The main objective of the project Improving Capacities for Enhancing Territorial Attractiveness of the Danube Region (ATTRACTIVE DANUBE; 2017-2019), funded by the European Union (ERDF and IPA), was to strengthen regional governance at all levels of public administration, including transnational, and professional capacities in the field of spatial development planning. Each territory has its own specific potential that can help it to compete with other regions. Good policy and good governance can create the conditions to maximise this potential for the further development of the region and thus increase the attractiveness of the territory for its inhabitants, visitors and entrepreneurs. The project sought to make the Danube macro-region an attractive place to live by addressing the following areas:
Development
- The intention was to positively influence territorial development, entrepreneurship and tourism in the regions by strengthening professional capacities and engaging stakeholders.
Administration
- The aim was to improve the governance of the regions at all levels of government, including transnational, by consistently applying evidence-based decision-making and by creating the necessary information platform to support decision-making processes.
Attractiveness
- In the context of the project, the attractiveness of the territory was determined by the development potential of the territory and indicators that monitor the state and development of the environment, the economy, public administration and social issues.
Participatory planning
- The project emphasised the application of community planning principles and an interdisciplinary approach to spatial development at all levels of governance by involving the public, civic, academic and business sectors. In the 11 partner countries, the participatory planning process was supported by the establishment of national and one transnational platform for monitoring the attractiveness of territories.
Knowledge and tools were used in the process of strengthening professional capacities in the form of a comprehensive programme for representatives of public administrations and other institutions involved in the management and planning of regional development in the 11 countries. The process culminated in a series of activities to strengthen policy integration through transnational workshops, policy recommendations and the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding.
19 partners worked together to implement the project: 12 directly funded project partners and 7 associated strategic partners. The project was coordinated by the Geodetic Institute of Slovenia (Slovenia), other directly funded partners were URBASOFIA, Town and regional planning company (Romania), Bulgaria Economic Forum (Bulgaria), Institute for Spatial Planning of the Koprivnica-Križevci County (Croatia), Lechner Non-profit Ltd. (Hungary), First Hungarian Responsible Innovation Association (Hungary), aiforia GmbH (Germany), Technical University of Košice (Slovakia), Federal Ministry of Physical Planning (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Institute for Strategic Studies and Prognoses (Montenegro), Institute of Architecture and Urban & Spatial Planning of Serbia (Serbia) and CENIA, Czech Environmental Information Agency.
Associated strategic partners were the City of Durdevac (Croatia), Ervet – Emilia-Romagna economic valorization of territory (Italy), Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia (Slovenia), Ministry of Infrastructure (Slovenia), Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning (Slovenia), EU Strategy for the Danube Region Priority Area 10 Institutional Capacity and Cooperation (Austria), Košice Self-Governing Region (Slovakia).
CENIA was responsible for the communication of the whole project, in addition it participated in all other activities of the project by preparing the national platform for monitoring the attractiveness of the territories, fulfilling the indicators of the transnational platform for monitoring the attractiveness of the territories for the Czech Republic, cooperation in the creation of the Atlas of the attractiveness of the regions, organization of a series of workshops with stakeholders in the development of the national platform and organization of seminars for representatives of state and public administration involved in decision-making in the regions to use the outputs of the projects in practice.
Contact:
Jana Bašistová, jana.basistova@cenia.cz
