Apaches Final Report by South Yorkshire Forest Partnership

Acknowledgements This report is based on work undertaken for the international, collaborative cluster project, ‘APACHES’ – Attractive Public Areas: Competitiveness, Heritage, Urban Environments and Sustainability’ - funded by the ERDF Interreg IVb North West Europe Programme. South Yorkshire Forest Partnership/Sheffield City Council is grateful for the support of the Interreg IVb NWE Programme; Ian Hill, National Contact Point for the Interreg IVb NWE Programme; and the Interreg IVb NWE Programme team in Lille France. South Yorkshire Forest Partnership/Sheffield City Council would like to thank all partner projects, and all those organisations and individuals who have worked closely with partner projects for their time and support. The cluster partner projects are: ll VALUE, led by South Yorkshire Forest Partnership (SYFP)/ Sheffield City Council (SCC), Sheffield UK ll VALUE+, led by South Yorkshire Forest Partnership (SYFP)/ Sheffield City Council (SCC), Sheffield UK ll COLLABOR8, led by South Kerry Development Partnership IE ll CURE, led by Stadt Hagen/City of Hagen DE ll LICI, led by AMCV BE ll MANAGE+, led by Regionalverband Ruhr (RVR)/Ruhr Region DE ll MANDIE, led by Landeshausptsladt Stuttgart/City of Stuttgart DE ll PORTICO, led by Gemeente Utrecht (GU)/CIty of Utrecht NL Published by: South Yorkshire Forest Partnership/Sheffield City Council Floor 4 Howden House Union Street Sheffield S1 2SH Design by: The Smart Station Graphic Design www.thesmartstation.com Print by: Loop Print Ltd, Digital Works, Harvest Lane, Sheffield S3 8EG www.loopprint.co.uk APACHES Final Report © South Yorkshire Forest Partnership Written by the APACHES partner projects, September 2015 Edited by Sara Parratt-Halbert, Dr Marina Ciaraldi and Sarah Poulter Copyright of all photographs belongs to South Yorkshire Forest Partnership unless otherwise stated. To download a copy of this report go to www.apaches.eu or view online at http://issuu.com

Images on front cover (clockwise fron top):

Images on back cover (clockwise fron top):

Sheffield, UK Cafe Meesters, Tilburg, NL CURE, DE De Westbatterij, NL -Martin van Lokven Tilburg, NL Edward Sreet Park opening ceremony, Sheffield, UK

Norfolk Street Pocket Park, Sheffield, UK Tilburg, NL Wicker Riverside, Sheffield, UK The APACHES Partners in Tilburgh, NL PORTICO Project, Utrecht, NL Heuvelkerk, Tilburg, NL - Corne Hannink Fotografie

Contents

1 Foreword................................................................................................................4 2 Executive Summary............................................................................................6 3 Introducing the Partner Projects....................................................................8 VALUE................................................................................................................................................................. 8 VALUE+.............................................................................................................................................................. 10 COLLABOR8..................................................................................................................................................... 12 CURE................................................................................................................................................................... 14 LIVELY CITIES (LICI)....................................................................................................................................... 16 MANAGE+.......................................................................................................................................................... 18 MANDIE.............................................................................................................................................................. 20 PORTICO............................................................................................................................................................ 22

4 APACHES’ Vision.................................................................................................24 5 Overview of APACHES’ Objectives................................................................26 6 Delivery of APACHES’ Objectives..................................................................28 7 Key Outputs..........................................................................................................32 8 Final Recommendations...................................................................................34 9 Conclusions...........................................................................................................40 10 Next Steps...........................................................................................................41 11 Contacts................................................................................................................42

Sheffield, UK

Foreword written by Sheffield City Councillor Leigh Bramall

My colleagues at South Yorkshire Forest Partnership and I, and our colleagues across the North West Europe Region (NWE) are very proud to present the experiences, the achievements and the findings of our ERDF Interreg IVb cluster Attractive Public Areas: Competitiveness, Urban Environments and Sustainability’ (APACHES).

Councillor Leigh Bramall Deputy Leader of Sheffield City Council & Cabinet Member for Business, Skills and Development

Edward Street, Sheffield, UK

On behalf of the City of Sheffield I would like to extend my warmest thanks to all those whose hard work and dedication made this cluster such a triumph. I’m sure it wasn’t always easy juggling a full time project as well as the demands involvement in a cluster such as this entails, but the project partner leaders and their colleagues did so with great energy and confidence, putting their collective shoulder to the plough to great effect as you will see from the results, findings and recommendations presented here in this Final Report. The aim of the APACHES project was so very close to Sheffield’s own

aspirations, but translated to a transnational level: how to demonstrate co-operation across the regions can and does improve the economic viability of NWE cities, regions and communities by managing and developing public areas to enhance their attractiveness to skilled people, visitors and investors. And just as Sheffield works towards developing its own imperatives to develop a strong, vibrant city for the future, APACHES was striving to do the same transnationally through helping to set priorities for future Interreg funding programmes relating to urban development and regeneration.

The cluster addressed the two biggest concerns of the NWE IVb Programme: its ambition to promote stronger communication and dissemination of its projects’ results across NWE and the wider EU and addressing the main themes of the EU 2020 Strategy. Achieving these aims meant enabling stakeholders to access knowledge and best practice from the projects working under NWE’s Priority 4 (Strong and Prosperous Communities), and to work together to identify better, more inclusive communication tools. The cluster worked hard to join up lessons and innovations from different projects dealing with urban development; to improve the ‘big picture’ links that are necessary for good collaboration; and to better understand how to make a good project an outstanding one. One of the most important strands, as always, was communication – highlighting

success stories from the Interreg projects involved in APACHES, raising their profile and disseminating results more widely across the EU. This was carried out in tandem with a wide range of stakeholders who were working to identify future priorities for Interreg and other EU funding programmes by focusing on the shared strategic issues and ‘grand challenges’ associated with managing and developing public areas to improve their attractiveness. I truly believe that SYFP here in Sheffield and the APACHES cluster project partners across North West Europe have further unlocked the potential of future Interreg Vb projects and perhaps even more importantly enabled those projects as well as themselves to become catalysts for change on behalf of the Programme and of the wider European Union. I urge you to read the Report, I’m confident you will agree.

Executive Summary

This report provides an overview of EU Interreg IVb North West Europe Programme funded project ‘Attractive Public Areas: Competitiveness, Heritage, Urban Environments and Sustainability’ (APACHES). It demonstrates how transnational co-operation can improve the likelihood of investment and thus the local economy of cities, towns, villages; regions; and of course communities, by managing and developing public areas – greenspace and town centres (‘grey space’) – to enhance their attractiveness to skilled people, visitors and investors.

Sara Parratt-Halbert MSc GradCIEEM

Sir Ebenezer Howard, arguably the first proponent of the importance of beautiful city spaces, spoke right back in the 1800s of how accessible public areas would create a happier, more balanced community. And a happy, healthy community is one on which a thriving local economy can be built. The American National Recreation and Park Association based a whole community regeneration project around the regeneration of, and subsequent maintenance of, a local park, and wrote about the results in 2011 in ‘Rejuvenating Neighborhoods and Communities Through Parks’, so it was clear even before we began APACHES that the local community, its economy – and thus the national economy - rest on beautiful open spaces. The second strand of the APACHES project was to show how ‘clustering’, or working together, to achieve a shared vision of a robust financial system or a flourishing town centre is better than working in isolation and provides ample opportunity to share with others the good ideas that made it profitable.

It’s not just one project calling out in a small voice, but eight voices shouting at the top of their lungs

Despite the early appearance of the notion that quality space will positively affect a city’s attractiveness to potential investors, it is still not always given its true importance by some authorities. Thus APACHES and its partner projects set out to illustrate together the need – no, requirement - for attractive public areas. That it was a group of projects saying the same thing rather than just one voice crying in the wilderness would, partners hoped, add extra weight to the cluster’s message. Together. VALUE, VALUE+, COLLABOR8, CURE, LICI, MANAGE+, MANDIE and PORTICO, were able to show by their accomplishments and share over a much wider geographical and political area their new tools, their policies, their processes and innovations. Their eventual recommendations under the APACHES banner were reached through their project outcomes being rigorously evaluated by one another; they explored their successful and unsuccessful results together; they integrated the ‘best bits’; they learnt from their customers’ and stakeholders’ feedback – far wider than if they had been working in isolation; were able to identify shared strategic priorities, the challenges these posed and the opportunities they created; and proved through exacting evaluation that there is a working way forward for our Regions’ towns and cities. It’s not just one project calling out in a small voice how to create smart, sustainable and inclusive growth and jobs through attractive urban public areas, but eight voices shouting at the top of their lungs:

KEY POINTS ll Focus projects on smart, sustainable and inclusive growth founded on the creation and/or ongoing support of local quality open spaces ll Understand that the role of good public spaces is one that tackles a wide range of issues, and that they need a broad partnership of businesses and citizens to ensure they flourish ll Make sure partnerships include complementary skillsets and expertise; this will favour exchange of information and provide a more flexible approach to problem resolution ll Partnerships need to have partners at different stages of innovation: innovation leaders; followers; moderate innovators, allowing projects to better tackle gaps in capacity and help focus on smart specialisation strategies ll Actively facilitate open innovation, clusters and networks that operate across sectors. Include co-operation between different types of organisations ll Concentrate on using existing or emerging strategies rather than using energy on developing new ones ll Encourage projects to explore the development and testing of new finance possibilities. The APACHES partner projects believe strongly that these proposals are the way forward. Please read on for more in depth discussion and insight.

