republic, by faster and more qualitative data providing to the users. 

Users and involved parties in the pilot area

Excepting the civil protection system in a given region, following forces will be informed, and if possible integrated into pilot actions:

• Fire and Rescue Corp of Slovak Republic,
• Police Force of Slovak Republic
• Mountain Rescue Service,
• Slovak Red Cross,
• Territorial Self-Government
• bodies of self government,
• NGO performing tasks of civil protection during disasters (example: Association of Slovak Samaritans).

The result of acquired data for users will be more qualitative planning (and with required lead time) of activities necessary to secure the protection population´s life, health and property.

Is concerned  areas (goals)

a) Assessment, appraisal of situation

• season of the year – sport activities of population,
• the period of day (day / night),
• traffic situation (rush hour, weekend, holiday season),
• kind of disaster,
• critical infrastructure (drink water supply, electricity supply and others),
• interest regions for specific kind of disaster,
• combination of present situation with weather and weather evolution.

b) Planning (decision making)

• warning of population, informing of decision makers and of forces,
• monitoring of the situation,
• planning of forces and equipment which are necessary during particular kinds of disasters,
• evacuation or “covering” of population,
• giving of orders for execution of rescue works.

This is a general understandable system, which provides current alerts before expected dangerous meteorological events (using symbols and coloured maps). The level of warning is visualised by unific system with back up with clear connection between meteorological (hydrological) events and their possible results, together with recommended behaviour to minimize accrued damages.

Event: wind

Level / degree: 2

Time line of the event: January 23 2011 from 10:50 a.m. to 17:00 p.m.

Colours: green – without dangerous events; yellow – 1. level; orange – 2. level; red – 3. level.

Proposed integrated system implements some established systems of evidence and distribution of alerts, which are delivered by the Institute. According the relevance and local situation alerts will be provided via Communication Points and Subordinated Points to the users mentioned above. System runs via central server, which makes: collection of alerts from monitoring networks in Slovak republic, visualization and distribution to other recipients.

Central server is equipped with central database of received messages on the base of Oracle server. System is composed by those main modules:

• module for collection and distribution of alerts to Communication Points and Subordinated Points – coordination centres of Integrated Rescue System,
• module for alert visualization
• Client module (recipients of alerts)

System runs under the operational system MS - Windows Server.

To his interface is applied access trough web interface, therefore is possible to work with the system also from outlying computers with other operational systems. The only condition is installed web browser. Transfer of synoptic data runs trough ftp protocol, when central server provides service of FTP server. In the next step is done:

• decoding of meteorological data,
• import to the database,
• data consistence verification (control of quality).

For data imaging the system provides several applications in form of maps, charts and graphs. In one graph different values from different stations are displayed, for example  “10 minutes data” from automatic weather stations for the purpose of modelling, radiation date  from Institute network, data of class stability and others.

System of data radiation monitoring collection and exchange

System of data radiation monitoring collection and exchange is existing system. It is operated for a long time trough hierarchical network of 23 monitoring stations in the system of civil protection. Station in case of increase of level dose rate over emergency limit sends warning acoustic and visual alarms. Superior stations are informed about this alarms via e-mail, which are not confirmed by recipients.

The whole network cooperates with:

• the radiation monitoring of The Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute (having more
• than 25 stations),
• Hungarian and Austrian monitoring systems, and ISPRA,
• and with the EURDEP system (EU Radioactivity Platform),
• ICRP - International Commission on Radiological Protection.

In the frame of proposed project existing system will be enlarged by:

• web interface for interactive presentation of data through web,
• reporting generator
• notification system informing trough SMS messages and mail about increased level of radiation

insertion of measuring stations into virtual private net. 

Definition and characteristics of the pilot region in Hungary: Somogy County and the Lake Balaton

The Hungarian Meteorological Service (HMS) has a close cooperation with the Disaster Management Directorate of Somogy County (DMDSC), which had been established many years ago. HMS has wide experiences in forecasting severe weather and in nowcasting. This is above all the case for the Lake Balaton, where special forecasts and warnings are issued by the Storm Warning Observatory in Siófok (Somogy County). The observatory has good contacts with users not only at Lake Balaton but also in the region of Somogy, which is situated south of the lake.

The region of Somogy is partially flat, partially characterized by small heights (below 300m ASL) and valleys. Somogy is an agricultural region (there are wineyards at the Lake Balaton). However, one of the most important financial sources is the tourism at Lake Balaton, which is visited by hundred thousands of tourists every year. A large number of events, festivals (e.g. Balaton Sound), sport competitions and mass sport events (so called Blue Riband yacht competition, swimming world championships, swimming across Balaton, etc.). The capital of the Somogy County is Kaposvár (approximately 70 000 inhabitants). There are several, rather small towns and villages in the county (345 000 inhabitants together). The largest river of the county is Drava, which creates the southern border with Croatia. Most of the rivers belong to the Drava or Danube basin. There is an important channel Sio, which links the Lake Balaton with Danube and it is used for the regulation of the water amount in the lake. The climate of the area belongs to the Maritime Temperate (Cfb) class of the Köppen climate classification (more or less uniform distribution of precipitation, monthly temperature average of the warmest month below 22 °C ). However several extremes appeared during the past years as very dry and hot summers (2003, 2007) and large amount of precipitation (2010). Severe weather events are usually related to mesoscale convective systems and convective lines propagating from the west-northwest (from the Alpine region) or from the southwest (so called Slovenian squall-lines). Almost every year, these events cause wind gusts exceeding 100 km/h, which are very dangerous for human activities, above all at the Lake Balaton.

Users of INCA-CE in the pilot area, tasks, responsibilities

Several stakeholders were informed about the INCA-CE project in the pilot area. They are supposed to be the main users of the INCA-CE analysis and forecasts, as well as the DMDSC situated in Kaposvár and the PP5 external expert (Balaton Integrációs Köszhasznú Nonprofit Kft.). The list of the users (by january, 2011) is as follows:

Balatoni Hajózási Zrt. (BAHART, shipping company)

Balatoni Vízirendészeti Rendőrkapitányság (police at Lake Balaton)

Vízimentők Balatoni Szakszolgálata Egyesület (water rescue team at Lake Balaton)

Aranyhíd Balaton-átúszó Sportklub (sportclub organizing the swimming across Balaton event)

Közép-dunántúli Környezetvédelmi és Vízügyi Igazgatóság Balatoni Vízügyi Kirendeltsége (hydrological service for central transdanubian region and for the Lake Balaton)

Rádiós Segélyhívó és Infokommunikációs Országos Egyesület (National Association of Radio Distress-Signalling and Infocommunications)

Magyar Vitorlás Szövetség (Hungarian sailing club)

More detailed information (including addresses and contact persons) is available in the “INCA-CE potential users list” document on the INCA-CE website.

The WP5 activities in Hungary will be related to following actions:

5.1.1. Pilot coordination roadmap

5.1.2  Feedback loops

5.1.3  Evaluation

5.3.1  Pilot implementation: Civil Protection

5.3.2  Civil protection feedback

5.3.3  Evaluation

It comes from the list of users and cited actions that most of the tasks of HMS will be related to the area of civil protection. The most important are the forecasts of strong wind and gales, especially at the Lake Balaton. Thus, the implementation of the INCA system will start with the wind module, which will be followed later by temperature and precipitation module.  The INCA forecasts should be tested on case studies, mostly those, which are planned also for the WP3 workpackage but these should be evaluated in more details for the pilot region from both meteorological and users point of view. The visualisation form of the INCA forecasts should be discussed before running the system operationally, as well as the dissemination method.

The main communication tool between the INCA project and the stakeholders/general public will be the webportal (workpackage 2). This should provide a common basis for the INCA implementation for the countries involved in the project. However, other communication links could work (or could be tested) at regional basis for special products, which are required only by users in the pilot area. Such products could be placed on the webpages of HMS or could be available by ftp from HMS computer server. Feedback from users should be probably achieved by structured questionnaires or by personal communication (e-mail, phone, meetings).

There should be at least two persons from HMS (Kálmán Csirmaz and André Simon), who would be in contact with stakeholders and other project partners involved in the WP5. Contributions to the package (data, programs, documents etc.) will be provided also by other members of the staff involved in the project. Results of the WP5 package will be discussed with responsible persons (mentioned in the INCA-CE work plan) for each of the action listed above.

Inputs, outputs, links to other WPs

The most important thing for the WP5 implementation in Hungary is to ensure the INCA forecasts for the users. This is in close relation with outputs of WP4 (mainly with development of wind gust forecasts in WP 4.4). Case studies are planned also for WP3, for the development of the transnational strategy. Following major case studies will be provided:

20 August 2006 windstorm, its forecast and impact in the pilot area

25 June 2008 thunderstorms (severe weather also in Slovakia, Austria and Czech Republic)

18 July 2009 line of thunderstorms (which influenced also the weather over Slovakia)

15-18 May 2010 synoptic scale windstorm

The results of the case studies might give feedback for improvement of the WP3, WP4 developments. Comparing to WP3, the case studies of WP5 will be analysed more from regional point of view and will focus rather on stakeholders than on civil protection authorities. Besides case studies, some evaluation of the results in the pilot area should be provided on regular basis, which could give at least a simple statistics. Existing verification tools developed for other applications (MEANDER system, WRF) could be used. The forecast results will be compared against analysis (2D evaluation) or reports of single meteorological station. It should be evaluated, whether the INCA improves the very short range forecasts of the WRF model, which will give the input to the system. This part will be very similar to the WP6 task, but it should concentrate on the pilot region and parameters required by stakeholders and users in this area. The results of the evaluation should be discussed with the users and with the Civil Protection (DMDSC), above all in cases with severe weather. Thus, it will have rather a subjective character (the users point of view should dominate) and the results should be related to number of different weather situations or days with some specific weather-dependent activity (windstorms, important events held in the pilot area, etc.). The outputs of the 5.1 and 5.3 actions should be documents, which will summarize the experiences gained in the pilot area from several points of view (meteorologists-developers, forecasters, stakeholders, Civil Protection members). These should be provided to the responsible persons organizing the WP5 work and discussed with other project partners. The meetings of the WP5 representatives of the project partners should help to coordinate the tasks, determine common problems and find solutions. Common forms (the same structure of questionnaires, same methods, criteria of evaluation, etc.) should help to summarize the WP5 results in general.

Feedback

The feedback from stakeholders could be provided by structured questionnaires. The cooperation with the users might answer the following questions:

Do the forecasted parameters and their visualisation reflect the needs, requirements, technical possibilities of the users in the pilot area ?

How does the system work in severe weather situations (access, speed of the information transfer, update frequency).

Does it bring new information to the user  ?

Does it bring any financial benefit (direct, indirect) ?

Are the products reliable, if not, specify why.

Does it reflect the specific characteristics of the area, where it is used (local topography, Lake specific weather patterns) ?

Which developments, improvements would be desired in the future ?

Some of the questions should allow more quantitative assessment. The accuracy and reliability of the system could be evaluated by marks from 1 to 5 (useless, bad, nothing special, useful, very good). The questionnaire might be translated to Hungarian language.

Other feedback (regular, scientific) might be documented by data, graphs, images and specific comments giving the background information (e.g. setup used for the system). Case studies should be documented separately – a common form could be defined (e.g. how much time in advance was the windstorm forecasted, accuracy of the predicted peak wind gust vs. observed gust) and common evaluation criteria (the same criteria could be used as for the verification of wind gusts forecasts of the Storm warning observatory of HMS). The case studies might be evaluated with close cooperation of the DMDSC staff.

Company Background

The antiquated printing house in Austria (anonymous company), was bought by the owner and his wife in 1987. Innovations in new technologies started in the same year and continued in the coming years. In the 90th the division “media-creation” was started offering complete project management solutions - from conception to complex logistic. The move into the new eco-company-building was in the year 2001. In the following year the division “it-media” started with solutions for modern communication, marketing and organization assignments. The company’s efforts have been rewarded with numerous award and certificates, like the Austrian Environment Distinction (“Österreichisches Umweltzeichen”), the FSC Certificate and the Golden Pixel Award. In 2005, the company employed more than 50 employees, started a restructuration process and was also renamed, receiving its current name. 2006 an advertising agency was taken over. This was followed by five successful years in the different business areas. In 2008 company started the section film- and video-production.

Project Background

The company has grown strongly during the last years. At the same time it diversified its business activities towards more IT oriented ones. These had as a consequence that the IT department had to process a high number of user requests. Subsequently it ended doing mostly trouble shooting and not being able to follow the strategic focus set. The monitoring of the IT infrastructure and IT services took more and more time and became very complex. The four employees were overwhelmed, because they had no or just little support in the day-to-day business. Facing this type of problems the head of IT started to document himself with the topic of IT Management particularly with ITIL. He concluded that ITIL is too complex as a guideline for the company but started to implement only the ITSM processes which were considered interesting for the company – like a Service Desk and Problem Management. As the company culture is strongly oriented towards sustainability the IT department has also tried to implement and use environmentally friendly solutions.

Problem

The company addressed several challenges in order to optimize its business structures. A selection is presented below:

1. Optimizing the package labeling process:
The core business of the company is printing. The production process itself was already optimized technologically and from a human resource point of view. The delivery of products was done with external carriers. The process was looking like:

As the address labels were typed in manually – due to the system breach – and the carrier received a list, according to which the delivery was done this process was prone to:

• Long duration due to the need to manually create the addresses
• Mistakes due to eventual errors in printing the address labels
• Mistakes due to mismatches between the address label and the list
• Delivery mistakes of the carrier because of errors in the list.

These issues were all addressed in the solution approach.

2. Optimizing the response time to IT problems within the company:
The problem with user request is that it is very hard for the IT employees to categorize and prioritize of the incoming requests. The requests have to be assigned to a specific IT employee with the necessary skills to handle the request. The coordination of the different requests and the assignment are complex processes and are difficult to resolve manually.

Approach

Each of the problems was addressed on a different level of the INNOTRAIN IT innovation spiral. While the “optimization of the delivery process” can be located on level 2 “Innovation of Business- Processes” the introduction of a Service Desk and well as ITIL-enabled processes like Problem and Incident Management corresponds to the implementation level, which deals with the “Basic Principles of IT-Service Management”. The introduction of hosting services is included in level 3 “Innovation of Products and Business-Services”.

1. Optimizing of the package labeling process:
Technological advance and the establishment of mobile devices in carrier companies made it possible to innovate on a business process level. The carrier company was offering a software solution with a standardized interface, which allowed the import of data sets for addresses and the automatic printing – including a bar code – of address labels. The bar code can then be read by the mobile device every truck driver is equipped with. Thus there the new process looks like this:

• Through the system integration – carrier system with the IT system of the company – several activities became redundant, thus shortening the overall process duration and costs.
• The most time consuming and cost intensive activity “Create address labels” was eliminated.
• The printing of lists has been completed eliminated, thus eliminating several sources of errors within the process.

2. Optimizing the response time to IT problems within the company
On the basis of the ITIL Service Desk the company defined and modeled a similar process. The IT department’s aim was to provide a single point of entry for all request and to facilitate the restoration of normal operation services with minimal business impact on the customers within agreed service levels and business priorities. Also in accordance to ITIL the Service Desk performs the following activities:

• Receive all calls and e-mails on incidents
• Record incidents
• Classify incidents
• Prioritize incidents
• Escalate incidents
• Search for Work Around
• Update the customer and the IT group on progress
• Perform communication activities for the other ITIL processes (e.g. SLM-reports, Change Management etc.)
• Perform daily CMDB verification
• Report to management and customers on Service Desk performance

Results & Innovation

Optimization of the package labeling process:

The introduction of a new software solution allowed the integration of previously disparate steps into one new innovative process, reducing costs and duration of a process with a high turnover rate. Capacities could be set free – in terms of personnel dealing with the process. The seamless integration of the carrier software into the own system allowed an improvement of the Supply Chain.

Introduction of a Service Desk and ITIL Selected Processes:

Novel is the introduction of a Service Desk. This is now the single point of entry in the IT-department. Through the service desk incident handling tasks and requests are dealt with as well as all the necessary communication. It also provides the interface for all other IT service processes, like change requests, maintenance contracts, service-level management, availability management, configuration management etc. All service desk activities are documented in a Ticketing System allowing the evaluation of activities.
 Through the virtualization of the IT-infrastructure the responsible can access the system any time and from any place with a corresponding connection, thus being able to resolve urgent problems with high priority.

Furthermore the open source tool Nagios® has been implemented for IT Infrastructure Monitoring. This has been done as a precursory step for reporting activities which are considered for in the future. The IT-department strives to provide at the touch of a button IT-Service Management Reports providing customers with evaluations on e.g. Service Quality in the last reporting period. When deriving its goals from the IT strategy the department also coordinated the human resource development and qualification measures with the strategic goals. Using a gap analysis, the staff background and existing experience are mapped against desired qualification and corresponding courses/trainings are scheduled in order to achieve the desired status.

