LLI-431 Inter-regional Cooperation for Sustainable, Integrated and Smart Planning (SMART PLANNING)
Project Duration: 01.06.2020 - 31.10.2022
Project ERDF Financing: 308 751.88 EUR
Project call: 3rd call
Project aims to strengthen capacity of local and regional stakeholders in spatial and strategic planning, to enhance stronger cross-border perspective in strategic development planning to foster coherent development and effective collaboration across borders.
Spatial planning gives geographical expression to the economic, social, cultural and ecological policies of society. It is at the same time a scientific discipline, an administrative technique and a policy developed as an interdisciplinary and comprehensive approach directed towards a balanced regional development and the physical organisation of space according to an overall strategy.
Project will elaborate a capacity building and leadership program for local stakeholders (local and regional politicians, spatial and development planners in local municipalities). The aim is to enhance capacity of the regional decision makers and local administrators, developers to strengthen skills and competences and master new tools and methods for innovative and smart regional management, as well to encourage more active political commitment due to high demand of regional economic transformation processes. Leadership building program will consist of 4 workshops about the new approaches in development planning, two innovation camps in Kurzeme and Klaipeda regions, two study visits to Poland and Finland to experience practical “know-how” on applying gained skills. At the same time joint activities will serve as a network for building platforms for the involved parties.
Kurzeme Planning Region will carry out spatial analysis of Kurzeme Region in cross-border and future smart specialization context. Project will provide an opportunity to spatially analyse territorial development trends and address them targeted and purposefully. Klaipeda region will develop an action plan for horizontal priorities development in Klaipeda region, which supplemented by the region’s economic development documents will form a complete Klaipeda region development (specialisation) strategy 2030 and will become the main long-term regional development document approved by all regional stakeholders. Both regions will cooperate closely during the analytical part of the project implementation which will ensure greater coherence and inter-regional integration in the upcoming development planning documents.
Leadership program complemented with key conclusions from the analysis carried out in Kurzeme and Klaipeda regions will conclude in a Handbook for Cross-border Planning that will summarize the challenges that are raised by the local stakeholders and provide approaches to tackle them.
Project main outcomes will be presented in the final conference of smart planning where cross-border challenges will be discussed, joint activities to tackle them suggested and project results presented.
Social media and contacts:
Phone: +371 67331492
E-mail: pasts@kurzemesregions.lv
Website: www.kurzemesregions.lv
Address: 4a Valguma Street, Riga, Latvia (Administration office)
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Partners structure
08. September 2022
Networking workshop: Tourism as economic potential of cross-border regions24. May - 25 May 2022
Capacity Building Workshop: Cross-border Environment27. April 2021
CROSS-BORDER MEETING ON COOPERATION POTENTIAL IN KURZEME AND KLAIPEDA REGIONS30. September 2020
Kurzeme planning region thematic workshop "Economics and Tourism"18. June 2020
Project "Smart Planning" kick-off meetingLiepāja, Latvia
Project resulted with the two regional level organisations cooperating across the borders – Kurzeme Planning region and Association “Klaipeda region”. During implementation of project, key fields of common interests and further cooperation are identified – Climate change challenges, management of coastal areas, smart governance and capacity building in various sectors of municipal services provision.
Stronger partnerships are built also between the municipalities of Klaipeda and Kurzeme regions. Official cooperation agreement is concluded between Skuodas municipality and Dienkurzeme municipality, foreseeing cooperation in culture, education, tourism, sport and youth policy areas. Strengthened cooperation between Šilute and Saldus municipalities, Dienvidukurzeme and Nida, Liepāja and Klaipēda, which had already previous experience in cooperation across the borders.