Devonshire Green, Sheffield, UK

Introducing the Partner Projects

VALUE and VALUE+ led by South Yorkshire Forest Partnership/Sheffield City Council, Sheffield, UK

Lead Partner City Context Built across seven hills and five valleys, with a 12,000 year history of habitation, Sheffield today is a thriving city and a Metropolitan Borough. Located in South Yorkshire, the city now has an estimated population of 550,500. It built its past wealth on its famed steel and cutlery industry. Boasting of over 170 woodlands, 78 parks, 10 public gardens and 2.5m trees, it is the greenest city in Europe. Still internationally renowned for its steel, Sheffield is now the fastest growing city outside London and one of the best top ten cities in which to locate a business.

VALUE The VALUE project has a clear message to promote: ‘that quality green infrastructure is vital to support strong and prosperous communities.’ VALUE stands for ‘Valuing Attractive Landscapes in the Urban Economy’ and was a project funded through the European Union Interreg IVb programme for North West Europe. The project brought together nine project partner organisations in Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK. The challenge was to establish where to target green infrastructure investments in cities and regions to deliver the greatest economic benefits while ensuring that high quality green infrastructure was protected and integral to the urban fabric. Quality green infrastructure was/and is vital to support strong and prosperous communities throughout North West Europe. This is particularly important as urban greenspaces are being built on because they are currently seen as less valuable than other land uses. By promoting awareness of the value of green infrastructure and attractive landscapes VALUE aimed to help raise the value of development of quality open spaces and improve social cohesion.

Green infrastructure is a valuable part of the urban economy across North West Europe. However, as urbanisation increases, public and private green spaces are being lost to housing and commercial development. The aim of the VALUE project was to demonstrate the economic value of green infrastructure at both city and at regional scale and to show how to target green investments in order to maximise competitive benefits throughout North West Europe (NWE). Urban green spaces are being built on because they are currently seen as less valuable than other land uses. However, attractive landscapes can help raise the value of development, and quality open spaces improve social cohesion. The VALUE project promoted awareness of the value of green infrastructure, helping to rank it alongside other key land uses; proved the economic benefits of attractive green landscapes; and illustrated the competitive advantages of cities and regions with well-developed green infrastructure networks.

Innovations & Lessons Learned There are a number of approaches to green spaces planning that have been identified as particularly innovative: 1.

VALUE Final Report: the VALUE Final Report summarises the main investments made via the VALUE Project, including pieces of research and capital investments. It showcases the wideranging achievements of the project and is a fantastic resource for those working in the Green Infrastructure (GI) field.

i-Trees: i-Trees was a ground breaking project that aimed to demonstrate the importance of trees and other types of greenery in our cities in the fight against climate change. Through a long-term programme of tree planting, green roofs/ walls, and the installation of a range of scientific monitoring equipment, i-Trees helped transform the Oxford Road Corridor of Manchester City Centre into a ‘Living Laboratory’. The project provided a valuable insight into how we can make our cities less vulnerable to climate change.

3. Research Towards Justification for Urban Green Spaces: research by the University of Sheffield with the public of Manchester and Sheffield found that people were willing to pay more for greener spaces with greater tree coverage. They were asked how much extra they were willing to pay in council tax or rent/mortgage payments for green spaces in their local area.

6. More awareness raising within the community should be undertaken using a simpler and more inspirational language. The use of local champions who can more easily communicate their stories can facilitate this task.

4. Online Green City Tool: the Online Green City contains green infrastructure elements from a number of urban investment projects from across North West Europe. Each of these projects is presented as a case study and is represented in one ‘ideal’ green city on an interactive online map. See the website here: http://www.onlinegreencity.com/. The positive impact of the participation of local people on environments is generally underestimated. The VALUE project findings suggested that: 1.

Planners must make it easier for local people to get involved.

2. People need to own their local environment, and therefore top-down decision-making should be avoided. 3. Planners and decision-makers should demonstrate that public money is paying for public goods and ecosystem services should be quantified. 4. Future investments should always consider ecosystem functioning and implement green infrastructure in the early planning. In that way, green infrastructure becomes an investment rather than a cost. 5. More private sector investments is needed. The private sector has the funds and the opportunities to invest in green infrastructure, but needs clear and consistent requirements to get fully involved.

“I want to thank you for the very interesting symposium in the beautiful city of Sheffield! It was not only very helpful to learn about projects in other cities but it was a pleasure for me to spend two days with you and your team.” On behalf of CURE, Margarita Kaufmann, Stadt Hagen

VALUE+ VALUE+ was an EU funded project consisting of 12 partner organisations across North West Europe. The aim of VALUE+ was to improve green infrastructure and the design of urban spaces by developing and involving a team of EU Champions as well as involving top-down strategists and experts. This required strategic, coordinated responses. VALUE+ demonstrated how cities can best integrate bottom-up and top-down approaches. It showed how we can both deepen local participation and broaden involvement in strategy development. The VALUE+ project took the opportunity to generate valuable improvements to local growth, innovation and resilience strategies. VALUE+ worked transnationally to involve citizens in spatial planning. It trained up an international team of ‘local EU Champions’, involving them directly in the project’s delivery and promotion. Public engagement increased over time, so that residents, businesses and politicians also became champions of the wider EU project. The VALUE+ partnership – which included cities, social enterprises and universities –worked throughout North West Europe identifying ways through which public involvement in decision-making and planning could be achieved by integrating bottomup and top-down approaches. The project worked transnationally to involve citizens in spatial planning and it has done so by training an international team of ‘local EU Champions’ who have been directly involved in the project’s delivery and promotion. Through this, VALUE+ helped local communities realise their ambitions and potential; improved territorial cohesion; and enhanced the social and economic performance of second level NWE cities. VALUE+ developed and implemented novel tools and techniques to support integration, yielding more legitimate and efficient decisions and delivering results that ‘outperformed’ more traditional approaches.

Local participation was combined with technological innovations (interactive 3D visualisations, social media and advanced GIS decision-support).

Innovations & Lessons Learned VALUE+ attempted to integrate bottom-up local engagement with top-down strategy by combining technical tools with progressive facilitation techniques. This included: 1.

EU Champions: VALUE+ worked transnationally to involve citizens in spatial planning. It trained up an international team of ‘local EU Champions’, involving them directly in the project’s delivery and promotion. Public engagement increased over time, so that residents, businesses and politicians also became champions of the wider EU Project. Visit the VALUE+ website to read about the EU Champions: http://www. value-and.com/eu-champions/.

2. Visualisations: the University of Sheffield developed innovative visualisations of potential green infrastructure improvements to consult local groups around the development of a games and events area at Edward Street in Sheffield. 3. Social media platforms: the VALUE+ Partners developed social media platforms to specifically engage local communities in green infrastructure improvements enabling networking, and supporting co-operation by improving communications. The results of this were: •

•

• •

engaged cross-sector partnerships developing green growth strategies, supported by new ‘GIS+’ spatial analysis tools and decision-support technologies implementing changes demanded by local participants, modifying plans and designs according to the results of integrative models operating across different scales enhanced institutional capacity for innovation and delivered modern, adaptive governance improved cost-efficiency by opening up services to delivery by partnerships, social enterprises and the private sector

•

integrated local engagement with strategic planning and proved that increasing inclusion in decisionmaking and economic development delivers more resilient communities, capable of adapting to shocks and perturbations (e.g. climate change; demographic trends) developed robust policies and best practices using rich contextual data.