For further information on this pilot action please see the contact below:

Elena-Teodora Miron
University of Vienna
Faculty of Computer Science
Department of Knowledge and Business Engineering
Brünner Str. 72, 1210 Vienna, Austria
Phone: +43-14277-39582
E-Mail: innotrain(at)dke.univie.ac.at

or visit the project website: http://www.innotrain-it.eu/web/guest

Company Background

The software company Invictus-Games Ltd. has been dealing with software development since 1992, but it has been operating in its present structure only since 2000. The enterprise develops game software, including primarily car games. They apply a sophisticated level of technology, in order to reach both in appearance and in realism a life-like experience for their players. Thanks to its high level of service, the company can keep its existing partners and is able to acquire new ones. The customers are predominately foreign; they are English, American, Japanese, Dutch, German, Russian and Thai clients. The company gives the development of business administration activities more and more attention. This concerns mainly the activities of its employees, subcontractors and telecommunications workers. These programs are able to control and post online evaluations.

The enterprise is one of the leading game-developers of the Eastern-Central European Region, a fact which is partly due to the level of importance of the achieved developments. Moreover, the company employs highly qualified specialists and has a remarkable hardware and software infrastructure.

ITSM Status

In its operations, the company uses the Internet quite intensively; it maintains contacts with every partner by internet. Ahead of the innovation, the communication took place via e-mail or Skype. But now this is done by the help of the newly introduced system. The use of the Internet and the most modern technologies are necessary for the company’s operation, because there is a very strong competition on the international market. Sometimes, it could happen that the partners offer a new informational technology solution for the enterprise and vice versa. This means one part a mutual work easier, on the other hand, an improved and easier collaboration.

Project Background

The time management system has been developing since 2007 continuously, and has been also actively used since then. Before the innovation was introduced managing vacations, sick-pay or beginning and end of working hours was a problematic task. They recorded and monitored these facts either by using Excel tables, paper or with a time clock. As a software company, they decided to try to develop a program which can solve these problems. The task management system was purchased recently. Prior to its introduction, they managed the different functions with e-mail or on a huge checker board. In the latter case, they experienced plenty of problems; these structures caused misunderstandings and it was really difficult to monitor and remember scheduled events.

Problem

Previously, time management required a huge workload; it was complicated, indeed almost impossible, to monitor the related events. Formerly, it was neither clear, nor verifiable how much time the employees actually spent working when they had meetings or when they went on vacation. If employees have published a request for time off, but then changed their minds, the record had to be removed and another person had to endorse the change. If someone has worked overtime but the manager was no longer in the office, it became a matter of trust. This is why it became necessary to create a new system, which is able to monitor and record such events automatically.

Task management caused a great deal of misunderstanding. It was quite difficult to follow e-mails. Tasks were not clearly divided and it was unclear who received and sent what information or who completed which task. It was also possible that the wrong person received an e-mail, i.e. that someone incompetent to perform a specific task received the e-mail request to do it, or even received the exact same forwarded email that had actually sent it, rather than forwarding it the relevant employee. It was also a frequent problem that someone who had finished a given task received a related e-mail, but that person did not forward it. There can be up to 10, 000 tasks in a given project and it is almost impossible to handle and track that huge number using the previous structure. The problem was actually recognized in the course of working with a partner. In this case, by the time the partner had received an e-mail requesting changes and replied to it, many changes had already happened and the next email requesting even more new changes had already arrived. Thus, this off-line system using e-mail caused version conflicts. This was the time when the company decided to introduce an online system. More possible alternatives were identified, but the chosen system was the most suitable for software companies on the market.

Approach

1. Preparation and introduction of an innovative software:

The installation of these new systems needed only a few minimal arrangements. It can be seen as an advantage that the new programs are able to run on the existing assets, without any special investment. Obviously, it was important to train the employees, to customize the servers and to set the software parameters. These processes took only one or two days. The transition was relatively easy to arrange, occurring from one day to another. There was no test phase; the software was able to be used perfectly from the outset, as the innovation was user-friendly, simple and transparent. The introductions happened smoothly, without any obstacles. The employees could learn the usage of the systems and they soon recognized its benefits. Every colleague now uses the software. As it is a software company, they are used to difficulties and to solving emerging problems. The time management software has been being used for three years. During that time it was continually developed and improved. The task management software was introduced successfully within a week.

2. Characteristics of the time management system:

In the time management system the colleagues have a login name and a password which allows them to access the new system every day. The program only counts real working hours. It registers such as when someone sits in front of his computer and works. The system is able to indicate when there is no work scheduled, for example, it shows the duration of the regular lunch break. However, discussions or meetings have to be entered into the system; otherwise, this period would appear as passive time. Thanks to this innovation, there are flexible working hours within the company, so the employee is allowed to arrive a bit later, but in this case he or she has to leave also later. Of course, there is a regular work day, but everyone can manage their work time for themselves, because both the management and the employees trust in the system’s ability to measure well and accurately. Colleagues can simply take out vacations and sick-pay in advance. If they do not use the day off, it can simply be deleted, but if they leave the office for the day, then their absence will be approved. At the end of the month, the auditor gets notifications about these events in a report, including an absentee report and a vacation list.

3. Specifics of the task management system:

The task manager software also needs a login name and a password. This innovation can be reached with a browser via the Internet. After accessing it, the employees can see their tasks in order of priority. Therefore, they are informed about the task, what kind, who sent it to them or what the deadline is. Moreover, they are able to read a longer guide related to the given task. These functions are recorded, so someone can search back to retrieve them after several years. It is possible to put a task into another colleague’s structure, if it is no longer their responsibility. It can be seen when they start a job or when they finish it, as well as in which software version it can be tested. Requests from partners enter into this system and they can see the employees’ answer immediately through the innovation. In addition, two users can edit one task at the same time. It also has a subsystem, which can follow and monitor errors and the test results also run into it. This company purchased a manager program called JIRA. Many automobile factories and universities use it, and most software companies also apply this system, because it was designed especially for them.

Result & Innovation

First of all, the most important advantage of the innovations is that conflicts can be avoided. During the treatment of the tasks, the company defines exactly who, when and what kind of tasks has to do. If an employee did not work well, it can prove whether he or she has worked according to the guidelines. In this case, the manager has the opportunity to prove also that the employee actually made a mistake. In addition, the deadlines are also fixed and the managers are able to check the employees’ tasks, and see if they work too much or less than what is expected. The task manager software is able to create diagrams, charts and graphs about the colleagues’ rapidity and productivity and about whether the colleagues will be able to finish the tasks by the deadline or not. Thus, it will be in evidence whether the staff should work in advance or whether overtime will be needed. This service is vital, because it is really important for the partners to meet their deadlines. The system enables one to upload errors and, as everything is recorded, it is possible to retrieve data. It can be seen if there is any improvement compared to former data. This can be examined not only individually, but in a team as well, so it is visible what kind of results a new person can bring. As a further result, it should be considered that the company managed to persuade its Japanese partners to apply this system and managed to solve the problems related to this change, as well. They had to solve the problem that the events should appear in Japanese for the partners and in English for the company. The only negative feature is that the system seems to be too bureaucratic and the employees can sense that they are strongly monitored. However, the staff realized the necessity of the innovations; they see the advantages and that the system facilitates their work. With time manager, payment of overtime is assured and flexible working hours are made possible. The employees are encouraged to demonstrate greater efficiency and they have less administrative tasks. With the help of the innovation, there is less misunderstanding and idle capacity; the deadlines can be met precisely, which can result in higher prestige.

Best practice & Lessons learned

Using these programs is almost a condition, because of the international partners; the company’s clients also apply a similar or the same system. In our country, it is not really common to use these systems in software development companies. As a software company and the IT sector are always growing, development is essential for the enterprise, to avoid falling behind. In the future, much expansion is expected, for example, to improve time management systems, or to create software for telecommunications, or to synchronize the time and the task manager system. With this future innovation, it can be managed together how employees are spending their working hours and what kind of tasks they are working on. This program has been being tested with different partners and the company is planning to introduce it into the market.

For further information please contact the INNOTRAIN IT project manager:

Kinga Homolay
Project manager
University of Debrecen
H-4032 Debrecen Egyetem tér 1.
Tel +36 52 412 623
E-mail: homolay@dote.hu
Website: www.unideb.hu

or click on the project website

Description

The finalised KASSETTS Broker network is the final result of this project. The network has been built step-by-step, by establishing and then linking the single broker nods into an operational framework. There were several pilot actions for testing this software in certain areas. Following pilot action covers the 3 states of Slovenia, Czech Republic and Poland.

Implementation

1. Data Collecting

- Slovenia:

The user companies involved in the pilots had the possibility to directly insert their transport data into the KASSETTS software or send transport data in different formats to the broker. In the next steps, data was transformed into Excel import files using pivot tables and other Excel functionalities to minimize manual work and to avoid errors or duplication of inserted data. Most of the data could be inserted into the KASSETTS software automatically (localities, sites, requests, etc.), some information had to be added manually (packages, etc.).

- Czech Republic:

In the Czech Republic, Excel KASSETTS format import files were used. For simplification of the whole procedure of the inserting of localities, sites and transport orders, a Czech version of templates was prepared. Below is a print screen of the Czech template. Czech companies were trained to fill in the tables during the pilot launching event and had no troubles to get used to them for creating transport requests. Brokers were in daily contact with both user companies and transport logistic operators. User companies were sending their transport orders to brokers mainly through e-mails.

- Poland:

Like in Slovenia and the Czech Republic, also in Poland the necessary available data was inserted to the broker software.

2. Key performance indicators

A list of Key Performance Indicators (KPI) has been created in order to evaluate the success of the pilots and the success of the whole project. KPI reports are simple tables that are automatically generated by the KASSETTS software. They cover a range of indicators that are used to monitor the successfulness of planning and evaluate the actual benefits of the system. The KPI reporting functionality was originally created to produce weekly reports on broker work. Periodical reports with indicators are generated automatically through the BROKER tool and allow each partner to automatically obtain an assessment of the quality of generated solutions in a given time frame. Reports summarize the work of a broker and all other involved parties (logistics operators, manufacturing companies) and are based on set of orders, a fleet of vehicles and computed missions by the broker. The KPI report compares the KASSETTS (fully consolidated) solution to the so called “BEST NULL” scenario, which assumes that: Companies order transport services directly at transport operator, without knowing the demand of other customer companies. Transport operators use the smallest vehicle available to transport the given order.

Within the so-called "KASSETTS scenario" the KASSETTS tool calculates and optimizes the best solution for the inserted transport orders with the aim to aggregate orders from different companies and thus contribute to a best solution for all involved companies and therefore lower their expenses.

Within the BEST NULL scenario the KASSETTS tool calculates and optimizes the best solution for the inserted transport orders and aggregate orders within each company (e.g. each company can aggregate their transport requests, but cannot aggregate with goods of other companies).

Whereas general indicators are overall indicators that provide a general outlook over the work of the broker node:

• Total number of orders (1) – Total number of all inserted and successfully calculated transport orders for the selected time frame.
• Total weight transported (2) - Total weight of transported cargo of all inserted and successfully calculated transport orders for the selected time frame.
• Percentage of international orders (3) – Percentage of international orders for the selected time frame.
• Percentage of regional orders (4) - Percentage of regional orders for the selected time frame.

Results

In order to understand the complexity of the software and work of the broker, different examples of regional and international transport missions are given for all participating regions. They are appropriately commented. For each broker/country two successful missions were selected – one national and one international mission. The missions are quantitatively and visually presented.

- Slovenia:

The results from Slovenia are satifying in all aspects. Altogether, 203 orders have been aggregated on 81 missions, 34 less than in the NULL scenario. Approximately 37 % of the orders were international while 63 % were national orders. Aggregation (consolidation) of transport orders was very successful, since 23,46 % of all missions had orders from more than one company on board of the vehicle. In this way, the broker has managed to lower the number of missions by 30% from 115 to 81, which also means fewer vehicles need to be engaged in the transport processes. One cannot say exactly how many vehicles less would be needed, since one vehicle may perform more missions in a given time period. The following positive effects need to be underlined:
- reduction of total length of driven routes by 21%;
- reduction of transport costs by 17 %;
- reduction of fuel consumption by 14% (over 4.700 litres less fuel used).
In addition, empty running has been reduced, as well as total time on road. The results of the Slovenian pilot may be evaluated as very successful. The success is at least partially due to the high number of orders during the chosen week.

- Czech Republic:

The Czech case differs a bit from the Slovenian because it had a lower number of orders (90), many of them international and hence more dispersed. This is why the results are not as good as in the case of Slovenia, but still are satisfactory, with e.g. cost savings of 6 %. The KPI report indicates that with the aid of the developed software, the Czech broker has managed to:
- reduce the number of missions by 22%;
- reduce the total length of driven routes by 6%;
- save 6% of transport costs;
- lower fuel consumption by 9% (app. 1.800 litres less fuel used).

The achieved savings amounted to approximately 190 thousand CZK or approximately 7.370 €. This would be the main motivation for broker operation. Also, fuel consumption was reduced which led to lower CO2 emissions and a reduced carbon footprint. The length of routes was shortened due to better planning. Besides these positive impacts, there were also negative impacts in total time spent in traffic. This seems to be the result of co-loading of entire vehicles, which have to wait in various loading and unloading sites. Also, the share of empty km was slightly higher in the case of KASSETTS solutions. However, these effects are overcome by cost savings and CO2 emissions reductions.

- Poland:

The Polish case also had less transport orders than the Slovenian, but more than enough to demonstrate savings in all aspects. Out of 109 orders, approximately 57 % were international and 43 % were national orders. The KPI report demonstrates that the Polish broker has managed to:
- lower the number of missions by 23%;
- lower the total length of driven routes by 8%;
- save 11% of transport costs;
- lower fuel consumption by 7% (over 757 litres less fuel used).

The total savings amount to 5.590 PLN, which is approximately 1.240 EUR. As in the Slovenian case, both empty running and total time on road have also been reduced. Approximately 18,18 % of transport orders have featured orders from more than one company. Provided the orders of companies would be more compatible in terms of time windows and locations, this percentage could also be increased, which would also greatly boost total savings.

Main Results

The main results of the broker efforts have been the following:
- 26,29% less transport missions.
- 14,28% less kilometres driven by vehicles.
- 9,04% less fuel used.
- 10,9% lower costs for involved manufacturing companies.

Additionally, CO2 emissions have been reduced by 11,50 %, which amounts to 19,24 tonnes. The share of empty kilometres and total time on road have also been decreased significantly, which all indicates that the overall results of the pilots can be evaluated as very successful, also from an environmental perspective.

DESCRIPTION:

We are in Valle del Chiese, Trentino, where visitors are able to get in touch with an authentic rural atmosphere and unspoiled natural environment. Experiential workshops offered to guests are a unique opportunity to learn the old traditions of the valley and become the actors of this experience. Rio Caino awaits you with an original old forge and its blacksmith, and the old mill powered only by the water. The Rural Experience includes accommodation in a farm or traditional Bed & Breakfast, participation to excursions, and itineraries to discover the hidden part of Valle del Chiese and active involvement in experiential workshops. These new activities also highlight the value of rural traditions and show where natural and cultural landscapes meet.

ACTIVITIES:

1.) Local Guide Group (LGG) Meetings

In Valle del Chiese there are many different tourist initiatives: Some are developed by the Ecomuseum, others are planned by the Nature Park and some events are organised by the local Destination Management Organisation (DMO). This is the reason why the first main challenge of LGG has been the choice of a common subject which will become the basis of the new tourism strategy of this area. For the definition of the new pilot activity, the LGG involved representatives from two important museums in Trentino: the Natural Science Museum and the Ethnographic Museum. This collaboration was received positively by the LGG and gave higher value to the pilot activities, enhanced the local knowhow and brought visibility to the territory. The LGG of the Valle del Chiese meet more than 15 times with other project partners and participated in two Study Visits that were important to the implementation of pilot activities.

2.) Training courses

Training courses were held by the Trentino School of Management for the LGG members turned out to be of great importance concerning the definition of the pilot activities. Different themes were realised during the training phase, whereas some of the topics discussed were: Welcoming visitors, promoting local resources, and valorising culture and traditions. The most important concept for creative tourism development is the fact that the tourist is not a simple spectator, but becomes the main actor of the experience. Another important components of local tourism analysis are creating links between different economic sectors, mapping territorial resources, designing tourism products, communication and web marketing. The training courses helped participants to realise their ideas for creating real tourism products with a sustainable perspective related to local growth and the creation of a more shared vision of development.

3.) Experiental Workshops

The implementation of experiential workshops give participants the opportunity to discover the environment, culture, and people living in the valley. This is in particular the promotion of the ethnographic path of Rio Caino, a path where tourists can visit old mils, a traditional forge, offi cinal gardens as well as where some experiential workshops like “Making bread in the traditional way” take place. The concept of these new workshops is to “travel like a local”, meaning initiatives linked with traditions where the participants became the protagonists of their experiences. LGG decided to create educational programmes and workshops for families (during the summer) but also for schools (in autumn and spring). For the development of these workshops, the LGG collaborated with two important museums of the Trento province: Museo degli Usi e Costumi della Gente Trentina and the Natural Science Museum. Another workshop for example named “The Tree Tells” is linked to the local tradition of wood. It aims to convey some ancient knowledge and traditions about wood to children and families. In summer 2011 this new experiential workshopwas tested and counted more than 150 participants during a two special day event.

