UrbSpace Newsletter 01 

Urban Spaces - Enhancing the Attractiveness and Quality of the Urban Environment

Some 75% of the population of the Central Europe region lives in urban areas, a figure which is likely to continue to grow. Towns and cities are perceived as engines of regional development, offering a broad range of services and economic and cultural opportunities.

Urban development is not only about planning buildings and activities, but also about creating places having a positive impact on their surroundings.

Objectives 

The focus on approaches is to improve environmental quality of smaller urban centres and suburban areas, will contribute significantly to strengthening territorial cohesion by supporting polycentric structures, which require a nix of larger and smaller urban areas to operate.

The main expected outputs and results of the project are:

• the elaboration of the joint strategy on urban open spaces,
• tools and guidelines for sustainable design of urban spaces
• 15 pilot renewed urban spaces

History

The origins of the UrbSpace project lie in REC's work on the urban environment and spatial planning along with practical experiences of Ekopolis (Slovakia) and Nadace Partnerstvi (Czech Republic). The latter organisations succesfully developed a programme called "Spaces",based on good practice in European cities. The idea of the project is to build further upon this experience. REC Slovakia decided to offer to take on the Lead Partner role for the new project and together with the Ekopolis Foundation, the Nadace Partnerství (Czech republic) began the process of extended European partner search. The aim was to find partners with a range of interests, cultures, experiences and needs.

Partners

• REC Slovakia, The Regional Environmental Centrer for Central and Eastern Europe, Slovakia
• Nadace Partnerstvi, Czech Republic
• Municipality of Brno, Czech Republic
• Municipality of Sopot, Poland
• Municipality of Brzeg Dolny, Poland
• Municipality of Nagykallo, Hungary
• Vienna University of technology department of Urban design and Landscape Architecture, Austria
• Subregionla development agency Karst - Brkini, Slovenia
• Fachhochschule Erfurt - University of Applied Sciences, Germany
• Legambiente Lombardia onlus, Italy
• Research Centre on Security and Crime, Italy
• Local Development Agency, La.Mo.Ro., Italy

Duration 

From November 2008 to October 2011

More informations about project can you find HERE.

Central Europe

CENTRAL EUROPE is a European Union programme that encourages cooperation among the countries of Central Europe to improve innovation, accessibility and the environment and to enhance the competitiveness and attractiveness of their cities and regions. CENTRAL EUROPE invests €231 million to provide funding to transnational cooperation projects involving public and private organisations from Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, the Slovak Republic and Slovenia.
The programme is financed by the European Regional Development Fund and runs from 2007 to 2013.