Involvement in APACHES VALUE AND VALUE+ were fully involved in the delivery of the APACHES cluster project. The VALUE+ lead partner led the overall management and promotion of the APACHES project. VALUE+ also led the establishment of joint strategic priorities to implement the EU 2020 flagship initiatives at Programme level. VALUE+ supported the actions on evaluation and benchmarking, establishment and analysis of shared issues and the dissemination of results and innovation

Useful Links Partner’s social media platforms; Randenbroek Park, Amersfoort : https://www.facebook.com/ ParkRandenbroek?fref=ts La Chartreuse Park, Liege: https://www.facebook.com/pages/VALUEAdded-La-Chartreuse/158205687693118?fre f=ts http://www.value-landscapes.eu/ http://www.value-and.com

The Winter Gardens, Sheffield, UK

COLLABOR8 led by South Kerry Development Partnership, IE

Lead Partner City Context

Innovations & Lessons Learned

South Kerry Development Partnership Ltd. is based in the south-west peninsulas of the Republic of Ireland. The rugged coastline and long, sandy beaches rise up to rolling mountains, lakes and rivers where there is a tradition of warm Irish hospitality. Before the COLLABOR8 project, cluster working between the tourism industry and related enterprises was not well developed. This has changed and a new tradition of collaborative working between like and similar tourism businesses has grown incrementally. This has manifested itself in the establishment of ‘All Kerry Tourism’, a new destination management organisation comprising businesses across the county of Kerry.

The project’s most innovative findings were:

Project Overview The COLLABOR8 Project comprised eight other partners each with their own contextual need but linked by the shared task of promoting the uniqueness of their area as well as fostering collaboration between different businesses. The original aims of the COLLABOR8 project were to contribute to the economic prosperity, sustainability and cultural identity of North West Europe in increasingly competitive global markets. This was achieved by forming and supporting new clusters in the Cultural, Creative, Countryside, Recreation, and Hospitality (CCCRH) sectors using uniqueness of place as a binding force and overcoming barriers to regional and transnational collaboration and despite the presence of competitive global markets and of an economic crisis.

Clustering: Training Manual, Toolkit and Networking Research: a piece of research into how networks and clusters support the development of destination and tourism organisations.

2. Green Festival Planning: a tool to reduce the impact on the environment when organising festivals and events. 3. Ambassador Scheme for Tourism: this is a three-day course for people involved in tourism. It helps raise awareness and provide them a sense of place, increasing their understanding and awareness of tourism businesses so that they can pass on that knowledge to their customers. 4. Clustering Good Practice: a good practice guide showing clustering techniques within destination management, using sense of place, technology and sustainability as key success factors. The lessons learned by the project include: 1.

The use of cultural identity and uniqueness of place is a powerful catalyst for forming clusters and establishing joint working between enterprises from the cultural, creative, countryside, recreation local food and hospitality sectors.

2. Establishing codes of practice between enterprises involved in cluster working; using the concept of using them to sell each other’s products and services; and using each other’s skills and experiences for group advantage will help break through the barriers of local competitiveness. 3. Improving product and service quality and eco-standards will help gain competitive advantages from a growingly discerning market, particularly where customers have ever increasing opportunities of choice.

4. Maximising the use of new media and new technology are an excellent tool with which to bring rural areas and small enterprises up to date with modern trends and requirements.

Involvement in APACHES COLLABOR8 played an active role in this project, collating all the best practice from the other seven partners and weaving these into a three day event held by Studio VMK in Tilburg in 2012. This event and a series of workshops that were a part of it provided the COLLABOR8 partners with greater insights to the work of the seven other projects and acted as a platform to share good practice and experience between the projects.

Useful Links http://www.collabor8.me/

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Apaches has given us a unique opportunity to find out more about other related projects, share all the good practices and become more of a familyâ&#x20AC;? COLLABOR8 - Andrew Gray

The COLLABOR8 Partners

CURE led by Stadt Hagen/City of Hagen, DE

Lead Partner City Context Hagen is a medium-sized city between the Ruhr area and the Sauerland with currently approx. 180,000 inhabitants. The first traces of settlement are 40,000 years old. Early industry included metal and steel processing and these are now complemented by logistics, large commercial enterprises and public institutions. Hagen has four rivers, 45% forest coverage and excellent transport links. As a sports rich city Hagen shines at canoeing and basketball. The Open University is based in Hagen and it has more than 80,000 students worldwide. Hagen is twinned with several cities in Russia, France and Austria.

Project Overview CURE stands for ‘Creative Urban Renewal in Europe’. This project ran from 2010 to 2014. The project had eight partners from five European countries including Germany, Belgium, France, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The project aimed to facilitate triggered growth of the creative economy industry in run-down urban areas present in medium-sized cities in Northwest Europe. This was done by developing and testing the innovative transnational model ‘Creative Zone Innovator’ which allowed for the planning and development of creative zones.

Innovations & Lessons Learned The final result of the CURE project was the development of the Creative Zone Innovator Index (CZII), a transnational resource that can be used by cities across Europe to develop entrepreneurial based strategies for urban area development based on the creative industry. The CZII is easily accessible on the web and it has interactive features that allow an easy navigation experience. CZII also has many cross-links between interconnected elements and this allows users to gather information at the scale and level that is most relevant for their own urban area development.

European Business Lab: the Idea of the European Business Lab (EBL) is to exchange creative entrepreneurs via business visits in the CURE creative zones. 17 entrepreneurs get the chance to establish business contacts in Europe to discuss and exchange the current ideas and different experiences in their business and creative zone in different countries.

2. Indicators for Creative Zones: the system of Indicators developed within the CURE Project produce quantitative or qualitative information with a view to helping those involved with public interventions to communicate, negotiate or make decisions within Creative Zones. 3. Creative Zone Innovator: this is a useful instrument for mid-sized cities to revitalise specific areas into Creative Zones. The Creative Zone Innovator covers four dimensions (Flow of Diversity, Learning Lab, Creative Business Model and Cultural Value Chain) that are translated into ‘Sub-values’ and ‘Indicators’ to initiate strategic measuring and monitoring of activities.

Involvement in APACHES CURE was responsible for activities around benchmarking of project outputs between project stakeholders across the cluster; comparison and joining up products of Interreg IVb projects; and the assessment of the impacts of Interreg projects on policy, practice and evidence.

CURE Project, Stadt Hagen, DE

LIVELY CITIES (LICI) led by AMCV, BE

Lead Partner City Context For many, Mons evokes the part it played in WW1 but it has been witness to many more battles and skirmishes, dating back to the Romans. The cultural capital of Wallonia, the town has 93,072 inhabitants. Once a mining town, it is the Belgian version of Silicon Valley; Google has built a huge data centre here. Mons is the European Capital of Culture for 2015, and it is home to the Grand Place which is the centre of the historic town. Once a year the Grand Place becomes the stage for the annual mock-battle of the Lumeçon, where Saint George confronts the dragon of the story, with the fight lasting for about half an hour. The City Hall, which was originally built near the current location of the belfry, was moved on the Grand Place in the 13th century. The flamboyant gothic building we see today dates from the 15th century. In front of it stands a statue of a monkey, which is said to bring good fortune to those who pat his head. Mons also has a beautiful belfry which is a World Heritage site and the only Baroque style belfry in Belgium. Van Gogh worked as a preacher just south of the town before he moved to Provence. The house where he stayed is still standing.

Project Overview The AMCV is lead partner of the Lively Cities project (acronym LICI) bringing together a partnership of eight countries including Belgium, France, United Kingdom and The Netherlands. LICI aimed to strengthen communities by reclaiming public space for public use. Following the economic crisis, a lot of cities around North West Europe launched large and expensive urban renewal and revitalisation schemes. Surprisingly such schemes led to the emergence and proliferation of deserted spaces: underused, misused or simply not used at all. Though beautifully designed, these spaces were not devised for people, and as a consequence they have been left uncared for and run

down. This has created many ruptures in NWE city centres, which eventually led to the dismemberment of the centres itself and to a worrying lack of bond between districts, clusters and communities. These factors have been a barrier to economic development and have generated a vicious circle which exacerbates the lack of attractiveness of some cities across North West Europe. LICI’s approach supported the appropriation of the public domain by communities in that public space should be (re)thought according to communities’ interests, needs and expectations in order to create an atmosphere that users feel, experience and identify with. Spaces should be designed for people. By doing so, LICI aimed to (re)create links between districts, clusters and communities, generating substantial eco development via the regaining of public space by cities. LICI utilised the concepts of place making and place management, in order to transform run down spaces into attractive destinations where people choose to spend their time.

Innovations & Lessons Learned LICI’s innovation was the Urban Lifestyle Point (ULP). A ULP is flexible urban space that evolves through the seasons and years. It can be developed on any car-free urban space that needs to be reclaimed by people. ULPs become an obvious destination for users and a place of social integration, and are managed daily via public-private partnerships.