4.) Innovative touch-sceen platform

Another important output is the implementation of a new communication platform which promotes all the experiential activities offered by the territory. This tool provides the opportunity to immediately become the protagonist of initiatives: It is possible to post videos, to share pictures or to write comments. The touch-screen was placed on a glass wall of a local DMO, but the content could also be seen on DMO’s web site. It will be updated weekly with new content, feedback and input from social media platforms.

5.) Events

This pilot action also scheduled the organisation of different summer events in which the Rural Experience project was launched and experiential activities were offered to tourists. The events were scheduled at Rio Caino and were divided in two main parts. During the afternoon it was possible to participate in cultural events and creative workshops or in other guided tours in the territory, while during the evening Rio Caino turned into an outdoor theatre where a group of professional actors played live performances on the legend of Fra Dolcino, who spent part of his life in Valle del Chiese. During the evening show there was a local guide who gave information about history and traditions between the scenes. The events were a good opportunity not only to test the tourism products, but also to better involve the private stakeholders such as local restaurant owners.

RESULTS:

1.) Long-term governance asset

The main result of the "Rural Experience" pilot action was the establishment of a new governance model in this area. The Listen Local Guide Group and Task Force were turned into a permanent management asset with the creation of a Governance Task Force formed by the presidents of Ecomuseum, Tourism Board, and BIM Consortium as well as an Advisory Board which represents the area’s main stakeholders. The Tourism Board and Ecomuseum are now working on management and product development in close cooperation with the accommodation providers of the area.

2.) Participation of private stakeholders

The project established a basis of communication with the local accommodation owners. Many hotel owners participate in the Rural Experience product development project, contributing with an annual fee and working actively on product contents.

3.) Marketing Plan

“Rural Experience” represents a product development strategy brought together the local DMO and the Ecomuseum to work on a new marketing plan for this specific destination and the engagement of a new director of the Tourism Board. The Governance Task Force defined three cluster products (rural, family and active holiday) and a specific target for each one of them. A new communication plan was designed towards the new product development strategy which tried to focus on specific markets and clusters. The presentation of the marketing plan took place in November 2011.

4.) Sustainability

Finally, an important aspect which characterises the pilot action is the attention given to the sustainability of all actions. The choice of a bottom-up approach in the definition of pilot activities is a clear indicator of sustainability. All accommodations are family-run which gives a better overview of waste production, energy consumption, etc. as well as strengthen the economic cooperation among local tourism operators. Farm stays and agrotourism give the chance to experience real Italian hospitality and cuisine, to meet new people, not just as a tourist, but as a friend. Hereby, most of the promotion is done by Internet and e-mail marketing.

DESCRIPTION

The Ústí Region is situated in the northwest of the Czech Republic on the border to german Saxony. The northern part of the region is dominated by the Ore Mountains while the most important tourism area, the central part of the region, is an industrial landscape with open brown coal pits and dumps, power plants, and industrial and chemical industry.

Traces of Mines is a touristic product which takes the visitor into the areas affected by mining activities in the past, whereas coal is still extracted and energy produced in some of them. Two study routes are targeted towards educational and experience tourism. Excursions and visits show the visitor the mining history and the current status of the area as well as the realized processes of reclamation, recultivation and revitalisation. The study paths cross 32 municipalities where the places of interest are depicted with the area’s mining activity and natural heritage taken in mind. The visitor may choose to cover the entire trail or to visit only the part that interests him.

ACTIVITIES

1.) Research and analysis

The collection of data,  based on the questionnaires disseminated among the regional cooperating stakeholders, was completed at the end of 2009. The results of the research are collected in the joint project brochure „Mapping the Territories and Analysis of Governance Tools“.

2.) Declaration on cooperation

The Declaration on cooperation was signed in 2009 between the project itself and the mining company in Chomutov and its Governor. Based on this cooperation, the project ideas and targets were presented at many regional events, conferences and workshops organised in cooperation with Saxony Anhalt and Ústí Region at the OPEN Days Event 2010 in Brussels.

3.) The Local Guide Group (LGG) meetings

Regular meeting and visits of the pilot are were organised together with participation of all involved subject representatives. More than 25 meeting were organised during the project duration.

4.) Training courses

3 training courses were held with a high participation of staff in cooperation with info centres and representatives of the small municipalities. The documents “Market Analysis” and “Ways of Distribution” were developed as training material to support the regional stakeholders and provide them with information on the project and expected outputs.

5.) Participation of public and private stakeholders

For the successful implementation of the project, it was necessary to involve a wide range of partners. There has been established a cooperation with Severočeské doly a.s., the associated partner which also involves a number of local partners: 32 municipalities, Czech Women’s Association, Podkrušnohorské Museum, research institutions, Economic and Social Council of the Ústí Region, Regional Economic Chamber, NGOs, regional enterprises with influence on the employment rate of the region, regional development agencies and many more.

RESULTS

1.) Change of image of the Ústí Region

The promotion of mining traditions and the personal experience of the visitors should make a significant change in the image of this region, well-known today as an industrial landscape and a territory affected by mining, where until now only a damaged "moonscape" could be seen. After the implementation of this pilot action, the visitor will see the open pits with his own eyes and a number of natural monuments and areas, which have been reclaimed and revitalized together with the beautiful landscape.

2.) Sustainability of the pilot action

The label of this touristic product was developed and the final product is involved in the offer of the regional project “Brána do Čech” (Gate to Bohemia) provided by the Krušnohoří Destination Management. The promotional spot is shown on the outdoor screen in the town of Most – where the Podkrušnohorské technical museum is also located, as a part of the developed routes. A promotional DVD will be uploaded on the websites of the Destination Krušnohoří and distributed in the cooperating info centres.

Description

One of the audited companies from IT branch is Best.Net, established in 2000. The firm is formed by 15 young people, who understand innovation capability as one of the key determinants of long-run profitability and survival on a dynamically changing market. For this reason Best.Net tries to implement an own, innovative IT solutions, in collaboration with Poznan University of Technology and with using EU funds.

Objectives

Currently, the main business objectives of the company are: expansion into foreign markets, participation in international projects and commercialization of the last year research. As audit shown, drivers for innovations are mostly connected with budget allocated for R&D activities, external sources of new applications financing (EU funds on a regional and national level), cooperation with innovative partners and high quality of products. However, implementation of business objectives can be difficult if some obstacles for innovation identified during the audit are not removed. There is a lack of clearly formulated innovation strategy in the company, which should be a part of a business strategy and should determine to which extent innovation (product, technological, organizational) will be used to implement business strategy objectives.

There is also no marketing plan and lack of ideas how to address new customers with company’s offer using more active approach. Innovation audit showed that in terms of products and technology Best.Net is ahead of competitors, but there is a need to improve the level of some organizational factors to gain a stable competitive advantage.

Activities

On the basis of audit outcomes hands-on measures were formulated and discussed with the company. Best.Net was interested to start with the follow-up activities, planned on the basis of proposed hands- on measures, especially to start with web usability audits as an offer for a new customers, participation in Enterprise Europe Network project as a way to find contractors abroad and meeting with Regional Contact Point consultant to obtain information about 7th Framework Programme. The meeting between company representatives and FP7 specialist was organised by PP3 on 11.05.2011. Best.Net is interested in CAPACITIES programme, “Research for the benefit of SMEs” area, which provides research services to develop new products or processes. Currently the company, with support of FP7 specialist, works on consortium forming.

Results

After the audit and further activities implemented with the help of innovation advisors, PP3 received recommendations from Managing Director of the Best.Net. The company recommends PROINCOR innovation audit as an opportunity to understand what is working well in terms of innovation culture and process and what should be improved in these aspects. Especially important for the company were suggestions and support in a new initiatives implementation.

The Lead Partner (Municipality of Ujbuda) had to map qualified public buildings and senior oriented services in the district (planned under external expertise budget line). However, the regional situation analysis carried out on local needs at the beginning of the project, has fully covered these items. Meanwhile as identified by the analysis a newly established investment was needed for the local senior inhabitants in Őrmező-Kelenvölgy city-part where senior oriented place/building does not exist. The idea of the re-structured pilot had been presented and accepted by the partnership at the Transnational Working Group Meeting in Sopot (7-8 March, 2011).

It was decided to establish a Recreation Methodology and Service Centre for seniors, a community place including day-care homes for the elderly and providing place for other activities & services such as:

• consultancy service (crime prevention, legal service)
• forums, seminars for NGOs and seniors
• trainings (language courses, internet etc.) and cultural programs (media workshop, theatre)
• recreation & sport activities
• HELP-DESK (Q-AGEING and 60+ Program)

A painting studio and a ceramic workshop was installed in the Őrmező community centre, especially for community purposes.

Technical support for Senior Volunteers

Senior Volunteers are the heart of all local activities supporting active ageing.By developing Senior Community Groups in Újbuda’s different city parts the municipality forms a senior volunteer network as an innovative initiative in Hungary.

Implementation tools being used:

 The Lead Partner was searching for more innovative solutions for activation of the elderly. By developing Senior Community Groups in Újbuda’s different city parts the municipality formed a senior volunteer network as an innovative initiative in Hungary. According to the original Application Form Municipality of Újbuda had to create register (Favour Bank) on competences of seniors which can be used/activated in self-organisation based community services. During the preparatory phase the LP realised that new software for this pilot was needed.

So far 8 neighbourhood volunteers got the elderly-friendly EMPORIA mobile phone. The municipality is continuously monitoring how and what the phones are used for (asking information about the local programmes, asking personal help, etc.).

Purchase and technical management to provide 8 senior friendly mobile phones as a technical support in order to help the self-organization of senior volunteers between the formed community groups.

Description

The ELDBicycle had been designed and realized in the Province of Treviso (Veneto Region, Italy), a territory famous for high-quality craftsmanship and for a long tradition on bicycle construction. The ELDBicycle is the result of the cooperation between the public institution (Province of Treviso) and a firm (P-Factor, Monastier Municipality, Treviso) operating in the area of design and high-tech products. Once realized, the 2 prototypes of ELDBicycle have been placed in 2 residential care structures located in Treviso Province territories (Villa d’Argento Fundation and ISRAA) in order to be tested along 2 different cycling routes:

• From ISRAA (Treviso) to Treviso Province Building along the cycling route of the Storga Park

• From Fondazione Casa Argento (Silea) to Treviso City Center along the cycling route of the Restera Park (Sile River)

In May 2011, the ELDBicycle had been exposed during the Q-Ageing international meeting in Freiburg (DE) and tested in the urban center area, where it received lot of attention and positive comments.

Objective

Since many other tools are available on the market, Province of Treviso developed a bike (ELDbicycle), which aimed to mobilize those elderly (e.g. living in elderly houses) who cannot drive a bicycle alone, and thus to improve their quality of life with more time in open air. Moreover, since some problems of intellectual property rights emerged, the property of the ELDBicycle remains on the producers (P Factor) and, with a specific agreement, the free use of the ELDBicycle had been granted to Treviso province till the project end.

Specific Objectives

• To enable senior citizens, and in particular not self sufficient seniors, to spend more time on open air in order to improve their quality of life

• To create an environmentally-friendly mean of transportation (0 emission, solar energy engine) tailored on senior with particular difficulties of movement. The ELDBicycle is equipped with photovoltaic panels that charge the battery of the electric bicycle pulling the risciò

• To create a socially-friendly mean of transportation, good for parks & gardens as well as for European cycling routes (not only for elderly), enabling people to sit face – to – face and favouring dialogue and socialization

• To realize a powerful communication & raising awareness tool (attractive and stylish) able to promote both active & healthy ageing and environmental sustainability

Concrete Activities

April 2010: Survey on ELDERLY & MOBILITY IN TREVISO PROVINCE. Part of the Q Ageing Situation analysis of Treviso Province has been targeted on “mobility needs” senior population in our territory.

May / June 2010: FEASIBILITY STUDY. An external specialized company (Kairos spa) has been selected to carry on the feasibility studies of ELDBicycle idea. They compared the results of the survey with the requirements of the design and project, in particular concerning the rules for the homologation for running on streets.

July / September 2010: ELDBICYCLE REALIZATION. A public call for tender had been launched by Treviso Province and P-Factor resulted the best company to realize the ELDBicycle. They designed the model, with a constant cooperation with Treviso Province offices (mobility, environment and social departments) and then realized 2 ELDBicycle prototypes.

October 2010: OFFICIAL LAUNCH OF THE ELDBICYCLE. The ELDBicycle had been officially launched the 8th of October 2010, with several local decision makers & media attending the event.

October 2010 / March 2011: TESTING. The ELDBicycle have been tested for 6 months in cooperation with the 2 local rest homes for elderly (Villa d’Argento Fundation and ISRAA). 

Concrete Results

The pilot project ELDBicycle did not simply produce the 2 prototypes. The Province of Treviso tested them with the collaboration of two local rest homes for elderly (ISRAA & Fondazione Villa

d’Argento) for a period of 6 months. By acting this way, more than100 elderly people had the chance to test this vehicles, improving their quality of life and providing also important advices and information to both engineers and decision makers.

From the end of the testing phase (October 2010 – March 2011), the prototypes had been modified following the suggestions and indication of senior users and then exposed / used in Treviso Province park till March 2012 (the ELDBicycle had also been exposed in Milan during the MIT Fair).

After the end of the Q Ageing project (March 2012), due to the fact that the intellectual property right of the ELDBicycle remained property of the producer (P-Factor company), the 2 ELDBicycle prototypes went back to the company. A cost analysis demonstrated that for the company, in order to be convenient, the ELDBicycle should be produced in at least 100 pieces.

For further information please click on the PROJECTS WEBSITE.

Description

The Pilot Action of Ústí region in Czech Republic consists of 7 districts, 354 municipalities, located in the north-west Bohemia in the Czech Republic on the border with Germany. History CSR is still facing with the consequences of post-war changes and decrease in industrial production after 1990. It is a typical representative of structurally affected area and its structural problems are still increasing. Population CSR has a very specific age structure of the population. It is the Czech region with the youngest age structure. Per 100 inhabitants aged < 15 years, there are 91 inhabitants aged > 65 years (107,8 in average). But there is also an increasing group of the population aged > 65 years. Education CSR has the lowest level of education in CZ. There is the highest rate of the population with primary or incomplete education (27,3 % vs 23 % in average) and the smallest rate of higher educated people (8 % vs 15,5 %). Ethnic structure An important specificity is the ethnic structure of the population, which is relatively varied in comparison with a homogeneous structure of CZ. Mainly the high percentage of Roma ethnicity contributes to escalating of social tensions, crime and other social pathologies in CSR.

Objective

• Open a discussion and improve knowledge about returning migration among local and regional authorities and Labour Office, regional office in Ústí Region
• Analyze situation in returning migration in region
• Show to relevant subjects how to use hidden power and skills of returning migrants for region economic development
• Develop tools and services for supporting returning migrants

Activities

Main activity is the development of a whole self-employment "package" for returning emigrants - including entering advisory, job screening, training modules to set up own business and how to prepare a business plan and run the business, start-up coaching and mentoring by skilled entrepreneurs and providing of business incubator services. The service concept consists of 5 parts:

1. To reach returning emigrants through local labour offices, trade offices, promotion articles in social networks or local news. It will run continuously.
2. To contact training contact point and to get entering advisory through hot-line, email, phone or personally. It will run continuously.
3. To go through job screening for recognition suitable business in accordance with personal preferences and work experience. It will run about 1 week in small groups.
4. To go through the training course, there will be the possibility to attend the course personally in training contact points or through e-learning. It will run about 2 months/8 weeks in groups or e-learning individually.
5. To start-up business with skilled coaches and/or mentors and/or use a business incubator established in the training contact point in Most. It will run continuously during the course and after up to 1,5 months.

Results

We expect minimally 33 % of returned emigrants to attend the course and the service to start their business in CSR. Generally we expect increase of micro and small companies and renewal of entrepreneurship environment in Ústí Region.

Description

The Case Study Region “Central Transdanubia” consists of 3 counties (Fejér,
Veszprém and Komárom-Esztergom) in the west-central area of Hungary. Its
biggest city is Székesfehérvár with 100.000 inhabitants. Central Transdanubia has very favourable geographical location and geopolitical position in Hungary. By GDP per capita indicator the Region is the country’s 2nd most advanced area with 10% contribution rate to the national GDP. Industry has a determinant role in the GDP production of Central Transdanubia. Analyzing the population by age group it seems that in Central Transdanubia the ratio of active-aged population perfectly matched with the national average. The nearly 60 per cent ratio of the 18-59 year age group is counterbalanced by the opposite trend of the age groups of 0-17 and of above 60. Hungary - and even the region – due to their geographical location play an important role in the continent's migration process. As a transit and target country it is crossed by several migration routes towards the EU.

Objective

The purpose of the One-stop-shop to re-integrate migrants to the benefit of the regional economy, providing full information about reintegration services, helping them find a proper job and utilize their knowledge acquired abroad.

Activities

The Hungarian project partner, Mid-Pannon Regional Development Company developed a handbook for the one-stop shop administration, covering all the steps and important procedures during the reintegration. The handbook contains the existing and available services in the field of taxation, employment, entrepreneurship, trainings etc.

