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Urban networking and urban-rural initiatives in the Baltic Sea region

Urban networking and urban-rural initiatives in the Baltic Sea region. The screening report by Wiktor Szydarowski. VASAB WG1 meeting, Jurmala, 3 September 2008. The purpose.

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Urban networking and urban-rural initiatives in the Baltic Sea region

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  1. Urban networking and urban-rural initiatives in the Baltic Sea region The screening report by Wiktor Szydarowski VASAB WG1 meeting, Jurmala, 3 September 2008

  2. The purpose • To make a result overview of INTERREG III B projects and strategic efforts of pan-Baltic organisations in the field of urban networking and urban-rural partnership • To show the overall BSR picture • To propose input to WG 1 recommendations

  3. The work • Analysis completed in June 2008 • Information retrieved from website and final reports • Portfolio of urban networking and urban-rural projects in the IR3B Programme: 10 projects in measure 2.1 + 3 projects in measure 1.1 • Reference to a UBC’s integrated urban-rural management project (‘New Bridges’) submitted to the BSR Programme 2007-2013 • 7 recommendations for the development policies made

  4. The recommendations • Policy-making towards a polycentric development requires a long-term perspective, continuity and a well-governed stakeholder approach (networking between public and private actors facilitates in-situ learning and strategic actions). Successful policy areas for replication elsewhere: accessibility and connectivity between the urban centres, urban image and quality of life, removal of physical and cultural hindrances and provision of facilities for people-to-people contacts and specialised services for local businesses.

  5. The recommendations • Cooperation of metropolitan and larger cities in the BSR tends to focus on: innovation support systems, benchmarking of innovation management products, networking of business incubators or business cluster cooperation (especially in the area of creative industries). The metropolitan areas build growth partnerships to influence European level policies and strategies, and develop strong Baltic Sea brands. Such an orientation requires inclusion of business support organisations, investment agencies and marketing entities in the stakeholder team of urban cooperation

  6. The recommendations • Smaller cities located in the ‘shadow’ or ‘area of influence’ of the metropolitan centres shall be supported in unlocking their hidden capacity. Policies should take into account the socio-economic status of the city, but also its development endowment by proximity of a metropolitan centre (e.g. capacity of a resource for a commuting labour force). In the socio-economic transformation process an attention should be given to the potential of the social economy and the macro-level networking with the regional and national governance levels.

  7. The recommendations • Fine-tuned tools to counteract depopulation in the countryside is a prerequisite for a more balanced structure in a rural-urban relation. Networking between the neighbouring cities is just one of a few feasible options in searching for policy-matching partners during an economic transformation process in the hinterlands. Others may include stimulation of rural entrepreneurship, or creative solutions in municipal service facilities and infrastructure. For making such solutions successful, local engagement in spatial planning is necessary.

  8. The recommendations • Urban-rural partnership schemes usually manifest themselves in a coordinated planning of labour market, transport infrastructure or service facilities that are in use by both the city and its direct hinterland. Such planning routines should apply innovative tools based on collaboration and engagement of local communities. In effect, the planning routines may even develop local capacities for managing the demographic or economic change. In the process, a competence of universities is noteworthy, although case-specific knowledge transfers models between the universities and the community need to be developed.

  9. The recommendations • Successful urban-rural partnerships require an institutional support to help integrate the cooperation strategy into plans and programmes of various public institutions and to provide reliable supervision and communication systems supporting implementation process. • The awareness raising actions on shrinking hinterlands ought to be adequately addressed in urban-rural development policies at all levels. National support programmes and legislation should also have room for multidimensional local sustainable development initiatives.

  10. Thank you for being attentive and – perhaps – inspired... wiktor@szydarowski.com

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