Involvement in APACHES AMCV produced a 14 minute movie entitled ‘Experiences of North West Europe: managing and developing public areas’. The movie brings together all the APACHES partners and promotes a shared message of successful transnational work and experience. The video illustrates the activity of each partners by bringing to the fore their individual messages and illustrating the essence of their Interreg IVb NWE projects.

AMCVâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s approach focussed on the personal stories of normal people who benefited from the APACHES projects. This highlighted transnational work, positive experiences and results from a wide range of people including citizens, businesses, public authorities, NGOs and funders. The video was disseminated at the final APACHES conference in Sheffield in June 2015 and can be accessed at https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRsyVAKJ-eU

Useful Links www.amcv.be www.lively-cities.eu

LICI Wavre Urban Garden, BE

MANAGE+ led by Regionalverband Ruhr (RVR)/Ruhr Region, DE

Lead Partner City Context Essen is a city in the central part of the Ruhr area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Located on the River Ruhr, its population of approximately 567,000 (as of 31 December 2012) makes it the 9th-largest city in Germany. For the year 2010, Essen was the European Capital of Culture on behalf of the whole Ruhr area. Founded around 845 and historically linked to the centuries-old Krupp family iron works, Essen was one of Germany’s most important coal and steel centres until the 1970s and attracted workers from all over the country. It was the 5thlargest city in Germany between 1929 and 1988, peaking at over 730,000 inhabitants in 1962. The city has since developed a strong tertiary sector of the economy, so it is sometimes called “desk of the Ruhr area”. Essen is home to 13 of the 100 largest German corporations and seat to several of the region’s authorities.

projects. With this in mind, MANAGE+ endeavoured to identify ways in which such spaces could be run sustainably and - ideally without public funding.

Innovations & Lessons Learned The MANAGE+ project worked towards identifying new innovative approaches for sustainable management of heritage open spaces. These include: the development of a Stakeholder Strategy; the Development of a Business Clustering Tool, thus reducing the need for marketing and development of tourist packages; development of Sustainable Management Models, including legal and contractual organisation, financing models and tools, and stakeholder integration; and design of a transferrable Virtual Management Centre (VMC) – a set of IT tools and technologies for managing heritage sites and stakeholders. The lessons MANAGE+ and its partners learned were: 1.

Project Overview The MANAGE+ project dealt with the (postinvestment) management of regenerated cultural and industrial heritage areas that had been developed into attractive destinations. MANAGE+’s aim was to develop viable management models for the long-term use of former industrial and military heritage sites. These were converted into business parks, greenbelt recreation areas and tourist destinations. Traditionally the transformation of these sites has been via subsidies and managed by the public authorities. But public money has become scarce, putting pressure on public bodies that are now increasingly seeking to fund heritage site investment with the help of private partners, NGOs and other types of community initiatives. This has meant that stakeholder analysis and involvement – including stakeholderdriven marketing and on-site activities – have become increasingly important in financing the conservation and management of heritage

Stakeholder mapping is the key to achieving stakeholder involvement.

2. ‘Use the story’. All heritage sites have a story which appeals to the national, regional or local identity, and has an emotional pull. That emotional pull is what will create a sense of responsibility with stakeholders and encourage them to become involved. 3. Stakeholder involvement needs to be a mix of top down and bottom up approaches . 4. Stakeholder involvement is an ongoing process and should be continually managed and encouraged. 5. From ‘big fixer’ to ‘big enabler’: government bodies and other organisations no longer have the capacity to be big fixers, taking full responsibility (and financing) of heritage sites. But now they need to be enablers, requiring a very different management style that should include ‘selling’ their policy/objectives;

‘supporting’ initiatives; ‘coaching’ stakeholders; and ‘participating’ in investments, activities and events. This is ‘situational leadership’. 6. People management is as important as process management.

Involvement in APACHES The MANAGE+ project was one of the partners in the APACHES Strategic Initiative. MANAGE+ played an active role in the preparation and delivery of this project. The focus was on how newcomers could be integrated into Interreg projects. Together with project partners and external experts this was discussed at length in a transnational workshop with subsequent suggestions collated and presented as a set of recommendations.

Useful Links http://www.manageplus.eu/

Doorgezaagde bunker, Ruhr, DE

MANDIE led by Landeshausptsladt Stuttgart/City of Stuttgart, DE

Lead Partner City Context Stuttgart is the capital of the state of BadenWürttemberg in southwest Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,068. The city lies at the centre of a densely populated area, surrounded by a ring of smaller towns. This area called Stuttgart Region has a population of 2.7 million. Stuttgart is spread across a variety of hills, valleys and parks which is often a source of surprise to visitors who primarily associate the city with its industrial reputation as the ‘cradle of the automobile’.

Project Overview The MANDIE project consortium consisted of 11 partners from four countries: the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. This team comprised local authorities, scientific partners and associations. MANDIE aimed to develop methods to enhance the attractiveness and economic performance of district centres in North West Europe. It tackled the problems of selected district centres in North West Europe in close collaboration with municipalities, universities and associations. The following main objectives were the project’s focus: • • •

understand and analyse the challenges, needs, conditions and characteristics of NWE district centres reverse negative development by stopping trading down processes and improving the quality in each district develop and implement innovative measures to strengthen the district and its local economy with regards to image, identity and diversity:

•

use transnational co-operation as a tool to develop and apply innovative strategies, share knowledge and best practices gain a better understanding of the wider environment in which retail and commerce operate as well as how district centres work economically and socially.

Innovations & Lessons Learned 1.

Manual for District Centre Managers: the manual provides practical advice for the revitalisation of district centres and shows case studies of local situations, illustrating the strategic concepts and practical measures that were devised to respond to it. The activities mainly focus on the fields of economic development and urban planning, partly backed up by social approaches. The manual also looked at the education of district centre managers and how district centre management can be implemented into academic programmes.

2. Why Do Cities Change?: district centres face consumers’ new shopping habits and compete with prospering inner cities and big outer-city shopping centres. This innovation looked at some of the causes of this issue. 3. Image Building for District Centres: the image of a city district needs to play a crucial role in order to ensure that the purchasing power in the city districts is not only retained, but also increased. The goal is to achieve a high-quality environment for the benefit of those who live, work, shop and spend their leisure time in the city district. This innovation identified a mix of image and sales promotion measures to be of vital importance for retaining and increasing purchasing power.

Made in Bury, Bury, UK

4. District Centre Management Training: three universities have developed and tested new courses for public administration, urban planning and economics: • Stuttgart University’s Master’s programme in Urban Planning will allow planners to specialise in District Centre Management • Ludwigsburg’s Bachelor’s programme in Upper Grade Public Service/Public Management now comprises the subjects of economic development and real estate, urban planning, and social affairs, as well as fundamentals in law, communication, project management, and academic research • Manchester Metropolitan University’s Place Management with The Institute of Place Management and the Association of Town Centre Management, London allows practitioners to pursue a degree whilst working as district managers.

5. Survival Strategies for Ailing Districts: this project looked at joint advertising and marketing in Stuttgart’s city districts. In partnership with the local stakeholders (craftspeople, service providers and retailers), survival strategies were developed for other ailing districts across North West Europe.

Involvement in APACHES MANDIE led the assessment of Interreg IVb projects on policy, practice and evidence for future development.

Useful Links http://www.district-management.eu/

PORTICO led by Gemeente Utrecht (GU)/City of Utrecht, NL

Lead Partner City Context Utrecht is a 2000 year old city developed from a Roman fortress on the banks of the river Rhine, part of the Limes, the northern border of the Roman Empire. In mediaeval ages the city’s prosperity was due to the presence of the cathedral and the many churches and monasteries in the area. Because of its strategic central position in The Netherlands Utrecht is an important railway hub and boasts a world class university. It is a part of one of the most competitive regions in Europe.

Project Overview

“Getting the Best out of History” is the subtitle of PORTICO. But why should we bother? Cultural heritage is often taken for granted as in, let’s move on, the future is ours.” Source: Preface PORTICO report “Shared experience in the conservation and presentation of heritage assets”, by (former) Deputy Mayor Frits Lintmeijer

The aim of the PORTICO project was to stimulate urban development in historic cities by linking the knowledge economy to the experience economy; developing and testing new techniques; and carrying out unconventional urban projects with mixed partnerships. While cultural history is a driving force for the urban economy of many European cities, it can be a burden for economic development, as it poses restrictions on new developments. PORTICO considered this apparent dichotomy as a catalyst for a new and innovative approach to managing cultural resources and heritage. The cities of Chester (UK), Ghent (BE), Köln (DE), Utrecht (NL) and the Initiatief Domplein Foundation in Utrecht co-operated in the PORTICO project in the promotion of their historical heritage. The participating cities shared a common history and heritage and they shared the same challenge of protecting their heritage while making the most of their historical assets and facilitating sustainable development. The project’s main goal was to make the partner cities’ archaeological heritage more visible and relevant by developing new and

innovative methods, and techniques about urban development – above and below ground. PORTICO’s approach has been that of building on history in order to gain a competitive advantage and tackle challenges for future development in North-West Europe. The PORTICO partners jointly developed new knowledge and techniques that were tested in local investments in Chester, Ghent, Köln and Utrecht.