Results

From November 2012, returning migrants in Central Transdanubia region can find fast and efficient services and administration in one place. The one-stop shop is located in the Türr István Training and Research Institute, Székesfehérvár. 5 trained employees (all qualified and experienced labour market consultants) offer face-to-face contact and provide information and support with accessing all of the local remingrant services. The information is also available via the telephone hotline (toll-free number from Hungary: 06-80-205-385). The one-shop shop is open on weekdays, between 8:00 - 16:00.The One-stop-shop is based on board cooperation between local actors, institutions and economic development bodies. It is offering flexible and free services for the returnees. Following services are available in the One-stop shop:

• Telephone hotline
• Personal consultancy and assistance in reintegration (help in administrative procedures, housing, childcare etc.)
• Business advice and information
• Employment possibil ities
• Trainings and HR development
• Search for business partners and financing possibilities

Description

The selection of the Hnusta city for the purposes of this project was very clear, since during the socialist era Hnusta has been one of the most prosperous hard industry city in the region. Nowadays the city is experiencing recession. Still, a lot of old and abandoned socialist buildings can be found there. These buildings, as well as the socialist image of the city, may be used for the purposes of this project.

Memories are the only things that have remained for us from the socialist times. What kind of era was it for real? What kind of books did they read? What kind of food did they eat? What were the children playing with? What were they learning about? Who were the pioneers, what did the spartakiada look like, and what did they need „bony“ for? The answers to these questions are very well known to the older generation, but the young one does not know much about this period of our life. This was the reason why the Agency for Development of Gemer Region in Hnusta, through this pilot action project, decided to preserve the past for future generations.

The museum is located in the former amphitheatre in Hnúšta. The building was not used and became dilapidated in the past few years and it needed to be renovated. 

Activities

1. Workshops

Between January - August 2012 the Agency for the development of Gemer region organized workshops for the citizens of the town Hnúša and Gemer-Malohont region. The participants learnt about the life of people living more than 23 years ago. The lectures and presentations included themes such as ordinary life,culture, media, holidays, socialist symbols, education system and much more from the period of socialist time.

2. Special Workshops

The theme was the summary of the previous themes of which the most interesting were chosen - Spartakiade, socialist fashion and advertisement. The workshop was enriched not only with the performance of the soloists of the musical theatre HVARNA from St. Petersburg, Russia, but also with the exhibition and collection of new socialist artefacts.

3. Public Consultations

The Agency for the development of Gemer region organized the public consultation on 1st August 2012 which completed the series of workshops as a part of the pilot action implementation. The participants were acquainted with other steps of the pilot action implementation and were introduced the results of the market survey organized in Hnúša and Rimavská Sobota. Examples of good practices and the overview of socialist curiosities were introduced in the presentations. The attendees were acquainted with the project's website and the databases found on the website.

4. Renovation work in the interior of the museum

The building of the former amphitheatre in Hnúša was unitilized and dilapidated in the past few years.The walls in the upper floor rooms, where the museum would be placed, needed to be scraped and painted. Subsequently, the rooms needed to be cleaned. In August, painting works were provided by an external employee - an expert. The expert prepared the list of activities and the schedule of works implemented until the end of August.

Results

The museum is housed in 3 rooms. It is designed to present a three bedroom apartment from the socialist times. In the lobby an old-fashioned “corner” with the phone and books is located. The kitchen is furnished not only with furniture, but with old domestic appliances as well – such as fridge, coffee maker, etc. The children’s room is full of toys, children magazines and books from the socialist times. In the living-room TV-set with a functional radio is located.

There will be a thematic exposition organized on various topics, such as culture, people, educational system, etc. The apartment is furnished with the furniture most of which was donated by local volunteers. The museum received approximately 100 various artefacts from the socialist era; the most interesting are the TV-set, historical pictures and toys. In the future Agency for Development of Gemer Region is planning to conduct lessons about human rights and the history of our region during socialism.

Description

Nowa Huta was developed in 1949 as a modern industrial town autonomous of Kraków, servicing the enormous metallurgical complex created by Stalin’s decree. The town was to become an ideal socialist town for the communist propaganda and populated mostly by industrial workers. In 1951 it was joined to Kraków as its new district. Nowa Huta was foreseen as the birthplace of a new socialist society planned by the Communist Party Leaders with its wide streets and attractive houses.

Objective

The objective of the ArtZONA pilot project activities is to revitalize a post-industrial building which was originally a garage bulit in the fifties of the twentieth century. The space is currently used for dance-related activities, but as its conditions does not meet contemporary standards, it is limited to only that one type of activity. Because of the lack of functionality and the longtime underinvestment effects, the potential of the space is not fully exploited.

Activities

The ArtZONA pilot action started in April 2011 and will last until March 2014. This makes a duration of all together 36 months.

The main task carried out under the ReNewTown project will be the adaptation of the building which will be named ArtZONA. Until now, the first step was to do common brainstorming and answer following questions:

- What are the needs and ideas of young artists?

- What kind of support do they expect from cultural institutions?

Therefore, it is planned to bring as many creative people as possible into the project's creation phase.

Results

The outcome of the project will be a modern, open space with the potential to hold various types of cultural activities, accessible to the local community, local institutions and organizations in Nowa Huta. In the course of the project’s activities, the current space will be adapted to functions such as a gallery, an artists’ meeting place, a space for performances, concerts and multimedia presentations and a place to be used to hold trade fairs for local entrepreneurs.

Background

Historically, the city of Velenje has faced intensive urbanisation in the 1950s due to the coal-mining boom, when the new housing for about 20.000 inhabitants was built. The socialist era housing facilities characterized by lack of green area and poor maintenance of the public spaces became the earmark of the city. The basic concept of the ReNewTown pilot activity tested in Velenje was to involve inhabitants in the revitalization process of local public space that included voluntary work having strong roots in the socialist period of the city development.

Activities

Firstly, a survey mapping the willingness of the inhabitants to participate as volunteers in the revitalization process was conveyed. More than 70 % of the respondents were willing to voluntarily assist in the implementation of the pilot action. 64 volunteers (local residents) finally met in summer 2012 in order to build a local public space suited for all generations represented in the local area, investing 1.567 hours of their voluntarily work. The total sum of the investment (material) was supported by the ERDF by 38.500,- EUR. 

Results

The opening ceremony was attended by the president of Slovenia, Danilo Türk. The event attracted the interest of both local and national media. The president highlighted the importance of intergenerational solidarity at different levels, including housing estates, which gives citizens hope for their present and future well-being. He stressed that Slovenia has a good tradition of solidarity, which includes the enthusiasm experienced after the Second World War. Velenje has become and still remains a symbol of solidarity and a strong will to build a future together. The help of volunteers in the implementation of the ReNewTown pilot project in Velenje continued the spirit of volunteering and presented it to Slovenia and Europe as an example of good practice.

More information about the project and its pilot activities is available on project website. The Slovenian project partner published a video documenting the activity that is available here (in Slovenian language only).

Background

Prague 11 (jizni Mesto) is one of the metropolitan districts of the Capital City of Prague with the highest density of population (currently the density is 8 151 inhabitants/ km2). It is also one of the largest areas with blocks of flats (panel-housing) in the Central Europe which were built in 70’s and 80’s in the socialist era as a place to live for new workers and builders. Many negative effects, e.g. lack of parking places, necessary regeneration of the prefabs or adjustment of semi-public areas are concentrated here.

Objective

The main objective of the ReNewTown pilot action is to create a “Centre for Small and Medium Enterprises” showing possibilities how the public building with socialist burden may be used in a modern and useful way fitting the needs of the local district.

Results

The establisment of SME support Centre in such metropolitan district shows ways on how to use the buildings with the socialist burden in attractive and useful way to the whole district, attracting local entrepreneurs and stakeholders. The Centre helps  existing & new entrepreneurs by providing consultations, organizing various events for entrepreneurs, promoting their work and registerring their business into the Business Catalogue. The entrepreneurs can also benefit from new business networks and contact to local stakeholders.

Description

The facility takes place in a protected part of the town, in the town centre. It is located between the already existing little fountain and Rákóczi Street (the main street). According to the concept the display is under the surface, so the passersby and those interested can look at the display from above, through the glass cover. The underground exhibition site is rectangular, with the sizes of 3.0 x 3.0 m. It is at an angle of 45 % so those looking at the exhibition are not disturb the flow of pedestrians. At its corner close to Rákóczi Street there is a polished, black marble block with the dates of the memorial. It is under the level of the square, and covered with a glass panel strong enough to bear the load of people, and has the required lighting, ventilation, and gets maintenance.

Objective

The Municipality of Salgótarján Town with County Rights had an underground memorial site “Mine under our Feet” completed within the ReSource Project of the Central Europe Programme. The memorial site pays tribute to the coal-mining past of the town. It is a tourists’ attraction which is likely to a capture the interest of those visiting the town. It is not only a memorial, but a sort of “appetizer” motivating the friends of history to pay a thorough attention to the relics of coal-mining, the former main activity in and around the town, and it is also the starting point and end of the hiking trail which connects the relics of mining and 3 quarrying. The future audience of the site of exhibition involves local citizens and visitors coming from other parts of the country. On the one hand it will remind the local people of the once glorious past of coal-mining, making them conscious of the bygone times, and on the other hand will contribute to forming a positive image of Salgótarján; it is not only a former industrial town facing all the difficulties of our age, but a place worth visiting, as well.

Results

As a result of civil initiative and with European Union support a public place of interest has been built, which present the past of the town in an innovative form. The exhibition site takes place among the first, to raise the awareness of public to the former industrial past. It is a fine solution to present the mining past. For the enquirers the Mining Museum ensure appropriate institutional conditions to discover the former mining, but on the other hand it doesn’t make the mining past the part of our daily life.

The preparation and implementation of the project lasted almost a year. Now the town has a monument which is unique, because it can be found underground and its shows a part of the history for public in a simple and accessible way. This is the starting point of the Miners' hiker trail which will be built in the close future in the frames of another tourism development.

Description

The town of Aue lies in the south west of the Free State of Saxony, within the Chemnitz- Zwickau conurbation in the relative vicinity of the two regional centres of Zwickau (25 km) and Chemnitz (35 km). Aue is a large regional town in the Saxon Erzgebirge district. Its location and transport links make the town of Aue a key link in the „Silberberg“ alliance of towns. The area for the sustainable subsequent use of the Wismut sites lies in the north of the town of Aue, between the river Zwickauer Mulde and the newly-constructed Chemnitzer Strasse (S255). The site covers an area of 380 ha. The extension from north to south totals approximately 5 km, from west to east approximately 2 km. The area of investigation of the former railway depot adjoins the Aue railway station site to the north.

Objectives of Master plan:

In further planning stages the highlighted potential is to be enhanced, deficits reduced and conflicts resolved. The goals and considerations of the existing plans are taken into account.

• Characteristic landscape

The historic development of the district of Alberoda can still be clearly seen in the structure of the plots and cultivated areas. Established as a forest village, long, narrow strip plots led from the farmstead across the fields and into the forest. In order to retain the mining history in the large-scale perception at least one of the heaps should be permanently recognisable in its geometric cubature.

• Ecological diversity & its future use

The woodlands will continue to be used for forestry purposes. Unforested areas are primarily earmarked for agricultural use. The recreation of a continual path system, including in the Wismut areas, is required for tourism use as a recreational area. Observation points should be created on summits and on the edges of slopes, individual areas established for specific usages. The establishment of cross links in the direction of Bad Schlema and the recreational facilities already located there is considered to be important. In the Mulde valley itself the objective is to create the cycle path in the vicinity of the water.

• Improved traffic links

Improved traffic links are a prerequisite for the future use of the site as an area of commerce, sport or recreation. For this reason, the area under consideration is firstly being extended.
Current plans that could be combined with one another here are:
- new link to the stadium, relocation of B169
- multi-storey car park on the S255/ B169
- development of commercial sites on the former freight yard
- new, barrier-free public transport interface (track only) at the station

• Car parking

A multi-storey car park for approximately 1,000 cars could be erected at the junction of S255/ B169. This would result in long-term easing of the situation during events at the football stadium.

• Use as Sportpark Aue

The use of the site as a sports park lends itself in particular in view of the connection to the stadium of the football club FC Erzgebirge Aue. The site offers space for up to four football pitches of 68 x 105 m in size. Various small pitches, a jogging and skating track (approx 1,400 m), a skating park in combination with a traffic training garden, a Kneipp facility on the Lößnitz stream and playgrounds further complement the range of possible uses. The sports fields can be positioned ideally on this large horizontal site. The construction of a three-pitch sports hall and the use of the manor as a training centre with guest house would be practical additions. This would enable the site to be transformed into a sports park that could be used by the football club, other clubs and schools. This approach would ideally satisfy the efforts of the sports clubs and the town of Aue to create optimal training conditions for various sports. This also reinforces the transformation of the reputation of the town of Aue from a formerly polluted industrial town to a sporting town with a future.

• Options for a state garden show

The motto for a garden show should ideally develop from the site itself. A theme that supports the future use as a sport and leisure area would be good from the point of view of the planners. „Sports fields and meadows“ are a thematic complex that has not been addressed as a key focus of previous garden shows. Transforming a site formerly used in association with mining and currently derelict into a blossoming place of sport, play and recreational enjoyment can be particularly inspirational here. The successes of the traditional football team WISMUT Aue are continued today with great commitment by FC Erzgebirge Aue. Here too, the post-mining scene is being redeveloped. A key element for the awarding of the state garden show to a site is the way in which the concept of subsequent use is viewed by the awarding party, the Free State of Saxony. The question of the sustainability of investment occupies a central position here. The advantages of a future sporting use have been detailed in the previous chapter.

Transnational value of this pilot action

This Masterplan can be taken as an example how a municipality like Aue can qualify the results of the mining period and turn them into a typical sign of this landscape. The risks emanating from the heaps have been eliminated by the restoration measures. The borderline in the future use of this post-mining regeneration landscape lies between sustainable reclamation, acknowledgement of the mining history in the form of the greened heaps and the careful development of flora and fauna in keeping with the prevailing conditions. In cooperation of all protagonists a higher level of regeneration quality can be achieved than specified in the restoration plans of the mining company, some of them older then 20 years. In this process new land uses like sport and tourism can be implemented. They are new sectors of economy with increasing importance. State garden shows or similar short time highlights are suited in a best way to develop sites that are neglected and underdeveloped for longer time. They force a sustainable positive development. The „turbo effect“ of such an event forces several developments in its surrounding and helps to concentrate the power in the region. An event like a State garden show can be seen as a milestone and catalyst in a long time development.

For its pilot investment has Reuris selected the most vulnerable area of Ochojec, located in the upper part of the urbanized part of the Ślepiotka catchment in Katowice. The river channel was straightened decades ago and reinforced by concrete blocks. The corridor is about 6 km long, with 2, 5 km of the corridor being located in highly urbanized area of the middle part of Ślepiotka catchment.

Basic idea of the study was to delineate continuous corridor in, so that sustainable land use forms can be restored, and value of water should be re-established, both from ecological and economical point of view. The pilot investment illustrates possibilities for desired transformation of the whole river corridor. For Reuris it was important to involve the local community to the level of co-creation giving them an opportunity to submit their own ideas and in fact become co-authors of the vision. Through meetings and workshops successful partnership of key actors consisting of public bodies, private institutions and scientific organisations was created and consensus in methods and direction in which spatial planning of Ślepiotka will be heading was developed.

The general vision of valley revitalisation created this way, with support of local community of Ochojec/Piotrowice and Ligota/Panewniki, was then put to the action.

River channel was modified with use of soil bioengineering methods (natural stone, native plant species) to increase habitat diversity. New quasi-natural pond or wetland has been created which will not only increase retention capacity but also form favored environment for water/amphibious habitat. Further improvements have positive impact on better flow of existing storm water and hydraulic continuity between pond and river channel. Construction of educational path for public access was done with a view to make the area more appealing to local inhabitants and mainly children as it will give them an opportunity to explore this diverse and rich natural area on their doorstep. In addition planting of more than dozen thousands specimen of plants will restore riparian and dry forests, wetlands and flowery meadow habitat.

The Karl-Heine-Channel in Leipzig has high value as recreation area. Through revitalization activities and the opening of the channel for small boats as well as the creation of a foot and bicycle path at the waterside the quality of the area has further improved. Nevertheless due to insufficient artificial lightening the area is only attractive during day-light.

A concept worked out by the CENTRAL EUROPE project REURIS proposed different illuminations for the 15 bridges crossing the channel. A first temporarily illumination showed that attractiveness of the area has increased significantly through the colorful electric lightings, and brought added value not just for the recreation for inhabitants of Leipzig, but also for tourism and gastronomy. The concepts were tested on a temporarily basis so far, but also permanent illumination is possible for the future.

As the bridges crossing the channels are very diverse, reaching from street bridges made of concrete to wooden bicycle and foot bridges, also different concepts for each of the bridges were foreseen.  Like blue and white balls illustrating an H2O molecule hanging below the bridge or swimming solar lamps or mirrors which are fixed blow the water surface.

Description

The photovoltaic charging station (3 kWp) was installed in Upper Austria, where three important partners of the Upper Austrian administrations were brought together and successfully implemented the pilot activity.

