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1. Thematic working Groups
The Thematic Working Groups activity is focused on the following themes:
- Cultural Heritage and Economic Development, coordinated by Venice;
- Urban Regeneration, coordinated by Bordeaux;
- Strategic Planning and Tourism, coordinated by Genoa.
These themes represent some of the main issues that the MEDA cities are going to face while developing their pilot projects.
This activity makes it possible to create a common language and to exchange experiences and best practices between MEDA and EU Cities, which in the end is the main objective of the project.
So far the Thematic Working Group discussion was organized by the three EU cities' coordinators in three steps:
1) proposal of the themes to the partners and their discussion within the Local Working Group,
2) questionnaires sent to all partners,
3) evaluation and comparison of the answers to the questionnaires.
Following this first phase (that ended with the meeting in Sofia, July 2007), the action is now going further on with a reflection on sub-themes to be analysed while referring to specific issues of the pilot projects.
The discussion should support the cities in promoting a sustainable urban development: it will be relevant for general initiatives like the valorisation of the cultural heritage and its relationship with tourism, as well as for more specific initiatives like the creation of public/private partnerships among local actors to set up large urban projects, the construction of conditions for consensus on the project, the rehabilitation of public spaces, etc.
2. Pilot Projects
In the first months the feasibility conditions and the possibilities to guarantee the expected results for each pilot project have been assessed by the different cities.
The first task the partners had to develop was a SWOT analysis of the target area in order to define the priorities for its development. This analysis makes it easier to identify objectives and define the decisions that are considered fundamental to achieve the vision of the future desired by the major social and economic agents of the city.
To this aim, the objective of the pilot projects will be specified, and the internal and external factors that are favourable or unfavourable to them will be identified.
This analysis will lead to a feasibility study for the regeneration and development of the target area (between June 2007 and October 2008). It will include a financial and implementation plan in order to realise the actions/projects foreseen after the end of ARCHIMEDES
project.
3. Transnational Meetings
The project foresees four Transnational Working Meetings and a Final Conference.
The first meeting was held on February 8th and 9th in Istanbul and it firstly presented the project to the Press and to the partners; on that occasion, each MEDA partner was given the possibility to illustrate the city area chosen for the
development of the pilot project and an introduction on the main technical tools foreseen by the project (Strategic planning, SWOT analysis, data collection) was also presented. A space for bilateral working groups between each MEDA city and its EU city partner was also made in
order to enhance and reinforce the relations among city partners.
The second transnational meeting took place in Sofia on 5th
and 6th of July.
The main focus of the meeting was the work
carried out in the last months on the Thematic Working Groups. These activities are linked to the three agreed themes of Cultural Heritage and Economic Development,
Urban Regeneration, and Strategic Planning and Tourism and aim at defining a common vocabulary to be used for the pilot project development.
The Sofia meeting was indeed a good opportunity for all partners to present the work achieved by their local teams
during the last months, in particular the SWOT analyses and the first draft of their Pilot Projects. Moreover, this second meeting was also very important as it draw the path for the next months activities and expected outcomes; particularly, the planned outcomes for the next meeting (foreseen for
November 30 and December 1) are the final version of the Pilot projects - to be implemented in 2008 - and the manual of good practices produced within the framework of the Thematic Working Groups discussion.
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