Innovations & Lessons Learned New approaches and new technologies were developed and applied during the course of the PORTICO project: 1.

Public-private partnership conservation: the document Community of Practice (CoP) on ‘connecting’ focusses on the relation between cultural heritage and urban development, in particular unconventional methods of co-operation and development. It addresses the issue of partnerships and added value for historic cities, focussing on the potential benefits of cross-sectoral approaches, partners in new roles, different relations between public bodies, private companies and private citizens.

2. Archaeology Minded Spatial (Site) Development: this document is a Code of Good Practice, and the result of a Master Class with a mixed group of participants including experts from different fields; archaeology; urban and cultural history; architecture and engineering; urban planning; tourism and city marketing; heritage management and heritage interpretation. 3. Shared Experience in Conservation: the PORTICO partners have undertaken many trans-national activities over the past couple of years. Together, and with the help of leading experts, solutions were explored for building on protected archaeological sites without destroying them.

4. Digital Story Telling: the Digital Story Telling Project used visualisations and creative technology to bring heritage projects alive for local people. It made invisible heritage visible and inaccessible archaeological features accessible via innovative storytelling techniques. This allowed people to experience hidden historic treasures in cities across North West Europe. 5. Identification and use of archaeologically friendly building techniques. 6.

Identification of internal climate and lighting solutions that could be used in the preservation of archaeological sites.

New ways of providing interactive interpretation and time travel of local heritage, including the interweaving of the different functions of sites such as

historic aspects; environmental aspects; and educational aspects; involving new types of audiences through a Students’ Challenge; and adopting a co-creation way of working which helps to ensure statutory and local support and ‘ownership’ of the proposals.

Involvement in APACHES PORTICO played an important part in the APACHES project by producing new tools, policies and processes. It also led on the evaluation of project outputs highlighting areas of strength and weakness within the project’s activities.

Useful Links www.portico.nu Twitter: @PORTICO_project

“Many national and international studies confirm the importance of heritage as a social as well as an economic asset for cities. The fact is that Euros invested in cultural heritage, have important economic leverage.” Source: Preface PORTICO report “Shared experience in the conservation and presentation of heritage assets”, by (former) Deputy Mayor Frits Lintmeijer

PORTICO Project, Utrecht, NL

APACHES’ Vision

The vision of the participating projects in this cluster was to support the goal of social and territorial cohesion across the Interreg IVb North West Europe Programme Region. It was considered important that a more strategic approach should be developed if the The major benefit is the NWE Programme and its projects opportunity for cities were to reach their and regions to work with full potential. The new partners and to idea was to connect develop productive new the valuable work collaborations, including already undertaken private sector businesses through the various projects and to extend and citizens. its impact beyond existing programmes to a much broader range of stakeholders and networks. The major benefit of this was the opportunity for cities and regions to work with new partners and to develop productive new collaborations, including private sector businesses and citizens where possible. A specific intention was to further support the goal of social and territorial cohesion by demonstrating the high quality outputs produced and by enhancing access to them. So what was the aim, then? In a nutshell it was ‘To demonstrate how transnational cooperation has improved the economic viability of NWE cities, regions and communities by managing and developing public areas to enhance their attractiveness to skilled people, visitors and investors, and to help set priorities for future Interreg funding programmes relating to urban development and regeneration’.

The main mission was to join up the lessons and innovations from different projects on urban development, thus improving the ‘big picture’ links and enabling cities to access new knowledge and best practices. It was felt the best way of doing so was to document and disseminate the projects’ results, draw together shared outputs incorporating results of individual projects, and providing an inventory of tools. The cluster aimed to use the stories of everyday people who had benefited from partner projects’ efforts and to impart the successes experienced across the NWE by citizens, businesses, public authorities and funders. To do so the cluster needed to evaluate its partner projects’ outputs and outcomes, learn from the successes and failures, and identify new challenges and opportunities along the way. Another aspect of the work was to integrate and validate projects’ results by comparing and joining up the products and testing both individual and combined project outputs. By establishing shared, strategic priorities for future EU funding programmes and collaborations it was felt the work of APACHES could move beyond local issues, narrow technical topics and individual sectorial interests, and identify instead the common challenges and opportunities across Europe’s cities and regions.

25 Textile Museum Tilburg, NE

Overview of APACHES’ Objectives

APACHES incorporated eight actions that were delivered in an integrated way by teams made up of key players from the eight highly influential EU projects that were part of the cluster. These actions contributed to the delivery of four shared key objectives. 1.

Objective One

Document and disseminate project results including new tools, policies, processes and other innovations: Communicate and transfer innovations and best practices on attractive public areas, sustainable environments and urban development by disseminating the results of Interreg projects, including new tools, policies, processes and other innovations in the management, improvement and profitability of public areas.

“APACHES has given us a unique opportunity to find out more about other related projects, share all the good practices and become more of a family.” Andrew Gray, COLLABOR8

Objective Two

Evaluate project outputs and outcomes: evaluate and benchmark the outputs and outcomes of projects to improve public areas and capitalise on economic opportunities by exploring successful and unsuccessful results together, preparing for and paving the way for the evelopment of future high-quality projects and more efficient innovation, drawing on and building up invaluable networks across Europe.

Objective Three

Integrate and validate project results: enable us to develop and convey the ‘big picture’ challenges and opportunities for our cities and regions by integrating and validating the results of projects to improve and manage public areas, learning from customers’ and stakeholders’ feedback and their future needs.

Objective Four

Establish shared, strategic priorities for future EU funding programmes: establish shared strategic priorities for future EU funding programmes by involving a wide range of new and existing partners to identify future needs for Interreg and other EU funding programmes, focussing on the key shared challenges and opportunities to create smart, sustainable and inclusive growth and jobs.

In order to meet these objectives the APACHES cluster co-ordinated and communicated existing work and attempted to fill strategically important gaps by: • • • • • • • •

helping enhance economic and social cohesion between communities improving the way partners and projects work together realising the potential of assets improving the attractiveness of environments and liveability of places enhancing energy and resource efficiency responding to demographic change and migration enhancing cultural heritage and tourism improving connectedness and accessibility.

“The three day intense scenario workshop challenged all the partners and projects with issues that they had to tackle in real life, and it gave insights to other projects of the issues and new methods of improving cities, town and even rural areas by using each other’s methods and practices.” Andrew Gray, COLLABOR8

27 Veermarktkwartier, Tilburg NE

Delivery of APACHES’ Objectives 6.1 Objective 1 Sharing best practice was the main goal of Objective One. This was achieved by bringing all the partners together where they were able to share and discuss best practice as gained through their projects. Highlights of best practice along with recommendations and main outputs identified by partners are presented below. MANDIE

COLLABOR8

MANDIE developed specifications for District Centre Managers and drew up agreements between shop owners to improve social and economic performance, on aspects such as agreeing to opening hours, cleaning regimes, regularity of shop window displays, using corporate identities for festivals and campaigns. It designed a toolbox with case studies was produced to illustrate how District Centres can become more economically viable. These included examples of how town centres can become more interesting by using: • info Boards • business crime partnerships and vacancy management • branding • vacancy Management to win new retailers • analysis of the retail offer of districts • creation of a ‘bell woman’ who calls out the key events of the past week.

•

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LIVELY CITIES •

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Aberdam Scenario City competition winners, Tilburg, NL

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explained how to identify the elements that make up a creative sector with high potential to increase economic and social vibrancy and development in a city centre showcased different ‘creative zones’, each providing inspiration and models to share with other areas. The four key features were described as the Creative Zone Innovator Index developed the European Business Lab and Creative Zone Innovators More information on these can be found here http://www.apaches.eu/project/cure

provided examples of how some parts of city centres are not used as their urban scale is dominating and unfriendly and/or where they have become unsafe identified a new approach to create Urban Lifestyle Points (ULP). These are transformed urban areas where they are made more attractive, safe, user friendly and promote public use. While these ULPs require management and maintenance costs, publicprivate partnerships have proven to be a successful funding model.

PORTICO •

CURE •

testified to the power of cluster working, whether this is on a geographical or a thematic basis. Many clusters adopted a Code of Practice as the cornerstone for collaborative working, especially where there were long distances between different enterprises clusters adopted the phrase: ‘market your neighbour as strongly as you market yourself’ as an underlining philosophy the unique sense of place of the different partner areas plays a vital part in them being able to develop and market their local distinctiveness without competing with each other.

developed innovative ways of interpreting the historical heritage of cities can be both profitable and relevant to all ages. This has been achieved with ultra-light buildings being placed on former historically significant sites, creative visualisations of historic routes and events and involving a broad sector of society.