• The Environment Department financed the facility and co-ordinated the network and public relation-activities. The installation was involved as a highlight during the Solar Rallies 2010,  2011 and 2012, also in regional and local (city of Attnang-Puchheim) events and activities.
• The Department for Public Buildings and Procurement was in charge of leading the tendering process.
• The employees and pupils of the vocational school are the main users of the facility. In addition the vocational school got an e-bike for business trips of their employees (financed by the Environment Department; not included in the project budget).

The electricity produced is free of charge for all employees driving to the office by e-bikes and e-scooters.

The Solar Rallies were initiated by the Environment Department of Upper Austria and organised by "Climate Alliance Upper Austria". The event took place in years 2010-2012 with a great success.

In 2010, the rally was embedded in the Austrian Climate Tour that involved several municipalities organising local events. In 2011,  e-cars and e-bikes went separate tours, but a joint arrival at the municipalities which organised programmes for public were guaranteed. In 2012, a perfect fleet of 12 e-cars was presented and tested by interested public.

Main objectives

• Demonstration of a future oriented solution of a bicycle charging facility
• Increase of public awareness for e-mobility
• Build a basis for future charging site for e-cars

Financials

The 3 kWp photovoltaic charging station (22.000 Euro) and the Solar Rallies (app. 20.000 Euro per Rally) are financed by the Environment Department of Upper Austria, co-financed by the EU in the program Central Europe (within the REZIPE project).

Outcomes & Results

One 3 kWp photovoltaic charging station: The green electricity produced will be 3000 kWh annually, used by e-bikes and e-scooters of the administration and employees and during the three Solar Rallys. This action will lead to a reduction of CO2-emissions by one tonne per year.

Solar Rally: Involvement of most actors focusing on e-mobility in the region. Therefore a basis for networking shall be established. Involvement of at least five municipalities per Rally. Invitation and participation of several hundred citizens and pupils.

Description

REZIPE investment in Carinthia consisted of installation of 5 e-charging stations and was a part of a larger demonstrative activity of the city showcasing the renewable energy usage in individual mobility.

Within its broader demonstration activitiy the municipality has set up a zero emission public car system in the city area. Five electrical cars  were rented and offered as tesing vehicles to the citizens who could experience environmentally friendly technology on their own.

Results

The e-vehicle testing was open to the public between February 2011 and March 2012. More than 230 test drivers drove more than 67.000 kilometres within this period. Five e-charging stations were used to their full potential.

Three charging stations from type Lebensland "Groß" are located in the city centre and two e-charging stations from type Alpina "KEBA" are installed in the close proximity of the educational institutes, so that students and teachers to get in contact with the new environmental technology and to charge their e- vehicles during the lessons.

The installation is benefiting the environment in the city of Klagenfurt in the first run and also reducing emissions of climate gases like carbon dioxide (CO₂), nitrogen oxides (NO2_x) and fine dust (PM10). Furthermore the citizens have a visual connection to the project and the usage of zero emission vehicles could be boost. 

Pre-treatment operation in fact promote the processes of hydrolysis, the removal of lignin and hemicellulose with increase of the porosity of the material and the reduction of the crystallinity of cellulose. Accordingly are released simple sugars such as glucose and fructose easily fermentable in the process of anaerobic digestion for the production of biogas.

By taking into account the main criteria for selection of biomass (territorial availability, economical and seasonal sustainability, high potential fermentability), two different types of biomass have been identified and have been tested for the purposes of the project:

• Domestic residues like fruits and vegetables from the unsold stocks from local supermarkets, residues from canteens)
• Wheat straw coming from a farm located in Piedmont Region

ACTIVITIES

The pilot action started with some Laboratory tests focused on chemical and enzymatic pre-treatment of some different kinds of biomass: energy crops, humid and dry grape marc ( after grape production). All these substrates were characterized by chemical analysis and after this treated with some chemical reagents in particular condition of operation and besides this with some different kind of biological enzymes. After this all these pre-treated biomasses were analyzed in order to obtain the improvement in terms of free sugars presents and available for future fermentations.
As highlighted by the physico-chemical characterization carried out, the selected biomass, have a high content of insoluble fibers, in particular of lignin, that disrupt the processes of anaerobic fermentation, avoiding access to the cellulose and hemicellulose and their degradation by enzymes.In particular the first part of experimental work has provided for the realization of pre-treatment tests on laboratory scale, in order to evaluate the possible problems present and validate the protocol suggested according to the yields obtained.
In the light of literature data have been carried out tests of chemical hydrolysis, both acid and basic, and tests of enzymatic hydrolysis using the enzymes identified in the first months of activity, drawing up appropriate protocols for carrying out pretreatments on the selected biomass. The performace of pre-treatments carried out were evaluated in terms of release of simple sugars (glucose) in the substrates. The preliminary results have provided information on the yields of glucose obtained and allowed to assume some subsequent test protocols. In particular, it was decided to test the combination of types of different pre-treatment in order to maximize the yields in terms of simple sugars obtainable. Therefore, were carried out some other laboratory tests with chemical (both acid and basic) pre-treatments in combination with enzymatic pretreatment characterized by the use of two types of enzymes able to destroy different substrates.
These activities performed on laboratory scale have made it possible to evaluate the process and to define in detail the operational parameters required to make the future tests laid down on at pilot scale.

RESULTS

PRE-TREATMENT OF STRAW

• Higher concentration (1N vs 0.5N) of sulfuric acid in the chemical treatment improve the mobilization of xylose and glucose in the hydrolisates
• Feeding the mixture of enzymes separately increases the mobilization of glucose and xylose but it increases the duration of treatment
• Total Degradation of lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose occurs in the solid part after the steam explosion pretreatment
• Very low concentration of xylose  in the final hydrolysate has been measured
• Higher concentration of glucose are achieved with the highest concentrations of the different enzymes (0.1 kg/kg of dry biomass)
• Higher concentrations of glucose are achieved working at pH=4.5 in the enzymatic hydrolysis with the tested cocktail of enzymes

The maximum yield of glucose and xylose has been estimated around 71% of the maximum theoretical value derived from the initial characterization and has been achieved in the CE2 test, combining chemical pretreatment and subsequent enzymatic hydrolysis.

PRE-TREATMENT OF ORGANIC WASTES

Chemical treatments
•    Acid reagents seem to be more effective in sugars extractions respect to base in comparable process conditions
•    Treatments with sulphuric acids are more effective than these with chloride acid
•    Test with sulphuric acid 0,5 N are more efficient than those with acid 1 N
•    Test at higher temperature (121°C) are  more valuable than those at 50 °C

Enzymatic treatments

•    Higher values in Glucose extraction from organic wastes (about 18 g/l) were obtained with the combination of acid treatment with chloride acid  0,5 N at 121°c in combination with pectinase enzymatic treatment  (50 gr of enzyme/kg of raw biomass, pH=4.0-T=50 °C)
•    Pectinase enzymes seems more proficient in sugar extraction than the combination of cellulase and cellobiase for these kind of substrates: given the substrates composition with a lower content of cellulose and hemicellulose than straw
•     At the same condition of enzymes type and concentration and process time and temperature the results obtainable form enzymatic treatments are strongly related to the preliminary chemical treatments
•    After 24 h of treatment, the activity of the enzyme does not seem to express anymore: this could be due to some fermentative degradation phenomena occurring despite the antibiotic addition since that the dosage may be insufficient or its spectrum is not quite broad
•    Pectinase enzymes treatment without chemical pre-treatment could reach the same results in terms of sugars extraction but with longer residence time (70h instead of 24h)

In recent years, electricity generation was the primary utilization path of biogas in Europe. This situation was mainly influenced by the existing supporting schemes (e.g. fixed feed-in tariffs for electricity). However, most biogas plants do not have a utilization path for the waste heat which is also produced by the combined heat and power unit (CHP). This is a huge economic and ecological problem.

On the contrary, a natural gas grid in the vicinity of a biogas plant offers a totally new utilization path for the produced biogas. Using adapted gas upgrading technology, biogas can easily upgrade to biomethane which then can be fed into the natural gas grid. This means biomethane can be stored and transported through the already existing infrastructure. It has no longer to be used on the site of the biogas plant. Furthermore, biomethane can be used for a variety of applications like heating purpose, electricity generation and also as vehicle fuel. Hence, biogas upgrading and grid injection is the most valuable option for this type of renewable energy.

ACTIVITIES

The biogas plant in Bruck/ Leitha generates electricity which is fed into the public electricity grid. The produced heat is fed into the local district heating grid which highly increases the overall efficiency. Nevertheless, as the biogas plant is located to a natural gas pipeline the operator wants to solely produce highly valuable biomethane. Therefore the entire biogas plant has to be adjusted to gas upgrading, which leads to certain legal and technical challenges:

1.    First of all the technical and legal framework for a grid access has to be clarified. As the expected amounts of biomethane are way too much for the local natural gas grid during summer month it is necessary to build a high pressure compressor which enables the biomethane fed into the natural gas pipeline. Therefore costs and control tasks have to be clarified in cooperation with the legal grid operator

2.    To meet the high quality requirements of the grid operator the biogas plant in “Bruck an der Leitha” wants to use a membrane technology. It is necessary to determine which upgrading method is suitable for the biogas plant Bruck.

3.    At the moment the biogas plant produces the necessary electricity and process heat by itself. After conversion this is no longer possible. Therefore it is necessary to design a special heating concept for the whole plant. In this context the additional costs for heating should be reviewed via the biogas plant operator of Biogas Bruck/ Leitha.

RESULTS

A first draft of the study is finished. It shows that the feeding of upgraded biogas into natural gas networks is an option for enhanced use of renewable energy in our energy system. In contrast to use biogas at a combined heat and power station a high utilization of the fuel energy can be ensured as it is used as biomethane and fed into the grid. As the case study has shown many biogas plants are missing consumers for the produced co-generation heat. Therefore, by feeding Biogas into the gas grid the fuel will operate only for the actual useful energy. In Austria are, however, numerous legal and regulatory obstacles existing.
At a conversion process from an actual heat and electricity production to biomethane full upgrading system not only legal framework has to be considered but also technical data has to be observed meticulous. Elaborations to grid access, requirements to the gas upgrading technology as well as detailed information to a heating concept must be done. As every biogas plant has a specific local and regional framework each plant is individually predictable. A help for plant operators is provided through a check list which was elaborated during work on the pilot action.
Furthermore, the concept was presented on last Austrian national biogas conference. A lot of stakeholders, researchers and plant operators were addressed. A lot of feedback was given during the conference and the numerous attendances during the lectures reflects the fact that we are dealing with new discussions about the topic of new technologies at biogas plants.

Background

In the year 2002, ten years after the production in HALLE 14 was shut down, the Federkiel Foundation For Contemporary Art started using parts of the building for art installations, exhibitions and events. Since then the building has been dedicated to non-profit projects. For several years, the third floor of HALLE 14 was used as an exhibition space, however without restoration and only in the warm season due to the lack of heating. During that time, the other floors (each with a size of about 4.000 m2) were disused or temporarily used by artists.

Activities

With the Second Chance project, HALLE 14 starts working with used zones after years of experimenting with large open spaces. To change the purpose of HALLE 14 into working places throughout the year, following activities occur:

• Cost- and energy-efficient wall constructions
• Insulation of the 2 x 4 m windows, the floor and the ceiling
• Efficient heating system and electric installation.

The pilot project will serve as a model for the other studios, the flats and other intensely used zones in the building.

Results

Since 2007, the development and renovation of HALLE 14 are dominant issues. Besides the restoration of roof and facade, which were completed in 2009, a visitor centre was built on the ground floor. In addition, about one third of the building are now renovated and developed for permanent use. Some of these spaces are used by HALLE 14 association for its various projects. Other spaces are used by the partners affiliated with HALLE 14 who cooperate for the joint purposes of the art centre. New projects to be set up in the still empty spaces are a residency programme for international artists and cooperation projects with international partner institutions. Therefore, ten artist studios will be build on the first floor of HALLE 14. In addition, the first floor of an adjoining building is used for two artists-in-resideny flats to provide working and boarding facilities. These purposes confront HALLE 14 with new requirements. But until now, the first six of these studios (80 sqm each) constitute the pilot project for SECOND CHANCE.

Future outlook

The residency programme and the cooperation projects will complete the non-profit profile of the art centre HALLE 14. The residency programme is designed to be independent and open for international visual artists. The selection of artists will be made by an external jury. In addition, international institutions (including the SECOND CHANCE project partners) are invited to cooperate with HALLE 14 to send artists to Leipzig. Within both residency programmes, the international artists will introduce their culture and artistic background during the events that accompany the residency programme (open studios, exhibitions, artist talks). They will themselves benefit from the exchange and the contacts to Leipzig artists and art professionals. Finally, the international exchange will generate new dimensions of cultural discourse and provide new input for everybody involved.

Visit the website www.halle14.org to learn more about it.

Description

The headquarters of the Museum of Municipal Engineering is a heritage complex of tram depot in Krakow’s Kazimierz at the intersection of Gazowa and św. Wawrzyńca (st. Lawrence) Streets, built in stages from the end of the 19^th to the beginning of the 20^th century.

Activities

Since 1995 the Quarter of St. Lawrence is undergoing renovation and adaptation for the needs of the Museum of Municipal Engineering. The renovation of historical depot halls was completed in 2010. The renovation has been carried out with the original architectonics forms in mind and the greatest possible use of authentic materials, with an eye for their visibility and display.

Results

• Installation of street furniture on the square: benches and bike racks to attract new visitors
• Creation of visual identification of the site: information for visitors about post-industrial heritage – information boards and signboards, touch screens, audioguides
• Installation of facilities for open events: large screen, interactive installations, playground and space for mothers with children, tents to organize outdoor events
• Installation of facilities for meetings and events: exposure, projector;
• Small scale investment on the square – reconstruction and renovation of stone surface of place for outdoor events

Description

The pilot area of Styria (Steiermark) is a state or Bundesland, located in the southeast of Austria. In Austria it is the second largest of the nine Austrian federal-states, covering 16,401 km². Styria borders on Slovenia in the South, as well as the other Austrian states of Upper Austria, Lower Austria, Salzburg, Burgenlad and Carinthia. The population (as of 1.1.2010) was 1,208,372. Styria is divided into 17 political districts and 542 communities and the capital city is Graz. Because of 57% proportion of forest and grassland (meadows), pastures, fruit gardens and vineyards Styria is also called “The Green heart of Austria”. The south of the country is characterised by a hilly wine growing region.  On the other hand Styria is also a part of the Alps and famous for the Ennstal with the highest mountain Dachstein (2995) and the National Park of Gesäuse in the north. Styria has a total of 452,6 km of roads, this is the longest highway and motorway network in Austria. 79 people were killed on Styrian Streets in 2010. This is the lowest number of deaths since measurement.

Objectives

Main objective is to increase the knowledge about the Road Safety Programme (RSP) within the community with the help of an external "communicator". Furthermore, another important objective is to raise awareness in their community concerning the RSP, road safety risk factors, mobility education and road crash and injury prevention in the context of strengthened sustainable mobility.

Activities

• 100 Styrian communities have been visited by one Communicator to motivate mayors and other local stakeholders to implement Road Safety Strategies and measures concerning risk factors (“external” Communicator).

• In 3 regional Workshops, interested people from the communities (target group: mayors, employees of municipalities offices, teachers, members of district council, district police….) get trained to be “local” Communicators (situated in the community) and become aware of Road Safety Strategies and measures concerning risk factors.

Young teams of communicators (“young” Communicators) will then visit schools to provide accident prevention workshops with a new approach to reach the youth in their language.

Results

Several Styrian communities where visited by trained young Communicators to motivate the Mayors and the public, to implement measures concerning risk factors and mobility education. The Communicators are recruited, trained and given information materials is prepared for the activities. Appointments will be made for the Communicators with the Mayors. The Communicators will also arrange local events to promote the Styrian Road Safety Programme.

The future success will likely depend on the skills and motivations of the Communicators, and maybe how well they are supported at the centre with global programmes ‘opening the door’ for their local activities. Furthermore, increased mentioning of the programme within wider media campaigns might be useful in supporting the local activities.

Click HERE to download the training documents and other interesting documents from the Styrian Road Safety Programme.

Gyor is one of Hungary’s most dynamically developing cities with more than 130.000 inhabitants. The city is situated in the centre of the Vienna-Budapest-Bratislava triangle.  The radial road network of the settlement connects Slovakia from the north, Austria from the west, Lake Balaton from the south and Budapest from the east to the town.

The main objective of this pilot action of the SOL-Save Our Lives project is to improve the safety of children on their journey to and from school. Furthermore, it aims to improve knowledge and skills of children to enable safer travel and to reduce the risk of road accidents around the school (infrastructure) and it shall raise the knowledge and motivate school teachers regarding road safety and influence drivers behavior in school zones.

Several activities had been enforced to reach these goals. It started with enhancing the regional police presence and control at  selected schools. Furthermore, an information package for teachers, parents and caregivers has been created as well as road safety training for professionals, teachers, parents and finally map containing safe routs and high risk places.

The main partner involved in this pilot action are GRSP Hungary Association and KTI – Institute for Transport Sciences.