Joint events, organized in the project facilitated partnerships and capacity building for local municipalities and stakeholders in Kurzeme and Klaipeda regions:
Innovation camps:
- 1st Session of Innovation Camp “How to stay competitive in increasing global competition” (2.-3.09.2021) in Palanga, Lithuania. 21 participants, including, 9 persons from Kurzeme regions and 12 from Klaipeda region participated;
- 2nd Session of Innovation Camp “Discovery interregional partnership potential (6.-7.04,2022, Kuldīga, Latvia). 20 participants took part, representing municipalities of Kaipeda region and Kurzeme region. 10 participants from Latvia and 10 participants from Lithuania.
Capacity building workshops:
- 1st Workshop “Cross-border Environment”, 24.-25.05.2022 in Skuodas, Lithuania. 46 representatives from Kurzeme and Klaipeda region, national and regional level environmental sector stakeholders, specialists from municipalities took part;
- 2nd Workshop “Tourism as economic potential of cross-border regions”, 08.09.2022 in Nīca, Latvia. 36 participants – tourism specialists form both regions took part;
- 3rd Workshop “Social inclusion” and “Smart Governance”, 05.10.2022 in Šventoji, Lithuania. 36 participants from both regions took part – representing social sector and municipalities specialists
- 4th Workshop “Green, resilient, Inclusive”, 27.10.2022 in Embūte, Latvia. 16 participants participated from both regions – representing municipalities, specialists working with accessibility, tourism, nature and environment topics
Study visits to Poland and Finland:
- Poland, 4.-8.10.2021. Delegation of 18 participants – 9 from Kurzeme planning region and 9 from Klaipeda region, representing both regions and municipalities took part in the Study visit in Poland, Pomeranian region;
- Finand, 16.-19.05.2022. 18 representatives (9 from Kurzeme and 9 from Klaipeda regions) from Kurzeme and Klaipeda region administrations and the municipalities participated in a good practice learning trip to Turku, Finland. models between entrepreneurs, state and local government institutions.
Final Conference and Study visits
Held in Ventspils, with study visits in Kuldiga, 12.-13.10.2022 with 85 participants from both regions. Final conference highlighted various regional development initiatives implemented by local municipalities taking the global challenges – energy efficiency, smart specialisation, preservation of culture heritage, cooperation between municipality and small business, active local communities, climate neutrality. Study visits focused on sustainable transport solutions in the cities, infrastructure development projects and risks, entrepreneurship support initiatives in Ventspils and Kuldīga.
All together over 400 participants took part in 13 events.
Results of Capacity building workshops, Innovation camps – lists of joint project ideas are summarized and published in the Handbook of Cross-border Planning, here also main conclusion of Study visits are available, as well summaries of Final conference presentations and both region’s development priorities https://www.kurzemesregions.lv/ventspili-projekta-smart-planning-nosleguma-konference-atskatas-uz-paveikto-un
Another set of project outputs are elaborated planning documents. During the elaboration of these documents, stakeholders from relevant sectors were involved, municipal specialists participated and contributed to the content, as well gained knowledge and improved planning capacities.
For Kurzeme planning region elaborated documents built a core of Kurzeme Planning Region Development Programme 2021-2027:
- Description of the current situation of the Kurzeme planning region;
- Analysis of existing cross-border functional zones and available cross-border services;
- Proposals for priorities for the Kurzeme planning region in the sustainable development strategy;
- Smart specialisation opportunities for Kurzeme planning region;
- Guidelines for promoting smart specialisation in local government development programs.
For Klaipeda region three documents as a constituent part of the whole specialization package are elaborated, focusing and supporting overall regional (and specialisation’s) aim – to support, promote and make an input to comprehensive development and growth of the region:
- An action plan for the RSS2030 Horizontal Priority “An Educating Region”.
- An analysis of the opportunities for the Klaipėda region to develop functional zones (regions) with the Telšiai, Tauragė and Latvian Kurzeme regions;
- Model for regional ecosystem coordination
Summary of Project results are found in the Handook for Crossborder planning:
D.C.4.1. Handbook for crossborder planning
Last updated: 23.04.2024 12:44