MANAGE+ • •

identified long-term strategies and methods to ensure the management of re-developed buildings and attractions produced a Stakeholder Engagement Toolkit, which is relevant to all projects and can be used to widen participation.

6.2 Objective 2 The evaluation and benchmarking of project outputs and outcomes were the main goal of Objective Two. They play an important role in informing and shaping future projects which can benefit from the knowledge of what activities, approaches and methodologies have proved to be successful, efficient and have maximum impact for projects’ results. The PORTICO and MANDIE projects, supported by the University of Sheffield other partners, took the lead in analysing the impact of various project activities including outputs, workplans, reports, movies etc. Project evaluation and benchmarking proved highly informative and gave important insights into how to bridge the gap between the IVb and Vb Programmes, and to achieve the desired aims and outcomes of the EU2020 strategy. Partners shared reports; project applications; and progress reports, allowing the identification of common themes and opportunities that had the potential of becoming flagship initiatives and themes for the emerging Interreg Vb priorities. The need for further work on how to document the more strategic outcomes of IVb projects was clearly identified, particularly the necessity to enable the audience of cities and regions if one is to gain a bigger picture of how to use attractive public areas to further sustainable development and drive economic competitiveness An evaluation framework was set up in order to provide a consistent approach to the understanding of the APACHES projects. Four steps were used to create the evaluation framework:

1 Brainstorm and Evaluation Framework Design Differences in objectives, outputs and outcomes, type of interventions and policy intentions between the APACHES projects made it necessary to develop four different frameworks, each based on and informed by standard evaluation concepts that addressed the why, how, what and who of the projects’ practices: •

‘The Theory of Change’: this framework was used to explore the relationships between the strategic goal of APACHES and the collective strategic aim of the eight partner projects

•

‘The Logic of Intervention’: this framework attempted to map the pathways between the transnational practices of the partners and the strategic aim of APACHES ‘The Scope of Aberdam Scenario Workshop, Tilburg, NL Change Chain’: this framework simply helped to classify project intentions in respect to each project’s interventions and implementation ‘By Whom, Where and for Whom?’: this framework simply mapped the actors involved in the partner projects in a consistent way, and sought to understand two further key features of intervention – where and who benefits.

2 Populating the Framework A detailed reading and analysis of each of the eight APACHES projects was undertaken to extract data used in populating each of the evaluation frameworks.

3 Framework and Data Scrutiny The large amount of data captured and codified was then analysed in order to identify and understand the link between intentions, interventions and outcomes and to test and verify assumptions made in the formulation of the projects.

4 Reporting Having scrutinised the populated frameworks, the next stage in the evaluation process was to extract shared or common definitions and key or dominant findings. These became the Recommendations which are presented on Page 34 onwards.

6.3 Objective 3 Knowledge transfer and application of results from the different APACHES projects were at the core of Objective Three, with a view to identifying best practice of the projects involved.

This was done by creating a virtual city which was used as a tool to bring out social, cultural, natural, built and other elements found in the 52 partner areas that make up the eight APACHES partner projects. A brief overview is given below.

• • • •

1 Stakeholder Engagement A wide range of stakeholders was identified via this exercise, ranging from politicians, businesses, religious groups to interest groups as well as people of different demographic, social and economic profiles.

•

Creating an overall vision for the city that took, into account its historical and cultural assets and its relatively strong economic position helped to identify ‘quick wins’ and long-term proposals that would help ensure sustained economic and social prosperity while respecting the environmental and cultural assets. Key development scenarios were considered, from which partner projects were encouraged to think about alternative ways of redeveloping strategic areas of the city. This allowed partners to better understand the challenges of redevelopment and to have the freedom of thinking more creatively without the worry of failing.

•

Using what they had learnt, partners were able to generate new ways of using technology to help them reach stakeholders and work from the bottom up when planning redevelopment and regeneration:

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2 Social and Development Challenges

3 Creative Use of New Technology

Tilburg, NL

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use new technology to interpret the river and canal with the operation of new boat tours create phone apps to inform and engage people in a mediaeval festival use lighting to give animation and new life to parts of the city use crowdsource funding to attract additional investment investigate the feasibility of using the waste-water treatment works as a source of renewable energy use augmented reality and 3D technologies to create virtual tours of the city (e.g. along the route of the city wall where the walls are no longer visible) creatively use traditional materials for new functions, such as wool for insulation and interior design develop the Online Green City Tool for festival and post-festival use, such as an event/restaurant guide or youth facilities finder.

APACHES Cluster website: At the start of the APACHES Cluster Project, Lead Partner South Yorkshire Forest Partnership worked with a market-leading web-design agency to develop a website and social media platform (www.apaches. eu). The social media platform, designed for the project partners, allowed the partnership to share news, links and important project documentation. The website also showcases the Cluster partner’s project results and innovations through the website’s public facing platform. A report of how well it performed can be accessed on page 32.

6.4 Objective 4 The lessons learned during the course of the APACHES projects represent an important baseline on which new Interreg Vb projects can be developed. An analysis of these was carried out as a part of Objective Four at the cluster’s Final Symposium in a series of interactive workshops in Sheffield UK in June 2015. The workshops were a very useful tool for ascertaining what needed to change within NWE Interreg’s operations if newcomers were to be attracted to the Programme. Indeed, it seemed attraction wasn’t the real problem. Organisations were keen to be a part of it, but the risks posed and demands on organisations’ staffing and financing, as well as the often impenetrable language and processes were a distinct barrier.

project design phase; the application process; and then the actual project implementation. The ‘old hands’ who took part in the workshops were able to offer their recommendations to the ‘rookies’. This then led to three sets of proposals: for Interreg; for newcomers; and for projects themselves. These are reported on in full detail in the ‘Final Recommendations’ section of this report on page 34.

Conversely, the approach of newcomer organisations was often not robust enough to deal with the requirements of the initial

Gevel Quartier Bricole

Key Outputs

‘The ‘Experiences of North West Europe: managing and developing public areas’ A key focus of Objective One was to capture the project’s impact on the life of normal people. This was achieved by making the whole partnership work together on a high impact video which illustrated the aims, objectives and main achievements of each project of the APACHES cluster. The dissemination of knowledge, innovation and best practice from the APACHES projects has occurred at different levels including those that aimed at more ‘emotional’ and ‘personal’ aspects. This has been achieved through the production of a movie which allowed ‘visualising’ partners’ work to make it accessible to a wider audience. The ‘Experiences of North West Europe: managing and developing public areas’ movie was put together by the LICI project. The movie delivered a I Make@ Queen Street Cooperative, 2010 Photo, jdoyle.com strong message of successful transnational work and included testimonials on local and transnational activities. Each APACHES partner illustrated the key points of its Interreg IVb NWE project and the overall message from the movie highlighted the areas of activity of their projects: • • • • • •

improve the quality of places for people to live attract investment urban areas network to support the whole partnership find sustainable approaches to enhance attractiveness of public areas develop different approached to involve citizens share knowledge, experience and resources

• • •

involve local businesses in order to equip them with effective tools to become more sustainable in the future develop urban quarters involve and sensitise public authorities.

The video was disseminated at the final APACHES Conference in Sheffield. You can watch the film on the SY Forest You Tube Channel via the APACHES website: http:// www.apaches.eu/project-news/ At the start of the APACHES Cluster Project, Lead Partner South Yorkshire Forest Partnership worked with a market leading design agency to develop a website and social media platform (www.apaches.eu). The social media platform, designed for the project partners, allowed the partnership to share news, links and important project documentation. The website Social media platform showcased the Cluster NWE Priority 4 products, partners’ and project results, and innovations. For more information about the APACHES website, see the case study on page 33.

APACHES website statistics Between its launch in 2012 and the end of the project in June 2015, the total number of visitors to the site was 4,897, with an average page visit duration of 1:24mins. With regard to pages accessed, those visited the most tended to be the title pages of each section. The most visited page was the title page ‘Projects’, which gave a basic overview of each APACHES partner project and received 728 visitors, but viewers didn’t tend to go further. The most visited project page was the VALUE+ one with a total of 149 visits compared to the 728 visitors in total to the project sections. When the pages for the APACHES Final Symposium were launched, people did visit more than the event’s title page, with almost all 107 visitors viewing further pages – site visits, downloads, workshops, speakers and the register page. 82 people visited the registration page and half went on to register for the Symposium.