Description

The investment focuses on the presentation of how to deal with plants and plant oriented traditions in nature protected areas. An important aspect is here the surrounding Kiskunság National Park where collection of plants is target of special regulations and resources must be protected even at higher level than in other implementation areas. In these rooms small tools and processing equipments will be installed too, which will be collected in the first 3 periods of the project. The pilot implementation may be a model for further implementation sites in Central Europe. It was be a special building (small folklore house) devoted to preservation and dissemination of written documents and remembrances of cultural traditions of Felső-Kiskunság region (where Kunadacs is located). It suits to the surrounding atmosphere and old style of the region. It included 2 premises (exhibition and training rooms). In the first room plants of Kiskunság region are presented in pictures and posters with descriptions. The other room devote to the utilisation of collected plants and their processed products which reflect the traditions of the site. They were presented both in form of pictures and as real exhibition subjects. Both premises are suitable for presenting the knowledge and practical technics to the visitors.

Activities

The folklorehouse and herb exhibition room was built in the middle of Kunadacs village. The constructing works stared on 18th May and finished on 3rd September. Meanwhile Village Local Authority of Kunadacs requested local people to offer several old used and forgotten equipments for a local exhibiton. PP3 got a lot of help and helping hand from Corvinus University so we could show a very colourful wild plant collection to locals and other visitors. This building is just the first step of a long term process. In future plans PP3 would like to present a sustainable model of wild plant collecting for other Hungarian villages.

Results

The folklore house is going to serve as demonstration place for visitors and promotion of traditional plant collection activities in future. The exhibition rooms will be allowed to be visited free of charge. Its life-span is at least 15 years after the project. It is going to assure an attractive home for local and regional events connected with culture, education, social programs and nature.

Description

Szeged Transport Company (SZKT) participates in the TROLLEY project with a pilot action to demonstrate key elements of a Trolleybus Intermodal Corridor that aims high for a better, intermodal transportation system in Szeged. These pilot elements are the high-speed wires, crossings and switches which ensure a reduced number of trolley derailments as well as reduced vibrations in the neighbouring houses. Furthermore, SZKT reconstructs a trolleybus stop with introducing special kerb elements to provide accessibility to low-floor trolleybuses in an urban environment. Project investment elements are:

• Reconstruction of the overhead wires at Híd utca – Vár utca trolleybus / tram junction
• Reconstruction of the Híd utca trolleybus stop.

The exemplary reconstruction of the trolleybus/tram junction Híd utca will demonstrate a concrete handling of how tram and trolleybus systems do not only coexist, but can even benefit from each other. The building of the high-speed crossings and switches was finalized with a 4 month delay due to archeological found and problems with ownership permissions along the construction site. One of the masts could not be built as planned since its base would interfere with the ancient wall of the Szeged fortress. The consequential redesign of the wire planning was done and on 26th November 2011 the wire reconstruction at Híd utca – Vár utca trolleybus loop started, and was finished in mid-February 2012. For the trolleybus stop two procurement procedures were needed (second was successful) and on 19th October 2011 the work on the reconstruction of the Híd utca trolleybus stop started. On 30th November 2011 the reconstruction of the stop was finished. For the investment expenditures an on-the-spot FLC check has been carried out successfully.

Objectives

With the reconstructed trolleybus stop our aim was to introduced elevated platform levels at trolleybus stops in order to achieve barrier-free access for low-floor trolleybuses. These required the production of special concrete kerb elements. The road surface was built also from concrete locally in order to achieve long lifetime, while the pavement was covered by brick surface with imprints for the blinds. The main quantities: rebuilding of 170 m2 road surface, 66.7 m of different kerb elements, 182.5 m2 pavement surface. By a future design of a trolleybus corridor such elevated platforms are expected to be planned. The aim of the reconstruction of the overhead wires was to increase the speed of the trolleybuses even in such complicated layouts. High-speed overhead elements allow to increase the speed from 10-15 km/h to 40-50 km/h while significantly decrease the number of accidents caused by the derailments of the current collectors. These overhead elements were delivered by Elektroline a.s. from the Czech Republic. The main quantities of the reconstruction: 997 m of new trolleybus overhead was built, 4 new masts were erected, 2 crossings, 9 turnouts (4 of them remote controlled) was built in. In case of a future trolleybus corridor design high-speed overhead elements are expected to be planned.

Activities

SZKT started the investment-related work in TROLLEY with a delay of six months (August 2010 instead February 2010), as the Subsidy Contract and PA have been signed behind schedule, but these documents were mandatory for the official start of the investment-related work by SZKT. After starting the investment-related project work on the reconstruction of the overhead wires at Híd utca – Vár utca trolleybus loop, the work were again delayed, as the Cultural Heritage Authority in its first preliminary permission ordered an archaeological survey done by the Móra Ferenc Museum. The Museum declared that the mast 9046A cannot be built since its base would interfere with the ancient wall of the Szeged fortress. That's why a redesign was made, avoiding this mast, and an auxiliary mast (9046a) was planned in cooperation with the Museum. This new auxiliary mast's foundation was dug in July 2011 by the Museum, but it turned out that the wall of the fortress is also interfered in its foundation by the new mast. That's why SZKT needs to redesign once more the masts plans, but and on 26th November the wire reconstruction at Híd utca – Vár utca trolleybus loop started. Furthermore, some hooks of the overhead wires are in the outer walls of several buildings. One of these buildings (Roosevelt tér 6.) although has majority ownership of the Hungarian state, who gave permission (which was enough for the National Transport Authority to give its building permission), the Cultural Heritage Authority ordered, that the collectively of the owners must gave permission for new hooks (although already 13 hooks are in this building). The buildings collective called for an assembly and the majority decided to issue their permission.

The reconstruction of the Híd utca trolleybus stop started on 19th October and ended on 30th November 2011 (see figure 2). The work on the “electronic terminal” at the Híd utca trolleybus stop will be realised from an external financial source in 2012, as part of another project. The realisation of the investment as a whole - reconstruction of the overhead wires at Híd utca – Vár utca trolleybus loop and the reconstruction of the Híd utca trolleybus stop was ready by February 2012 within the project runtime of TROLLEY.

Transnational Added Value

With the realisation of the investment of Szeged “Intermodal Corridor Pilot Action” in the framework of the Central Europe project TROLLEY SZKT will show in practice overhead elements that are capable of providing a safe contact between the trolley and the wires at high speed and complicated configurations (switches, crossings). These elements will decrease the number of derailments of the trolleys as well as reduce the vibration to the walls of the neighbouring houses. As it is not an easy job to do the urban planning of a wire system to provide track to the clean, low-noise, low-vibration electric buses, SZKT published a report providing a step by step guide and a case study of possible problems and their solutions. The results will also be published in the transnational Trolleybus Intermodality Compendium. This compendium is a core output of the TROLLEY project and can be directly used by practitioners. Furthermore, SZKT reconstructs a trolleybus stop in order to provide accessibility to low-floor trolleybuses. The aim of the pilot is to show the local and international community a best practice for trolleybus stops and to enhance the accessibility due to the special kerb elements by using the kneeling capability of the trolleybuses. Thereby, SZKT will demonstrate that a trolleybus stop can be made emphatic while it matches the urban environment. The shown new design elements could be used further in other European construction projects to promote clean electric public transport in cities. They will be able to take up the expertise and scale it up. At the final conference of TROLLEY, which will took place in Szeged and that was open to a wide transnational audience, the investment was presented also to interested actors all over Central Europe.

Sustainablity of investment

Both investments are made at a key junction of Szeged city's trolleybus/ tram network existing since 1979, which ensures long term sustainability. The city's long-term trafficdevelopment concept (released in 2007 accepted by the local government) aims to make a “green inner city” (aim LXI.), where the preferred mode of traffic is zero-emission, electric public transport (trams, trolleybuses) as well as pedestrians, cyclists. Therefore, SZKT will promote the intermodal trolleybus-tram connection corridor even after the end of the project and the corridor might be even advanced, as it is planned to install a bike hire station as well as a bicycle parking station and to connect the interchange with demand responsive connecting services in Szeged.

Impact & leverage effect

The investment in Szeged focuses on speeding up trolleybuses, on smooth technical crossings of trolleybuses and trams, on quick passenger transfer as well as on innovative passenger information technology, which will lead to an improved local interconnection to foster the use of public transport in Szeged. The expected impact will include the exclusion of polluting vehicles from the city centre or forming a regional transit union (local trolleybus and regional interconnection). This investment was recognized by the local stakeholders (mayor, local members of the city assembly) as well as it is used by 5870 daily passengers (data from the 2012 counting). A commemorating plaque was placed in this stop for this investment. In Hungary, Budapest, Debrecen are further important trolleybus and tram cities. They will directly benefit from the experiences gained in TROLLEY regarding integration of trolleybus and tram.

Background information

Parma has bought 9 new articulated trolleybuses for the trolleybus exhibition in Parma in March 2011. These trolleybuses are equipped with so-called supercaps, high-capacity on-board electric energy storages. These supercaps provide the opportunity of an energy saving potential of up to 30% of the traction electric energy. However, technical experience is still not mature and only limited real case studies are available. Please see an example of such a supercap on the following picture:

The TROLLEY project tested and evaluated the potential for the reduction of energy consumption in the operation of its trolleybus fleet from April 2012 on. The purchase, the assembly and the evaluation of the supercaps will be documented. The purchasing of the new trolleybuses and the supercaps was promoted extensively during March to April 2012 including the promotion of the TROLLEY project and the developed the TROLLEY campaign slogan “ebus – the smart way!”. Costs for one supercap is EUR 39.000,- (VAT included). Thus the partial investment coming from the TROLLEY project is approx. EUR 11.111,- per supercap.

Activities

Accordingly , the first part of the accompanying Output "Transnational Manual on Advanced Energy Storage" (on purchase and assembly) was finished during reporting period 2 and will be extended with future other examples of trolleybuses equipped with supercaps. The outline or content respectively of this core output was discussed and planned during a Kick-off workshop with all project partners in Parma in October 2010. The discussion within a so-called "World Café" ensured input from all partners in terms of the definition of the core output and ideas for input.

Furthermore, the implementation, testing and evaluation of the invested supercaps took place from April to May 2012. The results shall be compared to other evaluation results available for energy savings through supercaps (e.g. Public Transport Operator from Milan agreed to make its test results available for a comparison during the 1st TROLLEY City-Industry-Summit in Parma in October 2010). Therefore, the diagnostic tool that can measure how much energy is absorbed and released by the supercaps is studied currently to outline the evaluation concept and realisation.

Transnational added value

The realised investment by TEP in Parma is a real technology highlight in on-board storage and recovery of energy. Parma will be an international “test bed” for this technology and there is big interest on the supercaps implementation since hybrid buses and trams may also benefit from this technology across Europe.

The pilot investment in TROLLEY will help to optimise the energy use of public transport operators operating trolleybuses and/ or other electric driven clean vehicles and will serve as a real tangible showcase to be taken-up. The results of the investment realisation, this means purchase, assembly and evaluation of the supercaps will be disseminated via E-training and E-learning modules as well as in the core output "Transnational Manual on Advanced Energy Storage". These dissemination activities will provide know how on the implementation, the management and the testing of this state-of-the art technology not only to the involved TROLLEY partners but also to all existing trolleybus networks in other cities of CE and beyond and will put trolleybuses into a new light. By this, all decision makers across Europe will benefit from the results of this investment by getting a fundamental basis for decision on this technology.

Results

In case of a positive testing result of energy storage on-board of trolleybuses with super caps, Parma will gradually equip its whole fleet with this technology. The state-of-the-art technology of these new vehicles including supercaps, which will store energy regenerated during braking, to be used in subsequent acceleration for reducing the overall energy consumption. There are different direct and indirect financial beneficiaries from this investment. The transport operator installing the device will be able to reduce its energy costs. The trolleybus will become even more competitive in terms of costs with other transport modes. Besides, reduced energy consumption means reduced external costs. For passengers there is an indirect effect since cost savings contribute to stable fares.

This local investment enables a smooth and reliable operation of trolleybuses in Parma ans reduces energy consumption whereby public transportation becomes even more energy efficient and cleaner.

Within this pilot action in Parma, the most interesting result states a reduction of 26,24% energy consumption of trolley buses with supercabs installed than buses without it.

The pilot case study focused on urban development on the chemical waste dump Vrakuna. The area is currently partly used as commercial-residential area, is partly an abandoned area, and a residential area is planned. Currently construction activities have been stopped. The waste dump belongs to the municipal government of Bratislava city because former owners are not willing to deal with the environmental problems.

Position of the Vrakuna dump site

 
Aerial photo of the Vrakuna dump site

Situation of the test area

Mlynske rameno was originally a dried river branch of the Danube serving as a sink for sewage dilution from a chemical factory since 1966 without any protection measures. The dump site was finally abandoned in 1979 with an estimated volume of 90,000 m3 and a thickness of 1.5-2.5 m. In 1989 it was covered with a 2-3 m layer of inert building rubble. The chemicals reached the
ground water table which was contaminated to a depth of 40 m. After the construction of the large Gabcikovo Waterworks in 1992, the ground water level rose and reached the soil surface. Despite groundwater contamination,
construction activities started on this area.

URBAN SMS activities

Activities aimed at improving the management of degraded urban areas and raising the awareness of decision makers and the public of the environmental hazards of this area. The local municipality and the hydrologist who investigated this area in the past were contacted. Results of the URBAN SMS tools (including the contamination module of the Soil Manager Suite) enabled visualization of how improper the former urban planning on this site had been. A local workshop for stakeholders, developers, municipality decision makers and broad professional public was organized (7th July 2011). At the workshop information about the URBAN SMS Project, the results of investigations on the pilot site as well as solutions for environmentally safe land uses of the site were presented and discussed.

Results and experiences

The case study demonstrates management methods for contaminated sites in spatial urban planning and what is the inevitable prerequisite for correct decisions regarding remediation and land use. Participation at the workshop
encourages consideration of soil as a precious resource in urban land. For the future of Vrakuna the best solution was found: this site joins the EU program for remediation of contaminated sites. Experts from the Soil Science and Conservation Research Institute in Bratislava proposed that the environmental impact assessment (EIA) “Guidance for Soil in SEA / EIA” should be applied for every Brownfield redevelopment without any exception.

Teharje - Celje East (193 ha)

Celje municipality (96 km2, population 50,000) is characterised by dense structure in the old city centre and urban sprawl at the outskirts. Pressure for new housing areas is still present. The Teharje pilot is one of three test pilots in Celje (area 3), located between open agricultural land, the city border line and an industrial area. It has a direct connection to the highway and is therefore very attractive location for different services. On the other hand, its pollution is in direct conflict with the current mainly agricultural use.

Location of the three pilot sites in Celje

Situation of the test area

Since the last change of the municipal master and land use plan the majority of the area has been dedicated to agricultural use and expansion of housing area, especially on its west side, where there is a neighbouring chemical company. Previous soil contamination samples have shown higher concentration of heavy metals, especially cadmium, which defines this area as a contaminated site and demands carefully chosen future land use with good
redevelopment management of the area.

Land use plan of test area and surrounding (orange: housing area; white: agricultural use; violet: industrial, commercial use)

URBAN SMS activities

The main focus was given to improving the management of degraded urban areas. In the assessment of selected soil evaluation tools (based on the software tools Soil Contamination and Ecosystem Soil Quality) we have upgraded existing soil data with their spatial component. On the basis of these results the current land use plan and spatial trends were assessed.

Results and experiences

Soils on this area represent medium to high quality in terms of their natural functions, but with heavy metal pollution. Therefore, the soils are not appropriate for agricultural use. Consequently, changing the land use into an industrial or residential area is the only fitting solution, after thorough
remediation of the site to reduce the contamination related risk. The tool evaluation results are useful for an optimized spatial positioning of appropriate land use. This could minimize land take on areas with soils of high quality, suitable for food production or other sensitive land use and lead
towards more sustainable spatial planning.

A result of ESQ tool assessment (Ecosystem soil quality)

EXPO Area (98.5 ha)

The pilot area has been designed by the Municipality as a location for the upcoming 2015 universal exposition. It is located in the northern part of
Milan, in a highly urbanized area. The land use is agricultural now, and it is planned as an exposition area for agricultural issues (an agro-botanical garden) in 2015; the land use after the end of the exhibition is still unknown.

Situation of the test area

Many people have protested because of the already congested territory (the area is side by side with the new Milano fair) where green land is rapidly disappearing due to the new fair, the ancillary highway links, roads, railways and suburban trains. In the meanwhile the area is no longer cultivated and spontaneous vegetation is growing. An initial environmental survey showed no chemical contamination.

EXPO area location in north-western part of the city

URBAN SMS activities
Samples of agricultural land were collected and chemicophysical analysis performed in order to produce data sets needed by the URBAN SMS software. The evaluation of soil quality with the software tool performed on the area and results were used in dissemination of the project around Italy. The data is necessary to improve consideration of soil in spatial and urban planning on all levels. It supports planners and other stakeholders in the decision
process.

Results and experiences

Urban sprawl in northern areas of the city is very intensive. For this reason it is considered of primary importance to direct urban planning towards soil protection. Application of the Soil Manager Suite produced indicators which describe how to plan the development of the area in order to minimize the impact on soil resource and to optimize its consumption and can be readily introduced in local SEA/EIA procedures. For example, the run of Agricultural Soil Quality localises the most suitable soils for agricultural use. This suggests that the expo-area development should preserve these soils from sealing and from removing, steering towards uses that allow an agricultural reconversion, after the 2015 expo event.

“Meadow” near the botanical garden (9.5 ha)

The demand for new residential areas in the City of Prague generates huge pressure on green areas and the few remaining natural soils within the urban area. There is an urgent need to develop concepts and tools to decrease the quantitative consumption rate of soils and to integrate the soil quality parameters into the sustainable soil use methodology. The pilot area “Meadow” exemplifies the difficulty between the development interests of the private owner and the need to safeguard high quality green areas.

The pilot area in the green belt area north of the Vltava River

Situation on the test area

The test area is located in the northern city district of Troja which is considered a prestigious and highly desirable area for family housing, and is hence under constant pressure from developers. It is expected that the privately owned “Meadow” which is currently under agricultural use will shortly be sold to a construction company to establish new dwellings. For that purpose the owner will have to go through the land use change procedure according to the Czech Act. In contrast, the area is characterised by its high ecological function and its importance for the urban green concept.

URBAN SMS activities

Due to the fact that there are no practicable tools and concepts for handling soil quality in the urban planning process the soil functions of the pilot area needed to be evaluated and visualized. Improving the consideration of high quality soils as well as awareness raising at a local level was the focus of the pilot study to limit, and where this was not possible, to compensate soil losses. “Soil Manager Suite” together with “Guidance for Soil in SEA/EIA”, “Brownfield Redevelopment as an Alternative to Greenfield Consumption in Urban Development in Central Europe” and “Awareness Raising Package”  were used in consultation with local NGOs and with municipal representatives to achieve better implementation of soil protection in the decision making
process. The soil quality of the “Meadow” site from both production and ecological aspects was evaluated and compared with a nearby Brownfield area close to the Vltava River to find a potentially less valuable area for
construction.

Pilot area “Meadow” in the northern city district of Troja in the City of Prague

Results and experiences

Application of the tool demonstrated the unique properties of the pilot site, especially its ecological value. The comparison with the Brownfield site near the Vltava River shows that the “Meadow” is characterised by a much
higher need for protection. Due to the lower soil quality and moderate contamination at the Brownfield site the future urban development should be concentrated there instead of at the pilot area “Meadow”. However, if a change in the land use will be realised, possible measures to limit soil sealing and to compensate the soil consumption are already specified.

Salzburg City and hinterland (261 km2)

The area is the main industrial and commercial centre of the Land of Salzburg and a transport intersection. A regional development program has been established in order to secure a commonly agreed spatial development. Considering soil protection in these processes is necessary because already much cropland and grassland with soils of high quality have been converted into a residential area in this region.

Situation of the test area

The regional association of City of Salzburg and ten surrounding municipalities are responsible for the test area in terms of regional spatial planning. In this region high rates of land consumption on medium to high quality arable soils due to urban and suburban development have been observed during recent decades. In future, land use changes due to (sub)urban development can be expected to continue as in the past. The number of inhabitants is about 200,000 with an increase of 14% between 1981 and 2010. Several nature protected areas and natural spots are located in this area and the nature protection regulations are strong against
land use conversion.

Photo of northern part of test area in the Land of Salzburg

URBAN SMS activities

During the project the selected software tools for soil evaluation were applied with some limitation of available data regarding soil parameters. Soil quality was assessed in relation to past and future regional and local land
planning as well as the Strategic Environmental Assessment. Special focus was laid on already built on land or areas with land use just changed (dedicated for building development by land use plans) assessing their relation with the total agricultural land and the soil quality.

Functional determination of development of settlement areas and open space (part of regional development program)

Results and experiences

Now a comprehensive knowledge base about soil quality and its suitability for different land use exists. The results of the case study helped to steer regional land planning towards the most suitable areas for certain purposes. Minimization of soil consumption, in particular of valuable agricultural land, is possible in future development.

“Langenaecker-Wiesert” (8.8 ha)

In Stuttgart the main problem is the increasing pressure on high quality soils outside the settlement area. The chosen pilot area is an example of this negative development. According to the local building plan a residential area with 260 units is planned on arable land with soils of high quality.

The pilot site on the northern border of the densely populated city of Stuttgart.

Situation of the test area

Current use of the area is arable land and garden plots on high and very high quality soils. It is already bordered by settlement areas on three edges. It is part of a 46 ha contiguous area with soils of also high and very high quality. The building plan is in the process of being developed at the moment.

URBAN SMS activities

The most important strategy in this pilot case is to raise awareness of the huge loss of soils with high quality and to involve stakeholders/decision makers at an early stage of planning. The URBAN SMS Awareness raising package is therefore a helpful tool, e.g. the report “Environmental impact of urban soil consumption” (ahu, 2011). For calculation of the loss of soil quality the “Loss of Soil Resource” (LSR)-tool was applied on the basis of the soil quality map and the soil protection concept (BOKS) of Stuttgart. The technical implementation to calculate the current soil quality and also the prognosis of the loss of soil was carried out with the adapted LSR-module for ArcGIS “Technical Concept Soil indicator Stuttgart – Application”. The result is a certain number of “soil index points”, which are calculated by multiplying the score for soil quality (0 to 5) with the area size [ha]. This corresponds with the compensation demand.

Results and experiences

The test area “Langenaecker-Wiesert” is an example of where the overall goals of soil protection defined in URBAN SMS are not achieved. However, with URBAN SMS software modules it is possible to make the loss measurable and visible. After implementation of the planned building activities there remains a calculated deficit of 22.4 soil index points compared to the current status. This is more than the whole loss of soil quality in Stuttgart between 2007 and 2011! Only measures of mitigation are possible in this case, for complete compensation these measures are insufficient. There are not enough areas available to realise adequate measures. This problem is described in detail in “Compensation Measures for Encroachments on Soil – Stuttgart Assessment”. But with the mentioned strategies and tools we are able to provide the decision maker with the information about the consequences of the planning activities so that they are aware of the negative impacts and avoid future losses.

Wrocław LAU-2 region (293 km2)

The city of Wrocław was taken as a test area covering roughly 293 km2. Agricultural lands still cover 43% of the total area whereas the area of sealed surfaces has reached 39%. Forests cover 7% and water bodies 3.5% of the total area.

Situation of the test area

There are instruments in national legislation aimed at protecting high quality agricultural soils (The act on agricultural and forest land protection). The protection mechanism is based on fee payment of the developer and obligatory permission by the ministry to transform the best soils into non-agricultural uses. Soils within urban administrative borders are, however, currently excluded from this regulation; this fact creates additional risks for loss of valuable soils in Wrocław. Consequently, there is significant pressure on high quality soils located especially in the southern part of the city.

Urban sprawl in Wrocław between 1991 and 2006 on soil quality map

URBAN SMS activities

The project GIS web system has been applied and tested in the Wrocław pilot area, whereas SEA/EIA guidance and awareness raising materials where delivered to stakeholders. Extensive spatial analyses were performed to assess the land use change trends within the city, and losses of soil resources and various modelling approaches were applied to predict future consequences of current soil management. The results of these analyses were provided to the stakeholders in order to raise their awareness of the role of soil in urban zones as well as current trends in soil consumption and impacts of limited soil protection on environmental and socio-economic issues. The meetings were organized with a representative group of stakeholders as an example of effective stakeholder participation in the impact assessment process and discussion on soil management issues.

Stakeholder meeting aimed at raising awareness and gathering information on key sustainability issues in the city

Results and experiences

The knowledge provided during meetings helped to raise awareness and reach a common understanding of soil protection goals and conflicts between urbanization and environment quality. The stakeholders expressed a strong need for further development of spatial digital information on environmental issues useful in better management of soil resources. There was a common agreement on the need for revision of soil protection regulations and more successful inclusion of soil issues in urban planning.

Description of the project

The open space area in "Sidlisko II Presov" is located in a housing district built in the late 1960s. The space was a typical example of a neglected area without relevant functions, with a low ratio of vegetation, problems of criminality (especially during night time), conflicts between car traffic and pedestrians, neglected and insufficient small architecture.

Based on the approved design, elaborated on the participatory way with local inhabitants, the square can be divided into four functional units:
o Entrance area of the square
o Area around the existing fountain
o Podium and meeting space in front of it
o Playground for children

Through the pilot project investment phase, the playground for children, greenery renewal, the small scale architecture (benches, cycle racks) and the new electro-infrastructure for public lighting was realized. Moreover the new traffic regulations solving the conflicts among pedestrian and cars have been applied. This renovated open public spaces will create the attractive leisure area for the district inhabitants, other adjacent city districts and whole Presov area.

Revitalised urban space will become a part of system of Presov city recreational space not only for the inhabitants of the housing district but the vicinity of the commercial complex will attract to this renewed open spaces much more inhabitants from the Presov city.

Transnational added value

Identification of the most acute problems in the areas of the environment; criminality prevention; accessibility aspects for community groups with specific needs with attention to movement safety; respecting the historical assets of the territory has been undertaken using the participatory approach.

City Presov pilot project realization will be the good example of investment strengthening the local natural environment.

A transnational added value will be in sharing experience and know how transfer in these fields:

• renewal of neigbourhoods with high density prefabricated blocks of flats

• methods of succesful public participation at planning and implementation
• Involvement of local communities and associations in empowering actions and cultural activities: 
• Support of the civil culture to let citizens understand the importance of the proper use of open spaces
• sustainable model of green recreational areas management
• systematic approach to pedestrian environment improvement and accessibility
• local natural and cultural heritage interpretation

Sustainability of the investment

Sustainability as long-term vision of space. At regional level the creation of such a green space will contribute to the creation of a relax area for inhabitants, essential for a sustainable land use and biodiversity conservation. At the local scale, the high quality urban space with the use functions for different users (children, parents, adolescents, elderly people, etc.) will attract the local inhabitants to spend their spare time outdoor which create closer relationship to the environment, as well as is creating the local community.

After the end of the project UrbSpace, the Municipality of Presov will be financially and technically responsible for the sustaining of the investment. The town unit responsible for the greenery areas - Municipal Authority for Roads and Greenery Management in Presov - will be responsible for the day-to- day technical maintenance of the open space. Attractiveness of nature at neighbourhood of intensive housing area is very important for citizens to their identification with place of living.. More attractive public space is more used and this means more safe and less costs of maintenance.

Foreseen impacts and leverage effect

The local inhabitants of Presov district II. will directly benefit from improvement of physical environment for leisure and sports adjacent to high density housing area. Revitalized urban space will become a part of system of Presov city recreational space not only for the inhabitants of the housing district but the vicinity of the commercial complex will attract to this renewed open spaces much more inhabitants from the Presov city.

Summary of the pilot investment

The forest park site is situated in attractive landscape setting surrounded by several residential districts with population of 50.000 and newly developed large university campus nearby.

Through the pilot project investment phase, the paths network, greenery renewal, the installation of equipment both for walking and fitness together with outlook tower reconstruction and water element renovation was realized. This renovated open public spaces will create the attractive green leisure area for Novy Liskovec, other adjacent city districts and whole Brno area.

Project description:

Renewal of forest park was realized through the following steps

- Greenery renewal: The first step of the revitalization in 2009, whole area was totally overgrown by vegetation, walking possibilities were very difficult, dangerous and unsafe. From this reason around 500 trees and 1,5 ha bushes were cut down and afterwards 300 woods were planted (the costs of this part app. 150 000 EUR were paid from other sources)

- Restoring the paths network: Old paths were very damaged and overgrown by vegetation, about 2000 m of paths were restored in 2011 (approximately 23 000 EUR paid from UrbSpace budget) , other paths renewal was realized before and app.50 000 EUR paid from other sources

- Water system: Old park pool reconstruction with spring imitation as well as the build new supply system with new well (old one was unusable) built – costs 45 000 EUR

- Installation equipment: Electricity network for water system, for maintenance as well as for public events realized - costs 12 500 EUR, furniture as 13 benches, 5 boards of information signage costs 10 000 EUR

- Outlook tower renovation: Costs spent partially from UrbSpace budget are 80 000 EUR

- Open amphitheatre: This was establish partly in phase of greenery renewal and partly in phase of pilot investment realization, this flat area is used for public events and would be increased by special structures in future – costs spent from UrbSpace budget are 2 000 EUR

Total costs of pilot investment only in 2011 were 160 000 EUR, which from the UrbSpace project budget 50.000 EUR.

Transnational added value

Through the pilot project the application of the Joint Strategy was tested. The measures implemented and how the recommendations of the relevant aspects were followed are shown in the table 1 bellow.
Moreover the pilot project in Novy Liskovec can serve as a model project and developed processes can be repeated in other locations. The transnational added value is belonging especially in experience and know how transfer in following fields:

• renewal of neigbourhoods with high density prefabricated blocks of flats

• methods of succesful public participation at planning and implementation

• sustainable model of green recreational areas management

• systematic approach to pedestrian environment improvement and accessibility
• local natural and cultural heritage interpretation

Sustainability of the investment

Attractiveness of nature at neighborhoods of intensive housing area is very important for citizens to their identification with place of living. People could use parks easy accessible, they feel less tension to travel far away from city to nature outside. More attractive public space is more used and this means more safe and less costs of maintenance. Sustainability as longterm vision of space, as value is very important in every step of urban design – choice of materials, accessibility, etc. The management of the forestall park will be provided on regular base by the Novy Liskovec city district of Brno city.

Foreseen impacts and leverage effect

Our project of Forest Park Renewal discover historical heritage of our city district. Life is a story, we need to be involved into, joint or work on good story. Mostly housing areas are built without any connection with history or any good story. Our city district is situated in 95 % of prefabricated concrete block of flats, built up in 1980’s and 1990’s, the rest 5% is family houses from period 1900 – 1930. Health care centre was built with nice park and brought many jobs and development of city district in that time. Growth and use of this area started to stagnate after World War II, specially park was without care and use. Structures, furniture and equipment of park were lost under overgrown vegetation. Some places in park became to use by young people drinking alcohol and damaging structures of park. Renewal of park is the story of restoring and bringing of former light, victory of the light over the darkness. We enjoy former path network, functionalism design of former look out tower, old trees and other former structures restored in new interpretation for refreshment and leisure of citizens.

Description of project

The path has been deserted and forgotten by local community for many years. Now after revitalization the life came back to the place. Thanks to creative illumination the Urban Tree Path exposes attractiveness of the natural environment and the design of the new elements of small architecture. Due to some historical research, it has been found out that the path has a long and interesting history. The historical name of the path was Eliza Brook not Haffner Stream which is the name used nowadays. As the renovation has been completed, it was decided to bring back the old name to the place. The cost of the pilot project in total was over EUR 180.000.

Transnational added value

A key output of the project reflecting its transnational value is the Methodology Action Plan. Partners from different countries worked together to create a common and available working paper that can be help or may inspire one to create more attractive public spaces.

Sustainability of the investment

The Urban Tree Path in Sopot was a concept of creating public spaces through exposing the attractiveness of the natural environment of the city. One of the aims of this project was to protect the semi natural environment located in the city centre. All the work related to the implementation of the pilot project was conducted with respect and care for the natural environment.

Impacts and leverage effect

The project feedback from the residents of Sopot is highly satisfying - such as this letter: “I am the inhabitant of Sopot and I see how year after year our city is changing. I have just walked down the new path admiring the lovely benches, lightning, barriers, all renewed and beautiful”. The Urban Tree Path is one of the first steps in creating a new image of public spaces in Sopot. After the revitalization of Eliza Brook was completed there were several other investments held. It’s noticeable that they refer to the design of Eliza Brook.

BEFORE THE PROJECT:

AFTER IMPLEMENTATION OF "UBRAN TREE PROJECT":

Description of the project

It was agreed on building a mobile stage because of the possibility of varibale location, depending on the character of the specific concert or theatre performance in the valley.

As you can see on the following picture, the park stand is already serving for cultural purpose:

Transnational added value

The transnational added value is to motivate local and regional inhabitants that they spend more time with their family and friends in nature - in the spirit of "Culture in the Nature". Hereby, the transnational added value is following:

• For the protection of the flora and fauna the least architectural interference at the auditorium of the park stand are planned
• The park stand will be available for men and women, for children, adults and the elderly
• The territory can be reached by car, by bicycle and foot
• The architectural features of the project will follow and reflect the organic (folk) architectural features of the territory of Harangod, which will enforce the complete structure of the spot
• The local natural and cultural heritage interpretation in the new development

Sustainability of the investment

The sustainability of the development is significant, as it realized on such field, which a more beloved recreation place of local and regional inhabitants and further living people. This place became spot of more and more our international events.

TÉKA Volkart Camp is organised here every year. The volkart camps and Kállai Kettős Volkdance Festival Harangod, organised every second year, are typical examples of Hungarian dance culture. The valley stage is an important spot to such events.

Foreseen impacts and leverage effect

The implementation of this piolot project positively impacts the environment in this area by causing less distruction and prevention of land erosion. Before, this area was also used for events. Refering to the "Hangarod" Project, new projects in this area are already being planned. This will be a chance to organise different events such as for families but also for companies and other institutions. We also have experienced that there are several practical ideas in the solution from meetings with our partners. The URBSPACE Joint Strategy became an important basic document towards the settlement of development plans, making use of open space areas and sustainable town developing projects.