With regard to visitor by city there was an enormous spread across the globe. Visitor numbers from cities outside the projects involved in APACHES were low – between 25 and nine per city for the top 50 cities – but those figures were drawn from a total 1106 cities – that means a lot of external visitors. The highest number of visitors per city was in Sheffield. This is not surprising as the final figure might have been influenced by the fact that this is the home of the Lead Partner which spends a lot of time on the website.

data supplied by Steve Dupree, Diva Creative

Tournai, BE

Final Recommendations written by Yolanda Mout with contributions from cluster partners

APACHES brought together different projects across wide themes. Each project has found its own recommendations which can be broadly placed under the headings of Innovation; Stimulating Entrepreneurship; Environmental Protection and Resource Efficiency; and Inclusive Growth. These are presented below. 1 Innovation:

4 Inclusive Growth:

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apply new digital technologies in sectors and areas that had not used them so far develop public-private management models for regenerated sites and identify ways to finance ecosystem services through, for instance, Business Improvement Districts or community owned co-operatives.

2 Stimulating Entrepreneurship: • • •

create networks of entrepreneurs for joint place-based marketing enhance the competitiveness of SMEs through international exchanges promote the creative industry and support creative entrepreneurs to transform city districts and make them attractive again.

3 Environmental Protection and Resource Efficiency: • •

•

CURE Project, Stadt Hagen, DE

help urban places to become more resilient to climate change integrate new climate mitigation approaches into urban planning processes reduce waste (food pilot projects) and carbon emission reduce food supply chains and hence impact positively on long distance transport develop and managing brownfield areas, contributing to the creation of eco-standards in sustainable tourism introduce the concept that land is a valuable resource that must be used efficiently.

• • • •

integrate volunteers in the management and exploitation models for regenerated sites and by creating on-site space for entrepreneurship integrate volunteers’ work in the management plans in projects on heritage focus on district management to support small entrepreneurs and SMEs in city centres support co-working careers and people living on work benefits to become landscape workers train citizen champions to enable them to take full ownership and become managers of assets such as new parks, cafés and allotments.

APACHES’ recommendations are based on three sets of work: what the Interreg Programme needs to do to attract newcomers; what newcomers need to do to bring a proposal to a successful application; and what projects need to do to reach their full potential. These are listed below.

The URBACT programme provides an example of the use of EU experts when developing a project:

What Interreg Needs to do to Attract Newcomers to New Programmes:

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This section presents suggestions for Interreg itself and the national contact points for an improved uptake of newcomers in the programme based on information received from questionnaire respondents, the workshops held at the Final APACHES Symposium and interviews.

•

1 On project partnerships: •

•

develop new regulations that encourage the uptake of newcomers in project partnerships, for example: setting a bonus for Interreg newcomers in a project or making it compulsory that certain a percentage of partners in every project (eg 30%) are newcomers introduce and recommend partner mentoring within a project, whereby an experienced partner is assigned to an inexperienced partner. In this role the experienced partner helps the inexperienced partner with the project setup (including administration) and the project implementation (control [incl. finances] and reporting). This could be part of the actions and outputs of the project make use of existing experience by creating a pool of Interreg experts who can bring knowledge and assist Interreg newcomers on: »» identifying promising new projects and partners and stimulating bringing a project idea to an actual application (the pioneer role) »» making an application (including tips and suggestions for writers) »» organising the day-to-day project management (content and financial). This knowledge is not readily available from the contact points at the moment and would help to take away some apprehension for taking on EU projects and subsidies.

develop more training programmes for newcomers, making use of the knowledge and experts in the Interreg knowledge pool regional entities or larger organisations often have the personnel and experience to develop and run Interreg projects that smaller local organisations do not have. Make it compulsory for the Interreg ‘usual suspects’ (partners with more than 3 EU projects to their name) to include a new local organisation as partner or sub-partner in following projects (the so called ‘partner-sub-partner’ method) content side: Topics should come from ‘real life’ and not from the Interreg world. The Programme should see itself as a service provider for the projects and consider what the projects find relevant.

2 On the application process •

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avoid Interreg jargon as much as possible and use positive ‘plain speak’ at the beginning of the application process. Use jargon translators where necessary, allowing people to slowly get used to the jargon that is absolutely necessary provide step-by-step help in the application process. Not only in text but by making educational ‘how to do it’ films and using other digital tools. stress the importance of using at least one or two experienced writers for a project application. This can be done either by experienced project partners or by an external expert. In the last case funding is likely to be necessary give clear and convincing pointers with regard to the advantages and disadvantages of (applying for) an Interreg project. This helps people to make well-informed choices on whether or not to apply stimulate national and local tools and instruments to support or finance EU project development and application. Examples of successful instruments are the PSR programme in the Netherlands, a programme on capacity building in the Baltic Sea region and a regional stimulation programme by the province of Noord-Brabant in the Netherlands.

Peace Gardens, Sheffield UK

3 On financial issues •

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create a programme to stimulate cofunding programmes at government or local level. The CETSI programme in the Netherlands is a good example of this. The Dutch government offered a contribution with a maximum 25% of the total project budget (under certain conditions) against EU funding simplify the administration process on financial issues make the intervention rate for voluntary sector organisations more favourable in terms of match funding requirements.

Fort aan de Klop. NL - Martin van Lokven

4 On communication for newcomers • •

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organise a special newcomer programme within Interreg congresses make the information from the Joint National Secretariat (JTS) and the contact points more accessible and practical towards newcomers (use ‘newcomers’ as the target audience for all types of communication, including the current websites) use proactive marketing for specific target groups with a high newcomer potential: oo non-governmental organisations (NGOs) oo local municipalities oo small to medium enterprises (SMEs). meet and inform the target groups about the Interreg opportunities, within their own communication and information structures and comfort zones. Use the

• • •

right language for each target group create clear information around the opportunities and benefits of Interreg projects be clear on the risks and liabilities of Interreg projects develop an ‘Interreg rookie-roadmap – from idea to application’ which consists of: oo clear and appealing language on a central website, with translation buttons for all Interreg languages oo an ‘Are you ready for Interreg?’ test on the website, in which organisations can make a scan of their own organisation and discover what is needed to be successful in developing and running Interreg projects oo all relevant communication information (digital and analogue) in ‘plain speak’ (no jargon) oo instruction films on the website oo communicate about successful EU projects and possibilities to support organisation commitment for active involvement in Interreg programmes (this happens fairly extensively already) oo four yearly meetings (within normal Interreg meetings) that explain opportunities, benefits, rules, risks and liabilities for newcomers and give advice on project proposals and partner searches oo an expert panel (or a digital list at least) that assists newcomers in finding experts who can support organisations in the roles of pioneer, writer and different project team roles.

What Newcomers need to do:

2 On financial support

This paragraph contains suggestions for newcomer organisations to help improve their internal organisation before taking up an Interreg project. Many organisations were very good at pinpointing the reasons for ‘not being ready’ for Interreg during the workshops, interviews and questionnaires and have come with the subsequent recommendations.

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1 On project development and project partnerships

•

it is important to invest in the right staff for the different phases of an Interreg project, whereby each phase requires different roles: a pioneer/networker for the project development phase; a writer for the application phase; and a project team for the project implementation (with a project manager, finance manager, communication manager and content related staff). Newcomer organisations tend not to want to invest in the pioneer/networker role as the benefits of the work are not quickly visible, but this is an important precursor to successful Interreg project development where staff is not possible or available to an organisation (investment in time) funding is necessary to hire in the right expertise choosing the right external expert is important. In the EU subsidy industry there are a lot of experts who maintain that they are experienced in making EU applications or running a EU project, but in reality they are not. Only a few have a good track record. For a new organisation it is difficult to find the right external expert for its organisation. A support system could be put in place to assist these organisations (see the recommendation for an Interreg expert pool in Point 1c in the Interreg section above) involve young people in the staff pool: in this way experience is secured for the long term and the ‘new generation’ is made aware of the possibilities of EU funding.

•

EU project development asks an investment from an organisation. In terms of time, but also in terms of money (travel, accommodation, project development shared costs). Have budgets available for these start-up costs organise the co-financing needed for a project beforehand as much as possible. This ensures a stress free project implementation know the rules with regards to cofinancing, so that all possibilities for cofinancing can be explored. Organisations sometimes make incorrect assumptions leading to unfortunate decisions on whether or not to take part in a project.

3 On administration •

•

the newcomer organisation should carry out research upfront on the rules and regulations that have to do with running an Interreg project. By making sure that the organisation is ‘EU ready’ or that it will be possible to work accordingly if an application is approved will help ensure a positive project start many newcomers see the administrative requirements of an EU project as a hindrance but the rules and regulations often Studio VMK, Tilburg, NL lead to a solid project administration that in turn leads to positive effects within in the organisation itself. The tightened ‘EU-proof’ administration within an organisation often makes it easier and more effective to apply for and report on other subsidies.