Investment structure of this pilot project

Development of mobile park stand: € 35.187,53

Sound technique to the park stand: € 6.902,95

Trainings on the construction of the mobile park stand: € 7.875

Description of this pilot project

The project site is a greatly extended green area (600ha) which was not much used but offers high potential use. The implementation of the participation process created a good relationship between local authorities and the local groups. In collaboration with Agenzia InnovA21, an agency for sustainable development, several meetings were organized with the coordination group of local associations to start the participation process. During the planning phase, the common Action plan has been elaborated and shared with local stakeholders, like local associations and local authorities. In this way it was possible to develop a public participation process.

The investments in the 5 Municipalities’ park are dedicated to improve environmental aspect and its public use. Several public meetings were organised to share all the decision about the investments to do.

In 2011, following investments were realised:

• Trees planting to improve biodiversity with involvement of citizens and volunteers (app. 2500,00 euro)
• Tools for maintenance for local associations committee, like spades, wheelbarrows...(app. 2.000,00 euro)
• Forestal maintenance (2.500,00 euro)
• Improvement of a public space in the park, with electricity, kitchen facilitation, tables, seats... (5.000,00 euro)
• Road signs, to indicate how to reach the park from the centres of the cities (2.400,00)
• Billboards with the maps and description of the park ( 4.000,00 euro)
• Gazebo (1.000,00 euro)
• Cycle-racks (1.500,00 euro)

Transnational added value

The improvement of the 5 Municipalities’ Park is a good example of improvement of an open urban space near a big city like Milan. The added value is the involvement of the population in all the decisions of the process. So the public participation is the real value of the project, even the decision of the investements. In this way the public institution can be more sure about the right things to do and to buy to improve a public space.

Sustainability of the investment

The investments’ are decided with the involvement of local groups and local authorities representatives. In this way every decision for each investment is shared with the people that directly use and know the park better.

Foreseen impacts and leverage effect

The foreseen impacts will be the improvement of the fruition of the Park and the environmental improvement. With these investement, the local organisations will be able to organise several events to stimulate people to visit the park and to learn to appreciate local green areas around and inside the cities: the urban open spaces. The involvement of local stakeholders like associations and public institutions in the creation of the Action Plan permitted to chose the proper investements.

At the same time thanks to the action plan and the investment it is possible to plant new trees and to make some necessary maintenance to the green areas and footpaths. In this way it is important to keep a balance between fruition and biodiversity conservation.

Description

The policy of sustainable traffic development requires offering the inhabitants of Wrocław an attractive public transport network which is a real alternative to private cars. A prerequisite for reaching this target is the greatest possible integration of all forms of local public transport within the city and the urban agglomeration. The organisation of transport is becoming increasingly important particularly due to the changes in land use within the Wrocław agglomeration and the increasing tendency to redeploy residential areas and places of work away from the centre. It is therefore very much in the interests of the city of Wrocław to preserve a large share of local public transport for serving access routes to the municipality and further provides the reason for improving the quality of the service of suburban transport services. Land-use  planning may  lower  trac  volumes through the reduction of transport needs, and it may create better conditions for the use of public  transport through the concentration of areas with housing or service functions along infrastructure axes. The area of Wrocław covers the following districts: Wrocław, Strzelin, Oława, Oleśnica, Milicz, Trzebnica, Wołów, Środa Śląska and the City of Wrocław. The analysis was expanded with three directions: Świdnica, Legnica and Brzeg.

Objective

The strategic activities regarding public transport should be directed towards increasing the volume of travellers on the system and thus reducing motor traffic – in particular in the city centre and on the main access roads. Also, the integration of all systems of local transport is a further target which, as well as providing comfortable access to areas which are congested with traffic, strengthens the connections between the city and its urban agglomeration. On the way to achieving these objectives, the legal and spatial background for the development and integration of the three systems of local public transport (tram, bus, railway) was examined. Among other measures, studies were commissioned on the legal and functional-spatial conditions for the integration of local urban railways.

Activities

On the way to achieving these objectives, the legal and spatial background for the development and integration of the three systems of local public transport (tram, bus, railway) was examined. Among other measures, studies were commissioned on the legal and functional-spatial conditions for the integration of local urban railways. Based on a comprehensive evaluation of  the  rail infrastructure  in  the  Wrocław agglomeration area the line no. 285 was chosen for an in-depth analysis. It connects Wrocław with  Sobótka and Świdnica, and  passenger  rail  service  was abandoned nearly ten years ago. The case study includes a description of the technical status  of  the  infrastructure,   functional-spatial analysis  and  scenarios  for  the  modernisation and  revitalisation of  the  railway  line. A possible standard  for  reconstruction  is  identied,  and sets  of measures are  dened which would  need to be implemented by the dierent  stakeholders involved.

The study is structured as following:

a) Analysis of spatial management of the area,
b) Review of investment plans concerning roads and railways within this area
c) Competitiveness analysis,
d) Current demand analysis,
e) Analysis of population changes.

In order to assess the railway lines situated in the Wrocław metropolitan area analysis was carried out on the basis of ten key criteria. They characterise the area along the line specifying:

a) Population potential,
b) Economic potential/ economic activity,
c) Connection revitalisation impact potential with regard to unemployment
reduction,
d) Accessibility of railway services,
e) Connection rank in the plans of infrastructure provider,
f) Number of existing and potential transfer nodes,
g) Economic potential of station buildings,
h) Reduction of negative environmental impact as a result of revitalisation of
analysed railway connections,
i) Cross-border dimension of the venture,
j) Spatial management.

The population potential of the area along a given railway line was determined to be the criterion of utmost importance. The accessibility of railway services is also a factor of great importance in the context of the present and potential usage of passenger carriages.

Results of the study

The conducted analysis and assessment pointed to three directions that should be taken into consideration while planning the revitalisation of railway lines for the Wrocław metropolitan area: Oleśnica direction (connections to Milicz, Bierutów, Miedzybórz, Syców), Sobótka direction (Świdnica), Oława direction (Brzeg). All these connections are vital from the perspective of the region’s cohesion, as they constitute the connection between medium-size and small towns with the Wrocław metropolis (access to work places, schools, offices), and the metropolis with attractive recreational and leisure areas (servicing the tourist traffic). Every connection has also vital importance for the current or potential needs of the goods carriages.

In case of revitalisation of railway connections it is possible to considerably reduce the negative environmental impact by the creation of attractive alternative to individual car transport travels. It is of great importance and will be particularly noticeable for the connection from Wrocław to Sobótka (Świdnica) running through attractive recreational areas with great natural values (Ślęza Mountain). The revitalisation of this railway connection should allow the limitation of high pressure on the environment caused by intensive car traffic (recommended reduction of passenger car share in travels from the current level of about 90% to below 50%). In the case of Wrocław – Sobótka connection rail services will be provided for shopping centres located at the outskirts of Wrocław, in Bielany Wrocławskie (Bielany Shopping Park). In the case of Wrocław – Sobótka connection it is possible, probably to the greatest extent, to benefit from valuable German experiences in the field of revitalisation of railway connections on the Uznam Island (UBB - Usedomer Baderbahn GmbH rail servicing attractive seaside recreational areas and the Naturpark Insel Usedom protected area).

The highest potential of railway connection revitalisation impact on the reduction of unemployment lies in the connection to Oleśnica. The revitalisation of railway connection is a comprehensive venture covering measures concerning infrastructure (modernisation of the railway line – surface traffic control, etc.), rolling stock (introduction of modern rolling stock adapter to the needs of a given line), creation of attractive carriage offer (short travel time, satisfactory comfort and safety of travelling, client-oriented timetables, spatial, timetable, fare and ticket integration with other means of regional and city collective transport), as well as the surroundings (revitalisation of station buildings and their vicinity, broad promotional campaign for railway connections, etc). That is why the measures for revitalisation of the railway connection should engage not only railway entities (provider of infrastructure, carriers), but also the direct owners of the area through which the railway line is running, that is communal and district self-governments.

At the present stage of revitalisation measures the best results are achieved with the limitation of railway entities interested in the venture (take, for example, the line to Trzebnica). A model revitalisation solution is always the restoration and stimulation of passenger traffic at inactive sections (e.g. the Wrocław – Sobótka line). Measures along lines with existing traffic (the Wrocław – Oleśnica line is serviced by 16 pairs of trains per day) require much more intensive promotional and marketing campaigns.

The basis for revitalisation of recommended railway connections is the necessity of their comprehensive modernisation (including the elimination of numerous existing speed restrictions) that will enable the passenger trains to travel with the following maximum speeds at the entire length of connection:

• Connection to Oleśnica – speed: 120-140 km/h
• Wrocław – Sobótka connection - speed: 80-100 km/h.l)

Due to the currently limited financial and other (e.g. legal) capacity with regard to undertaking effective measures in the area of railway transport by local selfgovernments, it is mostly expected of communal self-governments that would like to join in the revitalisation measures concerning the selected railway connection to provide support and cooperation in the following areas:

• Revitalisation and utilisation of economic potential of station buildings and their vicinity,
• Active promotion of the railway connection (attractive railway connection can also be an element of the commune’s/ district’s promotion),
• Spatial policy conducive to the development of the railway connection and its vicinity.The selection of one railway connection for further in-depth analyses should be conditioned on the interest and willingness for involvement of communes and districts (starosties) which the connection runs through.

In order to determine the potential involvement of territorial self-government units in the venture, it is recommended for the Marshall Office of the Lower Silesia Region to conduct a short cycle of measures addressed to commune and district groups that are related to railway connections recommended for further analyses. It is suggested that these measures cover:

• Informing the self-governments about the project and expectations of the selfgovernments
• Preliminary identification of potential involvement of self-governments – short survey,
• Organisation of 1-2 meetings with self-government representatives (in the form of ‘round table’ discussions or workshops that are to present the 10 standpoint of self-governments on the possibility of their involvement in the venture).

In the final phase of these measures it may be advisable for the self-governments to sign declarations/ letters of intent concerning the willingness to become involved in the project. The broadly-understood revitalisation process should also include the surroundings of the railway line and its relation to other transportation means in order to increase the attractiveness of the railway transport. Revitalisation projects for both groups of regional railway lines (that is those still in operation and the inactive ones) usually provide examples of success. However, one needs to remember that these successes were always founded in comprehensive technical and organisational solutions. These project mostly covered multi directional set of measures, including:

• Reconstruction or modernisation of track infrastructure;
• Reconstruction of stations and stops with their adaptation to perform the role of local integration nodes;
• Diversification of functions of station buildings;
• Construction of new stops in order to increase their accessibility;
• Purchase of modern and cheap-to-maintain rolling stock;
• Creation of attractive carriage offer in terms of both offered accessibility, commercial speed, frequency, and relation to other transportation means.

Revitalisation is closely connected with the regionalisation of railway transport. The process of transferring competences in the area of organisation and financing of passenger carriages in the regions started in the 1990s and is still progressing. It results in better coordination of offers of public carriers operating in the given region, and the general improvement of effectiveness due to the introduction of regulated competition and development of the carriers’ market.

Detailed characteristics of line 285

As a result of analyses conducted in the first part of the study the Wrocław – Sobótka – Świdnica railway line No. 285 was selected for further examination. Apart from previous findings, the arguments for the selection of line No. 285 were:

• Fact thon the line connects Świdnica, a town populated by 60,000 people, with Wrocław (commuting to work places, schools, offices),
• Line connects Wrocław with recreational and leisure areas,
• Goods carriage potential,
• Possible reduction of negative environmental impact,
• Servicing of commercial traffic to Bielany Wrocławskie,
• Possibility of comprehensive revitalisation of the line practically from the beginning.

Please click HERE (5,78 MB) to download the full summary in english.

Location

The nature park Lower Saale valley is situated in the centre of federal state Saxony-Anhalt. The size of this nature park is 620km² with almost 62.000 inhabitants. This rural nature park is situated between the largest cities and economic centers of the state Saxony-Anhalt, Magdeburg in the north and Halle/Saale in the south. The Lower Saale Valley itself is, apart from the city of Bernburg, out of the superior focus. For the main part it is up to the stakeholders and inhabitants of the region to make sure that Lower Saale Valley will be as vital as today also in the future.

Background information

Since 1990 the region along the Saale river between Halle and Bernburg lost around 25 percent of inhabitans. Especially young woman keep moving into larger cities as Halle or Magdeburg or directly leave the region . The jobs beyond agriculure are often more promising elsewhere. The founding of local action group within LEADER initiative is one of several tools to support sustainable development within the region in future. According to an integrated development strategy innovative actions are to be developed and implemented.

Objectives

The integrative development strategy includes all relevant branches (nature conservation, agriculture, economy, culture and social issues). The guidelines are following:

1. Site-oriented conservation and development of the rural economy,
agriculture and landscaping in harmony with the natural environment.
The LAG supports explicitly education, research and regional
networking.
2. Nature, landscape and cultural heritage as a basis for the
strengthening of regional identity, the development of an attractive
network of local recreation and tourism and regional marketing.

Main Activities

• 2006/07: panels of experts, workgroups, public workshops to develop integrated development strategy
• 2007: application and as local action group for LEADER
• 2008: confirmation
• since 2009: project implementation, support in project development, regular meetings of general assembly and steering group as well as information meetings

Results

Since the start of implementation in 2009 following projects connected to cultural heritage, local identity, marketing of regional products and tourism have been finished:

• Development scenarios for 5 potential compensation areas
• Cadastral land registers of 29 project approaches
• 25 educated cultural landscape guides
• Open data base of cultural landscape elements
• Analysis of historical maps
• Sustainable platform for regional dialogue

Description

Municipality of Msciwojów, located in the South-East part of the Lower Silesia in Poland, has been chosen as a pilot project region by the University of Agriculture in Krakow to elaborate a development scenario based on the natural and cultural heritage of the region.

Objectives

The project assumes the use of potential abilities of the municipality and elaborates a scenario based on the development and protection of cultural landscapes as a way to reconcile the needs of local people and the European Union Directive concerning cultural landscapes. In the centre of all works is the historical Nostitz family mansion with adjacent park and lake.

Results

• Develop a variant concept of water supply and sewage disposal (the estate water management system)
• Analysis of water resources in cultural landscapes
• Design development of the agricultural landscape villages of Msciwojów
• The sphere of the ecological and biological dam reservoir in Msciwojów – park, vineyard, agriculture
• Develop 3D Visualisations as an important tool of  promoting cultural landscapes

Region of Styria is facing the shortage of scientists and graduates from technical universities (especially the demand increases in the fields of mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, materials science, metallurgy and chemical engineering). To solve this problem, the professional orientation of young people has to be supported. Many young people still have a very limited range in the choice of their future profession and receive just very little or no information at all about technical professions. Additionaly, most pupils don’t really know about the leading companies and other SMEs in the region they live in. This was the reason why the region of Styria started to tackle this problem together with companies from metal and electronic industries.

The objective of the “Learning Partnerships” is to bring pupils closer to a vocational training or an employment in their region by focusing on a practical orientated approach. Therefore, regular learning subjects in schools will be combined with additional learning elements and a close practical relation to companies and their specific working field. The overall aim is to jointly develop a methodology and to test it in the participating regions together with schools and companies.

The kick-off workshop “Learning Partnerships” was split into two events: The first part was a workshop to define the methodology of the pilot action to all participating partners. The second part was a field trip to look at an already existing best practice.

Implementation of the cooperation

The mutual cooperation will be build upon joint projects of schools and companies, thematically focusing on the branch of the participating company.

• In the six project regions at least one “Learning Partnership” will be installed
• Transnational network and cooperation of the schools was established

Outputs

• Case studies and other inquiries indicated a limited knowledge of young pupils on leading companies and other SME´s in their own Region
• The specific demand will be important for each Region– beside of inquires in companies it could be useful to get data of the regional job centers
• Motivation of teachers has to be tackled and increased

Abstract:

PA Business Academy consists of:

• holistic approach to specially gifted pupils (focusing on exact and natural science)

• involving school and university teachers, parents and pupils into educational process involving educational centers, Universities, schools; public, nongovernmental and business stakeholders into networking on labor market

Aims of PA 2:

• to raise awareness among higher grades pupils on labor market possibilities connected with education in exact and natural science to
• raise pupils’ motivation for education on exact and natural science faculties

Abstract:

The aims of Future Laboratory are:

• to provide and verify methods and tools for defining schemes and strategies to improve living condition in rural areas and regions affected by migration
• to provide a platform that will by initiation and verification of these methods contribute to improve the quality of working and family life and will thus lead to a decrease in migration from the given region

This pilot action is focused on involvement of young people into decision making processes. The main aim is to find out why they would or would not stay in their region. As a result the local and regional politicians could use this information from youngsters.

The idea of Future Laboratory is to involve important and successful people from the region to tell the youngsters their life story and the reasons why they have stayed in the region. There will be held workshops with discussions and the possibility for youngsters to work in groups and specify their claims and needs.

On the kick-off workshop a delegate of the secondary school from Podbořany, which will take part in Future Laboratory in Ústí region, introduced the school and their activities.

Abstract:

Developmenet of vocational field oriented curricula and learning moduls

Our aim: counteract social and spatial segregation
Our target group: special talented pupils (classes 7-10)
Our methodology:

• Develop and test vocational field oriented curricula and learning moduls
• Bring young people together with regional companies