4 On communication •

to achieve organisation commitment for active involvement in Interreg programmes it is important to involve decision makers in EU project development by communicating successful EU projects and possibilities.

38 Nursery Street, Sheffield, UK

The Mark of a Successful Project: 1.

New projects have to be more strongly focused on smart, sustainable and inclusive growth.

6. Innovation should include services, processes, methodologies, social and business organisational models and government models. Governmental innovation is especially encouraged as it can be used to tackle the big societal challenges.

2. As governments and public bodies adapt to working with reduced budgets following the economic crisis, it is a priority for them to attract funding from a wider range of funding sources.

3. It is important to understand the role and the importance of public spaces in tackling a wide range of issues (e.g. climate change adaptation and mitigation). It is equally important to set up partnerships between businesses and citizens in order to develop and maintain them. Behaviour change and social innovation are important elements in this transformation as is participation between different stakeholders from the very early planning stages.

8. Innovative projects should include all key players and all sectors in their partnership.

4. Partnerships should include complementary sets of skills and expertise in order to favour exchange of information and a more flexible approach to problem resolution. 5. A projectâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s partnership should include partners that are at different stages of innovation. So there should be innovation leaders, followers as well as moderate innovators. This will allow the project to tackle existing territorial gaps in innovation capacity - a focus on the implementation of smart specialisation strategies.

Projects should facilitate open innovation, clusters and networks that operate across sectors and should include cooperation between companies of different sectors, universities and governments.

9. Projects should include ecological and innovation criteria in their procurement strategies. 10. Implement existing or emerging strategies and do not develop new strategies. 11. Demonstration projects on the rollingout or uptake of existing low-carbon products, technologies or solutions in enterprises and in industrial production processes are strongly supported. 12. It is important to include in projects â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Living Labsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; that test technologies in real life conditions. 13. To have projects which explore the development and testing new finance possibilities is very important.

Conclusions

Funded by the Interreg IVb North West Europe Programme Attractive Public Areas: Competitiveness, urban Environments and Sustainability (APACHES) brought together eight projects across the Region into one cluster. The raison d’etré of the cluster was to maximise the impact of each project partner as well as for the NWE. All of the projects were of high quality in their own right, all working towards better open spaces for local people, and the development of strategies to support them in the long term. Using the experiences and lessons of the Lead Partners, APACHES drew from them the best of best practice, and in discussion between themselves; other seasoned players; and organisations aspiring to be a part of the next Programmes, the cluster identified changes the NWE Programme and the novice organisations themselves need to make if new institutions were to contribute to the betterment of the EU via its funded Programmes.

Equally, the APACHES cluster itself has closed with a broad range of inclusive practice recommendations to show for its collaboration. From these recommendations the following conclusions can be drawn: the NWE clearly needs to be more supportive, more transparent and its support mechanisms not only redrawn but more proactive if it is to draw new organisations to its fold. These include ‘buddying’ systems between old and new ‘hands’; a pool of experts to help and guide; training and step by step help at application stage; simpler financial and administration processes and better financial support to develop projects in the first place.

The aspiring organisations themselves need to invest in their staff or at least experts who can help them; know the rules and regulations and With regard to ensure they are ‘EU innovations, the ready’; and involve projects themselves decisionmakers in have surely excelled, the development Meimarkt, Tilburgh, NL with a vast body of process. Clearly work carried out on behalf of the Programme it’s not rocket science, but these are the that will help improve greenspace, heritage recommendations straight from the people sites and city centres with the added bonus who should be, need to be, and want to be of a buoyant local economy and better involved in European Programmes, and now levels of wellbeing and happiness for nearby those recommendations are here in black and communities as a result. There are some white. That’s the first step – of many steps to incredibly clever, transferrable and useable come - towards change. models, tools and strategies developed by the projects that are now available to aid organisations and groups working towards enhancing our living and working environments.

Next Steps

APACHES was not a project in the usual sense, with partners coming together across North West Europe to work together on one major theme. APACHES was a cluster of NWE-financed projects all addressing similar themes in different ways. With an additional 1% funding above what they were already receiving, the projects came together under one banner to maximise their own impact and visibility as well as that of the NWE, and through that work achieving a stronger strategic relevance. While the partner projects were all making important changes on the ground, APACHES as a cluster wasn’t about that, but rather joining up lessons and innovation from different projects on urban development and improving the ‘big picture’ links. The cluster has worked hard to showcase the high quality outputs produced by its partner projects, reviewing and evaluating them along the way, filtering and purifying the results to produce even richer tools for others to adapt and apply within their work on quality open space.

partners involved in the coming years. That can only bode well, with ‘new blood’ joining the venerable company of the ‘old brooms’. Involvement in the cluster has given not only the lead partners of each project, but all of the partners in each project, an opportunity to work with a broader range of organisations and develop new collaborations – perhaps even for the new Vb Programme which launched while this report was being prepared. Thus there will be no next steps for the APACHES project partnership, but there are most certainly next steps for the individual partners who were a part. All have learned new skills, gained better experiences and taken on board the new ways of working that will stand them in good stead for taking part in the next Programme – perhaps even with new partners who are ‘first timers’ to Interreg.

The second great strand of its work was improving the visibility of the APACHES has been Programme, even a great experience Cholera Monument, Sheffield, UK more important for all those who now in a Union made up of countries whose have been involved. Demanding, hard work, inhabitants are becoming increasingly but worth every moment as each of the Lead sceptical of the value of the EU, the work it Partners moves towards the new Programme does and how it spends its money. We will better prepared for new opportunities and only know if we have been successful by the fresh challenges. SYFP already has its eye number of new organisations trying their hand on the next prospect, the next big issue. You with the new Programme. APACHES listened will see SYFP, the city of Utrecht, the city to, recorded the responses of, and evaluated of Stuttgart, the Regional Association Ruhr, the suggestions of ‘virgin’ organisations, AMCV, Stadt Hagen, and the South Kerry with regard to getting them involved in such Development Partnership Ltd all making their an ambitious Programme. Only time will mark over the next five years and helping show how successful that process was, but the ERDF Interreg North West Europe Vb the partner projects are confident that if its Programme achieve its ambitions for a better recommendations are taken on board, then Europe in which to live, work and invest. there most certainly will be a wider range of

Contacts

VALUE Cluster Leader and Lead Partner: South Yorkshire Forest Partnership (SYFP)/ Sheffield City Council (SCC), Sheffield UK E: team@syforest.co.uk T: +44 (0)114 257 1199

LICI Lead Partner: AMCV BE Claire Albaret E: claire.albaret@amcv.be T: +32 65 88 54 66

VALUE+ Cluster Leader and Lead Partner: South Yorkshire Forest Partnership (SYFP)/ Sheffield City Council (SCC), Sheffield UK E: team@syforest.co.uk T: +44 (0)114 257 1199

MANAGE+ Lead Partner: Regionalverband Ruhr (RVR)/Ruhr Region DE Frank Bothmann E: bothmann@rvr-online.de T: +49 201 2069 680

COLLABOR8 Lead Partner: South Kerry Development Partnership Ltd IE Noel Spillane E: nspillane@skdp.net T: +353 (0)66 947 2724

MANDIE Lead Partner: Landeshausptsladt Stuttgart/City of Stuttgart DE Torsten von Appen E: Torsten.von.Appen@stuttgart.de T: +49 71121691233

CURE Lead Partner: Stadt Hagen/City of Hagen DE Dr Christian Schmidt E: Christian.schmidt@stadt-hagen.de T: +49 2331 207 3172

PORTICO Lead Partner: Gemeente Utrecht (GU)/CIty of Utrecht NL Edsard Kylstra E: e.kylstra@utrecht.nl T: +31 30 2860017

For more information, visit www.apaches.euaches.eu

Disclaimer The views presented in this report are those of the authors and cannot be taken as indicative in any way of the position of the partners in the APACHES project or of funders including the Interreg IVB North West Europe programme. This document has been prepared solely as guidance for those involved in planning, green infrastructure, urban policy and urban studies within North West Europe. South Yorkshire Forest Partnership/Sheffield City Council accepts no responsibility or liability and shall not be liable for or in connection with any use that is made of this document (whether by a third party or otherwise) other than the purposes for which it was originally commissioned and prepared. No individual may be held personally liable. Individuals or organisations acting upon the contents of this document may not hold any individual personally liable in contract, tort or breach of statutory duty (including negligence). South Yorkshire Forest Partnership is a carbon neutral organisation and makes every attempt to ensure that carbon emissions from its activities are offset through its annual programme of tree planting.

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